playbasedkids-blog

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The Life-Changing Magic of Rotating Toys

Previously on the blog, I’ve talked about the best strategies for decluttering and organizing toys and today I’m going to follow that with a guide to rotating toys - a classroom trick that you can use in your home to promote focused, creative play! In a daycare or classroom setting, toys are usually stored in a closet, and teachers pull out the materials for each day. At home, you probably don’t want to switch out toys on a daily basis, but rotating every few weeks keeps things fresh and encourages children to combine materials in creative new ways (not to mention reducing playroom chaos!).

Storage

First, as you’re decluttering, make sure the toys you’re keeping are age-appropriate and in good condition. Find a central storage place for off-rotation toys, like a closet, basement, or locked cupboard. Labeled plastic storage bins keep things tidy and clean and will make it easy to pull out new materials at a glance.

Organization

Second, we’re going to loosely sort toys by the type of play they provoke. Depending on how many toys you have, you may only have a few categories (indoor, outdoor, art supplies), or you might be able to get more specific (stacking toys, puppets, playdough). However you decide to classify, you want to have a few options in each category to rotate through. If there are any particular toys that your children are particularly attached to or truly use on a daily basis, those can stay out of the rotation system.

Rotation

When you’re ready to start rotating, you’re going to pull one toy from each category to set out in your child’s play space. From time to time you can skip a category, or combine toys from the same category, but in general you want to have a balanced variety of play materials available. There are no hard and fast rules, but I find that 5-10 toys (or sets of toys, eg. Brio trains, LEGO, dolls with accessories) is a good number to provide options without being overwhelming. In my current nanny job, I rotate toys every two weeks, but every week or every month would work just as well. 

Display

As a Montessori based nanny, I have our play space set up with open shelves to display the toys that are out on rotation. Children are drawn to appealingly displayed materials, and you can steer them towards less-used toys by placing them at eye level. In Reggio Emelia philosophy, this is called a “provocation” or an invitation to play. You can find beautiful, organized, color coordinated playroom ideas for inspiration on Instagram and Pinterest, but it is important to keep focus on the child’s play - not what will make the best photo. We want kids to use their imaginations to create their own play, and sometimes when adults set up a detailed and prescriptive activity, it can stifle creativity. 

A note on books

I rotate books in the same way as toys - most of our board books are on a shelf in the library and I pull out about 10 each week to display in the living room and playroom. You may want to group a few books at a time in each living space - a basket next to the rocking chair in the nursery, a shelf in the playspace, a few in the diaper bag. Most babies and toddlers delight in yanking books off shelves and ripping out pages, so I find it helpful to limit their access, for everyone’s sanity!

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The top 5 perks of being green in the city

You might think that city living contradicts with a lifestyle that’s considered “crunchy,” “granola,” eco-friendly or green, but there’s actually a huge emphasis on natural living within my community. I live and work within the city limits of Washington DC and while we’re not the biggest city out there, the environment and pace of life is decidedly urban. We may not have rolling farmland, virgin forests, or isolated homesteads, but cities are actually a great place to care for Mother Earth. Here are five benefits I’ve found from being green in my city.

Urban living is better for the planet

There’s no doubt that suburban sprawl is terrible the planet. Endless subdivisions, McMansions with pristine monoculture lawns, big-box shopping centers, and two cars per household. Urbanization has its own environmental downsides, but overall it’s much more efficient for people to live in more densely populated areas, like apartment buildings and rowhouses. In my last apartment, I rarely turned on the heat, even in the dead of winter, because my neighbors’ units helped insulate mine and keep the building as a whole comfortable. City dwellers waste less water because we don’t have lawns to maintain, and municipal services like trash collection, mail delivery, even road maintenance are more efficient when scaled up. And speaking of roads...

Public transit

I don’t own a car. Neither does my roommate. I’ve never driven with my nanny kids. Instead, we walk, bike, take the bus, or ride the Metro, one of the best public transit systems in the country. DC and many other major cities are set up to allow for eco-friendly commuting and travel, keeping cars off the roads and drastically cutting carbon emissions.

