Seeing and Supporting Lively Minds

Deb Curtis, in her article, “Seeing and Supporting Children’s Active Bodies and Minds (that is the basis of an Out of the Box Training Kit), writes:

“School readiness agendas that emphasize sitting and listening to learn, environmental rating scales that focus on requiring specific areas and materials for math, science and literacy, and the heightened attention to safety and risk avoidance, have all led to fewer opportunities for children to be active. Teachers most often work to prevent and stop children from indoor active play, rather than plan for it. And the average amount of time children in child care spend outdoors is often less than 30 minutes a day (Hanscom, 2016) and when they are outside, playgrounds are often void of anything challenging to do.

More is going on when children move their bodies than just staying healthy and getting their wiggles out. Active play, which is an integral part of sensory motor development, actually builds neural pathways necessary for children to focus their eyes and attention, regulate their emotions, and develop the ability to plan and carry out a task. It seems that in slowing children down on behalf of helping them stay safe and learn, we are actually harming their capacity for learning now and in the future.”

And in her bestselling book, Really Seeing Children, Curtis also makes this statement:

“One of my worries about the growing focus on academics and school readiness in programs for young children is it keeps many teachers from seeing children’s innate, lively minds at work. When teachers are overly concerned about teaching the alphabet and other isolated skills and facts, they may miss children’s serious approaches to tasks and voracious quests to understand the world around them.”

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