I have heard from many a preschool teacher they need something but their school/classroom/personal budget simply won't allow for it, or they are stuck in the rut of same-old, same-old and are looking for new and interesting ideas and the supplies to do them with.

Enter your friendly neighborhood guy or gal behind the hardware store counter. This place has the best and free you and sometimes them stuff. If you happen to have a local mom and pop type of place start doing your home improvement shopping there, and start a relationship with the folks there and then when you need something they will most likely be happy to help.

If you don't happen to have a mom and pop place, head to your mega chain and make friends with the lead at the paint counter. You can score all kinds of cool stuff like discontinued paint chips, stir sticks, and paint they can't resale for one reason or another. Okay, sure you can just pull paint chips from the wall, but you need 85 red ones and you don't want to look like a crazy person or feel like a thief, so it helps to ask for what you need, they might just have a discontinued red sitting under the counter.

Now go outside and make nice with the garden department lead and tell her you need seeds, you don't care what kind because your just glueing them to a collage or they are going in a sensory bin, and she might just have a dozen open packages some precious angel left on the floor for her yesterday and she hasn't gotten around to returning yet. She may also have out of season or dying plants that she's willing to give you for you and your class to nurse back to help or try to keep alive. Just check your center's policy on plants and ensure the species isn't poisonous to humans if consumed.

In the plumbing and hardware departments ask if they have any out of package pieces they would be willing to let you have. My insider says anything floating around on the shelf out of its packaging isn't supposed to be sold without being repackaged and it is often far easier to give it away than waste their time. Do not take anything from a shelf that has been removed from its packaging, always ask for these parts!

In the lumber department, check for scraps. Folks will ask for their boards to be cut to size, then leave the scraps behind. They can't resale this, but they often don't discard it either.

Next, stop by the key counter. Some of these store have a big ol' box full of keys that don't work, they might be willing to part with some of them for your "You're the key to my heart" project for Mother's Day.

Finally, befriend the store or donations manager. This is the person that can hook you up when you want to build bird feeders next winter or maybe you're looking at installing a garden at your school and you need a community partner. If you already have a good relationship with the store manager they can help make this happen for you.

If or when you try any of these things be sure you fully represent who you are and the school you are from. Wear a name badge if you have one and/or a school shirt if you have one of those. Introduce yourself, talk about your school, the project, lesson, or learning center you want to use the items in. You may even consider bringing a letter of representation from your director with you. Do not go in just looking for free stuff from the hardware store, that is not okay, and they will shut you down the second they figure out that is all you want.

I hope you have a chance to enjoy getting to know the partner that is your local hardware store and I hope it enhances your classroom in a meaningful way.

Happy teaching!

~Sarah

Today as I walked tiredly through the aisles of my neighborhood grocery store there was a momma whose sweet little daughter was struggling with the concepts of indoor voice and staying with mom. I wanted to catch up with them and tell that frayed nerves, worn out, precious soul that she was doing a good job keeping her cool and being consistent even under the weight of judgmental stares. But they stayed an aisle or two ahead of me.

I finally caught up at the check out, they were at the next one over and I would love this to be one of those sweet touchy feel-y blog posts where I tell you she teared up and was so grateful I stopped her, but the reality is I didn't because I didn't want to embarrass her in front of all of those baggers and checkers. Or maybe it was that I lost my courage with so many people around, whatever the reason I regret it. I should have stopped her and told her. Not to satisfy some need in myself, but because when we are in the trenches of motherhood it is important to hear those two tiny words.

Good. Job. They hold such weight.

So dear teacher friends when you see them come into your school and they look like they can't take another step because the baby didn't sleep last night and wanted to do nothing but nurse, and their spouse is out of town, and their second grader needed 24 cupcakes shaped like planets, and their dumpling in your class only wanted to wear yellow clothes today, tell her those two words.

When they comes into your school completely put together, not a hair out of place, every paper signed, field trip money turned in early and they reads to your class on her lunch break every other Friday, tell them those two words.

When they are somewhere in between and seem to have some of it together and some of it not so much, tell them those two words.

The profound effect of connecting with parents in the trenches of raising their tiny gifts is exponential to their children. They need to know that the people they trust most, trust and see them, so that they can trust themselves. It is also one of the greatest gifts we are given as early care providers, this connection with parents. I hope you treasure it, and I hope you nurture it, and I hope you encourage them often.

Happy Teaching,

​~Sarah

This is always such a touchy subject among educators and I thought why not use it as my first blog post. I believe both have great value in the ECE setting and as educators it is important to know when and where to use them.

First let's look at what they are, process art are those projects in which we as teachers simply supply the materials, step back and watch the creative juices flow. There is little to no direction given, except perhaps how to to use a tool or get the paint started if a child has never before used water colors. This art is all about the use of the materials and not whether or not it "looks like something."

Conversely product art, often call crafting, are those projects in which we teachers provide specific materials and walk children through the steps of creating a specific thing, or we provide all of the materials with a sample and allow the children to make their own version.

We must then look at what children are learning from each of these, and why they both have a place in the early childhood classroom. I would like to preface this by saying that process art has little place in the infant and early toddler classrooms, and teachers should wait until later  toddlers around 18 to 24 months before they begin introducing simple product art to children. Process and product art share many learning opportunities, fine motor control, color recognition, shape recognition, texture testing, to name a few. They deviate in that process art allows for experiences in creative process, tool experimentation, and self esteem building. Product art provides opportunities to follow directions, finish multiple steps, use social cues to gauge personal behavior, and stick to a task.

Each of these has equal place in the classroom, because all of these things are deeply important for Kindergarten readiness, and we begin Kindergarten readiness in our 2's programs, not because we want to or to push rigorous academics (a deeper look into this in a later post), but because we know that it takes a long time to build up and cement these things.

What we must not do with children's art, whether it is process or product, is change it after they have finished it. I know, dear teacher friend, that is super hard, especially when that owl's left eye is sideways on his cheek or the paper plate they just painted red and black would be so cute if you drew a line down the center and turned it into a lady bug. You must resist! I believe in you!

There is a reason for this and it all leads back to their precious hearts and minds, they feel valuable and capable based on our actions and when we change something they completed essentially we are telling them it's not good enough and they aren't good enough. Perhaps that seems extreme, but they've only been alive a few years, everything is extreme to them!

Hopefully you've learned a little bit about these two art forms and are willing to use them both in your classroom, please feel free to share your experiences with both in your classroom. And if you have any questions feel free to ask away!

Happy Teaching!
~Sarah