Strong Communities

Public transportation is one of many ways urban residents share local resources to create vibrant communities. From block parties to neighborhood councils, walking carpools to community gardens, I’ve found that I’m much more connected with my neighbors in the city than when I’ve lived in suburban and rural areas in the past. Pretty much anything can be given away, traded, or borrowed through online neighborhood groups, or just leave unwanted items on the curb and someone will take it to upcycle. Even old moving boxes go through two or more moves in a row, being broken down and shared before eventually being sent to recycling.

Local agriculture

Along with community gardens, there are numerous ways to get fresh, local, organic produce in most areas of DC. Many neighborhoods have year-round farmer’s markets, and there are many CSAs with city drop-off or even door-to-door delivery. I know of two dairies that deliver milk and cheese weekly in old-fashioned glass bottles, and there are many other local and independent vendors offering everything from coffee to pie to honey. And on the other end, you can sign up for a compost pick-up service, or, like me, drop off your food waste at the farmer’s market each week. Because of our mid Atlantic location, Washington is a short drive from farms in Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, giving us easy access to ethically sourced food.

Activism and liberal politics

However, not everyone in DC has easy access to healthy local food. Food deserts are a real challenge for our neighbors who live in poorer and minority-populated areas. Cities, especially coastal cities, are famously much more liberal than rural areas, and I really believe that living in close quarters with diverse groups of people makes you more empathetic and understanding of different experiences. This is even more true of Washington in particular, which is the center of the political resistance movement, and hosted dozens of protests, marches, and demonstrations of civil disobedience against bigoted government officials (who, please remember, are not DC residents or representatives of our city!) and their destructive policies. I’m proud to have participated in and volunteered with many of these, along with thousands of my local neighbors, and it’s really powerful to have the opportunity to have your voice heard on a national scale.

I’m curious to hear from those in other areas of the country and across the world - how are you living a green life in your city or town?

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Best Baby Buys: 3-6 months

From outfitting a nursery to throwing baby showers to reading parenting books, many parents prepare thoroughly for the newborn period, but so much can change in babies over their first three months of life. All of a sudden, new parents have teething, rolling, growing babies on their hands, with no sleep and no time to research! Here are a few of my must-have products for the next stage of infancy.

Zoli Bunny Nub Teether

Most babies start teething by 6 months, and these simple chewy toys are the perfect shape to soothe babies’ gums. The ridged nubs and unique shape work well for tiny teethers who are just figuring out hand/mouth coordination.

Bandana Drool Bibs

With teething comes drool, and these cute bandana-style bibs can help prevent wet patches and clothing changes. I like that they have snaps rather than velcro for longevity and no chance of scratching babies’ sensitive necks.

Zipadeezip Sleep Sack

Most babies are rolling between 3-6 months, which means swaddles are out. Sleep sacks are a safer alternative, and the Zipadee-Zip works well to transition babies by keeping their hands cozy but moveable.

Woombie Grow With Me Swaddle

Another safe sleep option for rolling babes is a convertible swaddle which can be transformed from arms-in to arms-out without having to buy a new product. This one can be used from birth to 18 months.

Zutano Booties

Keeping socks and booties on tiny feet is a struggle as old as time, and my favorite solution is this style of snap-on booties. My last nanny baby didn’t even wear socks until she was walking, we only used several pairs of these cozy and practical soft shoes. There are even versions in fleece for wintertime, and with rubber soles for older toddlers.

Global Babies

Babies at this age are fascinated by the world around them - especially people. Introduce them to faces of other babies from diverse background and start a lifelong love of reading at the same time.

Rainforest Bonnet

Once babies have hit 3 months, many parents feel more comfortable bringing them out and about and incorporating them into daily family activities. Outdoor time is great for babies, but sunscreen can’t be used until 6 months, so keeping little ones covered up and in the shade is essential.

Disclosure: Affiliate links. Thanks for supporting this page!

