Chelsey Harrington Coaching

My latest writing for tips on how to start early with media literacy education in your own home.

Ways to Cultivate Media Literacy in Your Young Children in 2024 | Impact Coaching & Consulting Ways to Cultivate Media Literacy in Your Young Children in 2024 by Chelsey Harrington | Feb 8, 2024 | Family, Uncategorized | 0 comments Ways to Cultivate Media Literacy in Your Young Children in 2024 If your parenting goals for 2024 include learning about media literacy or helping your child learn....

Loose parts from nature are always the best tools for outdoor play. But if you don't want to wrap a stick this holiday, consider these options!⁠

https://getthekidsoutside.com/gifts-for-kids-who-love-nature/
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I've gathered together ideas for several different gift options designed to inspire nature play -- all under $35. A bit more expensive than a stick or an acorn, but hopefully fitting most budgets!⁠
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Nature grab and go bags can be a simple tool to get more outside time for children! This idea was inspired to me by Carla Gull, who is a wonderful resource for enhancing outdoor learning.

This bag in particular is our grab and go journaling bag. The children in our program have expressed a lot of interest in nature journaling so this kit is ready for them to grab and take outside when inspiration strikes!
It has:
-Magnifying glasses
-A marker set from
-Pencils (golf size and regular)
-Laminated pocket guides that show native birds, flowers, trees, and mushrooms

I offer coaching and consulting for anyone that works with children that is looking to add more nature or play in to their lives and programs! Check out the link in bio to schedule a call for me to see how I can best support you :)

"What do we do to children's learning when we make everything about competition and outcome?"

And the Winner Is... What do we do to children's learning when we make everything about competition and outcome?

This is a GREAT post from Officer Gomez that's not talked about enough. All of these points and are valid and something for modern parents to consider.

❤️💚❤️

Provide the time and space for your children to discover and explore the world around them ❤️ It can be as simple as savouring the plants and grass in your yard, or finding a spot in a park or a trail.

FIND OUT WHY OUTSIDE PLAY IS CRUCIAL FOR CHILDREN WHO ARE LEARNING TO READ AND WRITE

"Readers need strong eye-muscles for tracking and time in nature helps this happen. On uneven terrain, kids are constantly adjusting their gaze. This begins as early as infancy for babies who are held on hikes. With each step the slight up and down motion forces the eyes to work together, strengthening their ability to track.
An adequate writing posture is needed for emerging writers. This posture begins with core strength and balance. Today, many kids are so movement starved that they are falling out of their desks for no apparent reason at all! The ability to sit still actually begins with movement. Children who engage their bodies in diverse and complex movements develop what is needed for desk sitting."

Via Integrated Learning Strategies
Source: 1000hoursoutside.com/blog/outside-play-is-crucial-for-emerging-readers-and-writers

"Play was and always is the secret to life." —John Ohm

Our summer compendium issue #78 is out now! Click the link below to read more of "A Child's Song" and to discover what else our latest issue has to offer!

https://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/childrens-health-wellness/a-childs-song.html

Ever felt overstimulated when parenting? We all have at some point or another. Parents with neurodiversity such as high sensitivity can experience overstimulation often.

Mud kitchen play is one of my favorite things for young children! I've seen a lot of very fancy mud kitchens on Pinterest. Mud kitchens don't need to be fancy, in fact it's better if they aren't. I have found that the simpler, the better for kids. You can start a mud kitchen with anything you have laying around. This summer would be a great time to introduce your child to the concept of a mud kitchen. It's really just letting the child take the lead, exploring and creating whatever they desire. A few pots, pans, and utensils set up near some dirt with a container of water and they are set!

What questions do you have about mud kitchen play for kids?

I remember the first few times I took my son to the splash pad. He mostly observed, toddled around the grassy areas beside the splash pad, and ended up getting fussy shortly after we arrived. I remember thinking: what is wrong? Why can't he enjoy this like it seems like every other child here is?
I know now that this is totally typical for a child with my son's temperament to experience. And I also can remind myself that every parent and child is having their own unique experience (and it's not all fun and happy!) It was my job to lovingly support and affirm his feelings and experience. What my son needed and what most kids need is repeated, gentle exposures to a new environment before they are comfortable in it. This is perfectly normal!
I hope the tips in this post help and feel supportive. If so, what resonates with you and your experience?

