It's one thing to go snooping around other nurseries when you are on holiday (I know I'm not the only one), but is it a sign of madness to volunteer to run a training session for kindergarten teachers, when you are supposed to be soaking up the sun in the southern states of America? Maybe - but I certainly had a lot of fun doing it and learned a lot about the similarities and differences between the US system and ours.
I was visiting a friend who had relocated from east London to Atlanta, Georgia, now a director of the Primrose School of Duluth West - a 120- place setting, caring for children from two months to kindergarten (age six), with after-school and holiday provision for children up to age ten. The school is privately owned and is part of the Primrose franchise, which has many schools across the US.
The topic chosen for the training session was 'Making a Mess - Building a Brain', looking at the value of 'messy' sensory play in brain development, with a hands-on session exploring a range of gloriously messy activities. I brought with me some of the seminal texts on the subject of messy play (see Further Information) and the Nursery World pull-out 'All About Messy Play' (4 November, 2004). These were seized on and read with great interest. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to track down the American equivalent of a builder's tray, but we did find some useful alternatives - boot trays designed to stand in the porch for muddy shoes - on which we built our ice mountain, mud pies and soapy sand.
The staff all gathered for their business meeting at 6.30pm, with pizza and soft drinks provided. They are paid to attend after-school meetings and receive certificates for attending training. Parents were invited to join them at 7.15pm, when the messy play session began (pictured). The group was lively and motivated and made some interesting comments. Not all were keen to get their hands dirty at first, but two brave souls volunteered to play with the shaving foam while the rest of us observed and commented on the learning possibilities. A brief discussion followed about neural activity and 'synapse firing'. Then it was off to play with the messy stuff.
'Flubber' (borax, glue and water) and 'gloop' (cornflour and water) were high on the list of favourites. The room buzzed with the sound of 30 adults talking, laughing and shrieking with fun as they got down and dirty. All too soon it was tidy-up time and there were requests for 'just five minutes more!' They got their few minutes extra on the promise of prompt clearing away and in no time they had the room back to its pristine condition. And there was plenty of flubber, mud and shaving foam left for the children to play with the next day.
What struck me was the way that, just as in the UK, the pressures of time, 'the curriculum', and health and safety can stop practitioners from providing open-ended sensory exploration as part of continuous provision. It gets relegated to a 'sensory table' once a week and is something to be endured rather than wallowed in. With a reminder of just how vital it is to children's well-being and brain development, and the opportunity to revisit the joy of mess with 'a beginner's mind,' the staff at Primrose didn't need much encouragement. And as I was on my holidays, I made the most of the opportunity for a much-needed American-style manicure the day after all that messing!
Further information:
- The Little Book of Messy Play by Sally Featherstone and Liz Persse (Little Books, £6.99)
- Messy Play: Progression in Play for Babies and Children by Sally Featherstone and Liz Williams (Baby and Beyond, £4.99)
- 50 Exciting Ways to Use a Builder's Tray by Helen Bromley (50 Exciting Things To Do, £12.99).