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10 reasons to bring your baby outside

There’s a Scandinavian saying that “there’s no bad weather, only bad clothing,” and while the US is in a subzero polar vortex that definitely qualifies as bad weather, overall I agree. Parents are often surprised that I take babies outside almost every day in all weather, but for me the benefits of nature far outweigh the hassle of trying to get tiny fingers into mittens or applying sunscreen to a squirmy toddler. Here are ten benefits to taking babies outside.

1. Sitting, standing, crawling and walking on uneven surfaces requires balance, coordination, and core strength. You could invest in expensive climbing equipment for indoors… or you could just go to the park!

2. Snow, dirt, mud, grass, flowers, sand, rocks and more become sensory materials that sharpen babies’ sense of touch and fine motor skills.

3. If you have access to garden spaces, babies can eat a variety of fruits and vegetables straight from the earth, giving more interest and variety than pre-made purees.

4. Fresh air means better sleep. Throughout Europe, babies nap outdoors, even in winter, and I’ve found that getting outside leads to great naps, even for little babies.

5. Early experiences in nature set babies up for a lifetime appreciation of the environment.

6. The variety of sounds outdoors are endless - even in a city, babies can hear trains, helicopters, sirens, and dogs barking as well as more natural sounds. Nature is also the ideal place for babies to exercise their voices and I encourage you to let babies (and older kids) be as loud as they like outside.

7. The great outdoors lends itself to lots of rough and tumble gross motor play that involves the whole body (and bonus, will tire them out for a great nap!).

8. Weather is a fascination for babies who are experiencing everything for the first time. We tend to keep babies’ environments perfectly temperature controlled and sterile, but with proper clothing and for short times, babies can take in snow, wind, rain, heat or fog. Even thunderstorms can be watched with fascination from inside.

9. The materials found in nature are completely open ended and allow babies to explore and play however they like, developing creativity and independence.

10. Dirt is healthy! Scientific studies show that exposure to dirt and animals before age 1 are less likely to develop asthma and allergies. This idea even has a name - the “hygiene hypothesis.”

As winter turns to spring, bring your babies outside and see them blossom!

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play prompt 13

Montessori discovery basket

The Montessori-inspired discovery basket or treasure basket is a play prompt that allows babies to safely explore a variety of everyday items and simple toys. Look for 5-10 objects that provide a variety of sensory experiences - soft and spiky, metal and wood, quiet and loud. This activity is perfect for babies who are sitting up but not very mobile yet.

Materials:

woven basket

rainbow scarf

sensory ball

milk frother

egg shaker

grasping toy

sandpaper letter

empty tin

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play prompt 12

If you have a truck-obsessed toddler in the house, expand their creative play by making roads and parking lots out of construction paper. Here, I cut and taped black paper to our art table, then glued on smaller scraps of white and yellow paper to make the traffic lines.

Materials

construction paper

glue

cars and trucks 

buildings, trees, or other small world/dollhouse accessories (BRIO pictured)

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play prompt 11

Water transfer is a classic Montessori activity for toddlers that teaches practical life skills, hand-eye coordination, hand and arm strength, science concepts, and sensory exploration. IKEA is a great place to find child-sized dishes like the creamer pitcher I used here.

 Materials:

pitcher 

bowl

measuring cup

spoon

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babies and food allergies - tips and recipes

When I started working with babies, we had a list of top food allergens to avoid posted on the wall of the infant classroom. In the past decade, however, the advice has completely reversed, and research now suggests that babies should be introduced to commonly allergenic foods as soon as possible to help protect against food allergies. Baby Led Weaning (BLW), or giving babies finger food instead of purees, has also become very popular in the last few years, so here are some tips on how to introduce the top 8 food allergens to babies no matter how they're fed.

Milk 

Purees: plain Greek yogurt is high in protein and a baby favorite on its own or mixed with fruit purees.

BLW: cubes of cheese like mozzarella or cheddar are a healthy snack - but if giving string cheese be sure to cut it lengthwise to avoid a choking hazard.

 Eggs

Purees: soft scrambled eggs can be mashed and mixed with veggie purees.

BLW: eggs can be hardboiled, scrambled, or made into omelettes (a great way to add in veggies to a meal!)

