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As Kids Get Older … Is learning that is expressed through play still relevant as kids become older? Do we see differences in the way that “older kid” play is expressed depending on personality? In The Personality of Play – Part One, I wrote about how fun I’ve found it to watch the way different kids play […]

The Different Ways Children Express Themselves – Real Learning? (photo above by Joan Gilmore) And back to talking about play:). In The Personality of Play, Part One, I wrote about the different ways that children explore through play. Here in Part Two, I am writing about the different ways children express themselves and their learning

The Different Ways Children Explore Play is a very individual thing. I love watching it happen. Sometimes I even like being part of it:). Children can get entirely different things out of the same space, toy or object. I had the opportunity for several years to spend a lot of time individually with children and wow,

This might be an ideal time to cozy up with some movie watching. I thought I’d put a few titles out that we’ve enjoyed and I hope others might add any recommendations they might have in the comments. Here, a few titles grew to several … There are so many, so I’m thinking of ones that

“If she’s not here, she’s somewhere else.” The simplest statements are often the wisest. More than two decades ago, in the middle of a sunny morning, I sat in a bright, spacious room with fellow counselling students. We were about to begin an important therapy activity. One student was particularly concerned that one of our classmates

Sometime in January, L and I started noticing light. Yes, light. Just light! Nothing fancy, just the everyday patterns. Mostly natural light in regular moments. We noticed some really neat angles a couple of times and it began to be something we looked for. Reflection, shadow, light dispersing into colours, Tyndall effect, patterns – all

Does it seem disrespectful to talk about the brighter moments of life during this pandemic? Part of me feels strange about it. Strange that while many are sick, dying, in financial distress and people in my own family and workplace are continuing to work in essential services, I’m even daring to look for those pockets.

When my kids were younger, I delved into what was, for me, unknown territory – the world of mythology. My husband has a clear memory and understanding of a good bit of mythology from specific grades in school. I don’t. Not at all. I truly don’t believe I was ever introduced to mythology at school

People the world over are finding themselves either together a whole lot more right now OR apart and not able to see each other in person. We, like most people, are in a combination of those situations. A few of us in our family are very much together right now, and there are others we’d

One week ago today, I was sitting in the study room of a library, with two text messages coming in simultaneously. One was from my oldest son letting me know about orientation for his new job starting Monday and his plans for balancing that with his final college classes/assignments this week. The other was a