Friday Group - Textiles

With just two children exploring the textiles at the beginning of the session it was easy to observe the interactions with the materials. In the following video you see Kasey showing Kaia a piece of velcro that is a texture she has felt before in her new favorite book (about a dragon which has scratchy ears) but she's never been able to manipulate it herself. She is not only excited but extremely interested in trying to get it in her mouth. At one point Kasey offers a suggestion that she hold a piece of fabric in one hand and the velcro in the other so she could still feel the velcro but chew on something. Kaia is too engrossed in the material, she's intent on figuring out how to get it in her mouth and turns it around and around trying different angles.

Sebastien on the other hand was having a different experience. He found a piece of soft fabric and he moves it from side to side. With crawling on the horizon, crossing the midline of his body is a skill he will need in order to coordinate the movements of his arms and legs to move himself forward. (Note: Sebastien started crawling 2 days later!)

In this last video clip, Sebastien and Kaia both explore the velcro although Sebastien turns his focus to a different material before Kaia is ready to give up on the velcro but she soon finds something else just as enticing...of course something that Sebastien has and he finds her clothing a nice material to explore.

Bryce joined the group after they had finished exploring the materials and Sebastien's grandmother showed up so there was a different dynamic during his exploration. Despite the circumstances he was engrossed by the materials. He didn't let the adult conversation around him stop his experience. Everything within Bryce's reach was touched and tasted.

Some he likes, some he doesn't

And then he just had to try them all at once.

Thursday Group - Textiles

The Thursday group really tuned into one another. In the following video, Zadie gets very animated with the cellophane sewed onto a piece of fabric and Xavier and Sebastien really tune into her to check out what's happening. Theo, however, happily found the velcro and was very focused on chewing on it. He was one of the few who actually liked to have it in his mouth. Zadie also very sweetly checks in with her mom (watch carefully the end of the video). All the children at one point or another look to their parent to reconnect and acknowledge their presence. This attachment behavior is very important during the materials group as children encounter new materials the parent becomes a supporter and encourager to the child's process.

Xavier discovers the flaw in my sewing and manages to separate the fabric from the cellophane which he then tries to get on his head several times in the next video. In the meantime, Theo is still exploring the velcro and Zadie moves onto a new piece of fabric (and again checks in with mom). Sebastien finds some silky ribbon to feel inside his mouth.

As the children begin to lose interest in the fabric exploration, it is quickly revitalized by a game of peek-a-boo. Watch as Theo helps uncover Xavier.

My favorite moments from this week's explorations not captured in videos:

Xavier finds Theo's shirt and head the most interesting textile.

Theo rolls around in the fabric and the takes a break on mom.

Zadie tastes some colorful yarn and then raspberries it out of her mouth.

Xavier enthusiastically pulls and waves different textiles.

Textiles

For our second playgroup session I chose textiles as the objects to explore. With fabric, ribbon, yarn and the scratchy side of velcro I was able to present the babies with many different textures to touch, taste, see and hear. Each child could discover the properties of soft, silky, bumpy, smooth, and all the variations in between. On the backside of three pieces of fabric I sewed cellophane to add both an element of surprise and familiarity from the previous experience. My vision for this experience was to have cascading fabric descend into a mountain of textures in the middle of the children and the babies would "dive" (not actually dive but lean into) the fabric and roll in it and fling it in the air, like a child finding a big pile of fresh laundry and just can't help jumping into it. I realized very quickly with the Thursday group that the cascading and mountain of fabric was a little overwhelming and there were too many pieces to choose from. With the Friday group I put out a smaller amount of options which seemed to help the children focus their exploration.

The fabric exploration was, in general, not as flashy of an experience for the children, differing in it's initial impact. The cellophane had that "wow" factor and the fabric had a scavenger feel to it, where the children had to search for a piece that interested them. The fabric allowed for a different type of interaction, one where feeling differences brought more exploration through touch and taste. Also the varying colors allowed children to be specific in their search for a material. Both the Thursday and Friday groups really enjoyed finding the fabric with cellophane and even the two children who came for the first time and had never played with the cellophane were intrigued by the material.

Using the Blog with your Child

The purpose of documenting children's explorations is to benefit of both the parent and the child. I encourage families to look at and talk about the children's experiences at the playgroup, not just what I write about but also your own recollections of the time together. The basis for documenting is that the latest brain research talks about 'autobiographical memory' (that is the memory of an episode or experience - think the story of your life as seen in your mind) and that most young children have "childhood amnesia" and are not able to recall the early times in their lives (this goes for most of us). However, these experiences are not lost in the minds of our babies and the research is finding that the more a child sees, is talked to about, and is having similar experiences over and over the more likely they are to remember (encode in their brains) the experience and be able to draw new thoughts, theories, and feelings about and from the experience for future use.