 Peanuts

Purees: stir a spoonful of peanut butter into oatmeal or mix with mashed banana.

BLW: Bamba are a puff-like Israeli peanut butter snack that have single-handedly reduced the rate of peanut allergies in Israel because they’re so popular with children. They’re now available in the US at Trader Joe’s or online.

 Tree nuts

Purees: almond butter can be used like peanut butter as an add-in to purees or oatmeal.

BLW: ground almond meal can be used in baking in place of flour.

 Soy

Purees: use soy milk to make cereal, or mix silken tofu into pureed veggies.

BLW: edamame make a healthy, soy-based snack, and many BLW kids are surprisingly willing to eat cubes of tofu!

 Wheat

Purees: teething biscuits made with wheat flour can be introduced while baby is still on purees.

BLW: this is an easy one - any type of wheat cracker, bread, pancake, muffin, etc will do!

 Fish and shellfish

Purees: flaked fish can be mixed with vegetable purees, or use fish stock if you have it on hand.

BLW: babies can be given fish as table food, just watch out for bones, which are a choking hazard.

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building blocks of baby sleep

Any parent or caregiver can tell you that sleep training is one of the most controversial topics in the childcare world (along with vaccines and discipline, which we'll save for another day!). Most American parents, advised by their pediatricians, don't worry about sleep at all in the first few months of a baby's life, then at the 6 month mark, pick one of dozens of sleep training methods - Ferber or Sears, wake to sleep or pick up/put down, cry it out or no-cry solution. Almost all of these can be effective if used consistently (which they rarely are by exhausted and overwhelmed parents), but what experienced nannies and newborn care specialists can tell you is that you can skip sleep training altogether by creating good sleep habits from birth, instead of trying to break bad habits formed over the first 6 months. With an understanding of how babies sleep, you can help even tiny babies get plenty of good rest so they can grow and thrive.  

Sleep Cycles

We all cycle through periods of light and deep sleep throughout the night, but babies’ sleep cycles are much shorter than adults’, usually 30-45 minutes. Many parents are familiar with the 30 minute mini-nap, but don’t realize that it’s normal for babies to rouse briefly from sleep before settling back down for a longer nap. If your baby’s regular naps are less than an hour, chances are they’re having trouble bridging sleep cycles.

 Arousal

When early humans were living in caves or camping on the savannah, we survived by waking up periodically throughout the night, just to make sure we weren’t about to be eaten by a saber-tooth tiger. Babies’ frequent wakings are a remnant of that need to check that we’re still safe. Often, when babies wake between sleep cycles, they’re not truly awake, just aroused enough to check that their surroundings are the same. This is why rocking babies to sleep is often counterproductive - they fell asleep being cuddled and soothed, but the next time they rouse they realize they’re alone in their crib and cry out. On the flip side, if baby fell asleep on their own, going in to the nursery at the first sign of arousal may wake them fully and signal that it’s time to get up. When helping a baby to learn independent sleep, it’s best to let them self-soothe back to sleep on their own, and only go in to help if they’re truly awake and crying.

 Wakeful Intervals

Babies have universal patterns not only of sleep, but wakefulness as well. The length of time a baby can stay awake between naps starts out very short during the sleepy newborn phase and gradually increases throughout infancy and toddlerhood. The majority of sleep problems I see are due to little ones being kept up too long, until they’re completely overtired. Knowing the right interval of wakefulness for a babies’ age, as well as recognizing early signs of sleepiness, are key to putting baby to bed when they’re in the right window to fall asleep easily. 

"The majority of sleep problems I see are due to little ones being kept up too long, until they’re completely overtired."

Drowsiness

If there’s one "secret trick” to baby sleep, it’s this: always put babies into bed drowsy but awake. Have a consistent but short bedtime routine - a story, a lullaby, nursing, swaddle - but don’t soothe them all the way to sleep. Even very young babies - 3 months or younger - can easily fall asleep on their own, and when they’ve been doing that from the start, you won’t have to break the habit of rocking or feeding to sleep with sleep training once they’re older.

