Sig image: MBs with magnatiles Two-year-olds often begin their third year of life playing independently much of the time, but as time goes by, they learn that playing with peers can be rewarding as well. This shift tends to occur naturally as children gain emotional maturity as well as linguistic...

Much ado about music! The Sunshine teachers watch our children for signs of budding interests. We began to notice that they were really into making sounds/music. They would use forks, spoons, sticks, and the pots, pans and shelves would become drums. So we decided to explore sounds, music and...

What are hay slides? With all the loose hay still around the playground from our Family Fall Festival in November, the Moonbeams have created a new game we like to call Hay Slides. This twist on sliding incorporates lots of new teachable moments for the ‘Beams. Since most of the hay is still baled...

Friends and Families Fall is full of fun, friends and family for the Rainbows. We often experience children announcing the arrival of their friends' parents at pick up. Rainbows even join in giving a "PIC push" to parents as they leave in the morning. Children are so happy to share about their...

A PIC Push Goodbye At PIC infants spend almost two years in the infant/young toddler classrooms. They build a loving, trusting relationship with their teachers and get used to the routines in their classroom. It is around the age of two, that children move to a toddler room, like the Sunshines. They...

Terrific Twos Most of us have heard of the Terrific Twos*, the approximate age when the sweet, agreeable bundles of sunshine we have nurtured since birth somehow transform into unreasonable and often defiant creatures. Children at this stage of development have realized they are their own entities...

We Are Out When you think of the word ‘out’ it can have both great and not so great connotations. “You’re out!” shouts the umpire at a baseball game, or “It was out of this world!” as you describe an amazing dessert. “I’m out,” as you end a work day, or “get out of here,” as you land tickets to your...

On the go! The Sunshines have been having fun exploring different modes of transportation. We have been engaged in a variety of activities that help us learn about the different types of ways we can travel. The Sunshines painted with different vehicles as a recent art activity. They picked the...

Moonbeams on the loose Not all parents may be familiar with the idea of “loose parts”. Loose parts are materials that can be moved, carried, combined, redesigned, lined up, and taken apart and put back together in multiple ways. Just a decade ago at PIC, toys that realistically mimicked genuine...

A sound study Rainbow teachers were confident that a sound study would engage the Rainbows since they amuse us with sounds that they themselves create as they play. We noticed they show awareness of the sounds of our PIC neighborhood and the sounds we hear from the preschool classroom above us. T he...