The Unexpected Benefits of Play
Child-led play is all about the child-children having ideas:
"The roof's collapsed. • What about this then? • It's not big enough • What if we got two of them? • OK, let's try it • It's collapsing again • We need something lighter ... "
This is feedback from the physical three dimensional world that grows active learners. The children's hut may turn out to be a simple shelter of an elaborate cubby; either way the collateral benefits are woven into play in the real world: imagination, cause and effect, problem solving, creativity, stickability, flexibility, thinking outside of the square - and more. These are the talents that set kids up for a rich life of agency in the real world.

...I was going to put "play with scissors" and "play riskily" on here, too, but I thought that might freak people out TOO much. 😉

Seriously, though. It's the start of summer break at the American schools I work at. I know English schools go awhile longer before having more of a break in August, and I have no idea how Canadian, Australian, or my other readers' school systems work.

But in America there's something of a pressure to make your kid do academic work over the summer, or else they might lose their skills or struggle when they return to an academic setting or whatever.

But what with the erosion that I've seen of the power of play in childhood, the way that American schools are edging it out further and further in favor of pushing too-early academics and developmentally inappropriate expectations?

I got nothing to say to all of that except "nah". Spend the whole summer never once thinking about math...OR, even better, let children think about fractions in terms of baking cookies with Dad, money math in terms of running a lemonade stand, weights and measures in terms of how many scoops of dirt it takes to make just the right consistency of mud for whatever mud-hole experiment they're running perpetually in my backyard.

Play. Play. Play. It's so important. Go on a vacation, go to camp, sure, and then fill all the other gaps and holes with free, unstructured play. Protect it like it's essential to your child's well-being, because it is. Play is how they process the world, how they develop emotional regulation, how they improve their fine motor and gross motor skills, how they have experiences that are worth flexing their linguistic skills about, how their sensory systems make sense of the world around them, how they experiment and reason and explore cause-and-effect and a bajillion other things.

[Image description: A blue, watercolor-y background with white words on top of it. The title reads, "the 'get your child ready for school in the fall' summer checklist". The checklist contains these items: "Play outside, play in dirt, play in mud, play in water, play in sand, play with dough, play with paint, play with markers, play with food, play with cardboard boxes, read books together." The image was made by me, The Occuplaytional Therapist. End description.]

Happy Pride Month! 🏳️‍🌈

Outdoor child led play is so important for development! Your child will get this in my nature play camps! Check them out here:

➡️ https://www.therapymonkey.cloud/webinar-registration

"My childhood play took me to extremes, and all of them, I now understand, were a fun way to test the social realities into which one is born.

Surely this is a most important evolutionary function of play -- finding out what is fun or not fair on the field of life." - Dr. Jaak Panksepp 💙❤️💛

Outdoor play (especially with other children!) supports development of the self-organized child. They build resilience & strength as they overcome physical, emotional, and social challenges on a regular basis.

Zucchini is in season! I love this vegetable for so many reasons, mainly that it is so versatile and virtually disappears when grated in to most dishes your family already likes. Zucchini is cheap, can easily be found at grocery stores, and is easy to grow yourself in a vegetable garden or raised bed, OR can be picked up at farmers market stands this time of year!

🚽 This veggie needs to be in your potty learning toolbox! Here's why: besides having antioxidants and nutrients for growing bodies it's a veggie that contains both of the 2 types of fiber we need to have healthy poops and prevent constipation: soluble AND insoluble 👏🏻.

If your kiddo doesn't like green food (yet) don't fret! There are so many opportunities to expose your child to this amazing vegetable this summer. Here's some ideas:
- Have them pick some out at the store or at market.
-Have them watch you grate and cut the vegetable in to dishes.
-Let them grate, cut, or spiralize the zucchini.
-Let them sprinkle bits of grated zucchini in to kid favorites like pasta or pizza sauce.
-Let them help you make it in to a delicious baked dish like chocolate zucchini bread.
-Let them see you eating and enjoying zucchini!

What recipe will you try this summer with zucchini?

🚽 I really enjoy working with families on potty learning! I even created a guide for caregivers of children ages 2-3 who are anticipating their child going through the potty learning process.
This guide is great for first time parents, parents of strong willed or neurodiverse children, or anyone that's looking to avoid all of the opinions and information surrounding potty training. My approach is not opinion based, but rather it is rooted in developmental and brain/emotion based science for children- and it really helps people get clear on what to expect and how to help their child navigate this process.

Tag a friend or share with someone that might benefit from this guide!
Check it out and learn more about me and my other offerings here: https://impactcoachteam.com/parent-and-family-coaching/



Impact Life Coaching

Boys are not tough, at any age - Maggie Dent One of the most pervasive stereotypes that needs to be challenged about gender and childhood is that little boys are in some way stronger and tougher than little girls.