Once you understand the patterns all babies fall into, it's easy to be proactive about creating positive sleep habits for your baby that will last a lifetime!

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families belong together

Budapest, 1947. Across Europe and the USSR, millions of war orphans and poor children are institutionalized in cold, industrial orphanages, where their physical needs may be met, but there is little love, attention or care, and children fail to thrive. Hungarian pediatrician Dr. Emmi Pikler has different ideas and opens an orphanage called Lóczy, where children are nurtured and treated with respect, and their surroundings can foster their natural development. 70 years later, her pioneering philosophy of respectful infant care has spread across the world and is now known as RIE.

 Texas, 2018. In six weeks, nearly 2,000 immigrant children have been separated from their families and kept in metal cages. Border Patrol officers joke about the noise while young children sob for their parents. When the officials do acknowledge the children, they’re only told to stop crying, but at least one doesn’t understand - she only speaks an indigenous Guatemalan language, not Spanish or English.

 It’s hard to know where to start when faced with a crisis that’s so blatantly wrong. It’s racist, and immoral, and un-Christian, and not based in US law, and being used for political gain, and causing generational trauma, and echoing dark times in American history when families were separated and institutionalized during slavery, Japanese internment, and Indian schools. But as ‘kid people’ who believe in respectful childcare, I think it’s enough for us to say: this is wrong. We knew better 70 years ago, and we know better now. As RIE practicioners, we can’t nurture the children in our care and stand by while others are abused. As nannies, we can’t support the families we work for while others are ripped apart. Domestic work is inherently linked to family and immigration issues - this is our fight. Here are four ways to help:

 1. Vote. Today is primary day here in DC, and although we don’t have any ballot measures related to immigration or representation in Congress, I’ll be taking the baby down to our polling place this afternoon, because making our voices heard is the most significant political action we can take.

2. Call your representatives. Like I mentioned above, DC doesn’t have congressional representation. But chances are you do! It’s essential to call your senators and representatives and ask them to put an end to family separations. 

3. Donate. The ACLU is always a good bet when addressing legal issues like immigration, and RAICES is doing work on the ground in Texas to get legal help to immigrants and asylum seekers.

4. Protest.  There is a national day of protest planned for Saturday June 30th. If you’re local, you can join me in protesting at the White House, or click through to Families Belong Together to find a rally near you.

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preventing child sexual abuse

I have a guest post up on Nanny Care Hub today about preventing child sexual abuse - click through for simple, non-scary tips!

 Everyday Actions to Help Keep Kids Safe From Sexual Abuse and Assault

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monday nanny hacks

 As I write this, it’s 10am on a sunny Monday morning. Both babies are sleeping, the toddler is entertaining herself in the playroom, the classical radio station is playing Ravel and I’m sitting in the kitchen with coffee and my bullet journal. Believe it or not, this is a typical Monday for us. Because many kids struggle with the transition from spending the weekend with parents to the weekdays with nanny, I’ve put some guidelines in place to smooth that transition and set us off on a good start to the week.

Keep expectations low. I never schedule activities, play dates, or plan to go far from home on Mondays. We might venture over to the playground down the street, but otherwise we just stay home and keep things low-key.

Quiet time. For toddlers who have trouble saying goodbye to Mom and Dad come Monday morning, it can be helpful to give them some space and independence if they’re not ready for happy bonding time with nanny just yet. My oldest nanny kid is definitely an introvert and will often go up to her room alone and look at books for awhile before she’s ready to join everyone else at play. Of course, you shouldn’t make an upset child go to their room alone, but you can honor that this transition is hard for them and let them warm up at their own pace.

Plan easy activities. Mondays are a great day to pull out those magical activities that kids love and don’t make a huge mess for nanny to clean up. Some of our current favorites are paint sticks, MagnaTiles, water play, and farm animals. If you rotate toys, being able to pull old favorites out of storage can be a lifesaver!

Extra zzz’s. Even babies’ and toddlers’ weekends seem packed with activities, errands, outings, and visiting family, and naps can be the first thing to go out the window. I expect that my nanny kids will need to nap earlier and for longer than average on Mondays - another good reason to stay close to home.

[playbasedkids-blog]

30 under 30

This little sweetie is the newest addition to my nanny crew - and also the 30th baby I’ve cared for in my career. I turn 30 later this year, and the recent release of the Forbes 30 Under 30 list has got me thinking about milestones and the types of work our culture celebrates. The young entrepreneurs, authors, CEOs, and athletes Forbes highlights are absolutely amazing, make no mistake. But the undeniable truth is that a nanny is never going to make that list. She could be the best nanny in history, set a record for most babies cared for, or raise the next Gandhi or MLK, and nobody would ever know. Our work is hidden behind closed doors, our success perceived as a threat to our employers, with no path to advancement or even possibility of permanent employment.

It’s no coincidence that the Forbes list has historically featured disproportionate numbers of white men, while most nannies are women of color. The undervaluing of childcare work is inextricably linked to misogyny and racism. The roots of modern American domestic workers can be traced back to slavery, when enslaved black women cared for white children, cooked their meals, and cleaned their houses. After the abolishment of slavery, and as increasingly more women returned to work after having children, this model of childcare has barely changed. The majority of nannies are women of color, underpaid and unrecognized, silent caretakers in homes we’ll never be able to afford. 

Our society doesn’t have systems in place to formalize childcare and domestic work, let alone honor childcare providers. I don’t resent the recipients of mainstream societal recognition. But as Ai-Jen Poo of the National Domestic Worker’s Alliance says, caregiving is the work that makes all other work possible. As long as institutions like Forbes ignore domestic work, they’ll have a flawed understanding of success.

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top 5 baby care myths, busted

Parenting has changed a lot since our parents or grandparents were raising their kids, and science is offering us new understanding of all sorts of aspects of infant care every day. Unfortunately, there's so much parenting advice out there that scientific fact and up to date recommendations can get lost among the outdated information and old wives' tales. Here are 5 common myths about babies and the science-based best practices you should be doing instead!

1. Avoid introducing high risk allergens until age 2.

Recent research actually shows that early introduction of highly allergenic foods like peanuts, eggs, shellfish, etc, makes kids less likely to develop a food allergy.  Doctors noticed that Israeli kids had much lower rates of peanut allergies than those in other regions and linked it to the popularity of peanut butter Bamba puffs as an early finger food for babies. The current recommendation is to introduce a variety of solid foods, including nuts and other risky foods, starting at 6 months.  Nuts and peanut butter can be a choking hazard for young children, though, so try nut butters spread on crackers, stirred into oatmeal, or baked into muffins.

2. Babies who sleep on their backs can choke if they spit up in bed.

According to the AAP, there is no increased risk of choking or aspiration for babies who sleep on their backs, and babies who sleep on their stomachs are at a higher risk for SIDS and suffocation related deaths.  Remember the ABCs of safe infant sleep: babies should sleep Alone on their Backs in a Crib.

3. Flashcards, Baby Einstein videos, and other "educational" tools help babies learn language.

Nope.  The way babies learn to speak is from you!  Studies show that Baby Einstein videos have no benefit to language development.  Talking naturally and reading with your baby, on the other hand, is shown over and over again to be the best way to foster your baby's language development.

4. Rear facing car seats are uncomfortable for kids.

Many parents turn their baby's car seat to face forwards early because they feel their child will be more comfortable or less fussy, but rear facing is perfectly comfortable for babies, toddlers and even preschoolers.  More importantly, rear facing kids are up to 500% safer than forward facing!  Best practice is to rear face until at least age 2, preferably closer to age 4.  Pro tip: many babies dislike the bucket style infant car seats, so if you have a fussy baby, try switching to a convertible seat instead of turning baby around!

5. Putting cereal in a baby's bottle will help them sleep through the night.

Not only does it make no difference to baby sleep, adding cereal to bottles can actually be dangerous itself for several reasons.  Cereal in bottles is a choking hazard, interferes with babies' natural hunger cues, and consists of nutritionally empty calories.  Healthy sleep routines and development are what cause babies to sleep through the night, not solid food.

[playbasedkids-blog]

Best museums for kids in DC

National Museum of Natural History

Kid spaces: Q?rius Jr, a science exploration room best for ages 2 and up.  Hours are limited and seasonal, so check in advance of your visit.

Kid-friendly exhibits: all.  The Oceans Hall, Hall of Mammals, Insect Zoo, and dinosaurs are classics.

Pro tips: Tickets to the Butterfly Pavilion are free on Tuesdays - go right at opening to reserve yours because they're timed.

National Museum of American History

Kid spaces: Wegman's Wonderplace, a playspace for ages birth through 5 years.  Admission is free but timed tickets are given out on weekends.  Closed on Tuesdays.

Kid-friendly exhibits: America On The Move - cars, trains, trucks and buses for the transportation-obsessed toddler.  FOOD: Transforming the American Table - children will recognize familiar foods from their own kitchens and can learn about where those came from.

Pro tips: Confusingly, the Smithsonian metro stop is not actually close to most of the Smithsonian museums, especially if you need the elevator which is located on Independence Ave.  The closest metro to American History is actually Federal Triangle.

Air and Space Museum

Kid spaces: How Things Fly, a children's exhibit on flight.  Most displays and activities are aimed at elementary age children, but younger kids will enjoy climbing in the pilots seat of a plane, and pushing buttons, turning knobs and exploring the many interactives.

Kid-friendly exhibits: the open lobbies at the ends of each wing of the building have larger items (planes, rockets, etc) on display and are very kid-friendly.  The Pioneers of Flight exhibit on the second floor also is very appealing to children. 

Pro tips: L'enfant Plaza, directly behind the museum, is a hot spot for food trucks, so skip the expensive cafeteria and grab lunch al fresco.

National Building Museum*

(note: the Building Museum charges admission)

Kid spaces: The Building Zone - a playspace for ages birth through 5 years, timed tickets; Play Work Build - a construction play area for elementary aged kids.  Smaller children can enjoy building with the big blocks, too, but note that some toys in this area are small enough to be choking hazards.

Kid-friendly exhibits: The above exhibits are likely to take up all of your visit, but other exhibits can be accessible to kids as well, especially special/temporary exhibits.

Pro tips: The Building Museum has a large-scale, interactive installation in the courtyard every summer - recent installations have included a huge ball pit, cave like pyramids with explorations of echoes and sound, and an arctic scene with "ice" slides.  Tickets are extra $ but usually worth it!  They also host weekly storytimes put on by the DC Public Library.  

National Gallery of Art

Kid spaces: none

Kid-friendly exhibits: In the West building, check out Degas's Little Dancer, Cassat's mothers and babies, or the only Da Vinci on display in the Americas.  The newly renovated East building has modern art and is more kid-friendly, with large sculptures, Alexander Calder mobiles, and pop art exhibits.  In nice weather, head west to check out the Sculpture Garden full of art, a cafe, a huge fountain in summer and ice skating in winter!

Pro tips: Make sure you check out the basement level for a great kids' gift shop, cafeteria, waterfall, and a starry, sparkly tunnel walkway between buildings.

National Museum of the American Indian

Kid spaces: imagiNATIONS - a play space best for kids 2 and up.  Closed Mondays.

Kid-friendly exhibits: Our Universes - mythology and traditional storytelling from various tribes and nations.  Children enjoy hearing recordings of oral histories and the starry ceiling representing Native constellations. 

Pro tips: The NAMI's Misitam Cafe is rightly famous for serving up dishes from Native cultures throughout the Americas.

United States Botanic Garden

Kid spaces: The Children's Garden is a newly redone, outdoor children's playspace best for walkers and up.  Children can plant, dig and water to their heart's content; explore a large climbing structure; and play in the misters.  Only open in summer; be sure to bring a change of clothes!

Kid-friendly exhibits: All. 

Pro tips:  The botanic garden puts on a holiday display of miniature trains and models of local landmarks every December.  These exhibits are extremely popular, so go as early in the season as you can, preferably on a weekday.

US Postal Museum

Kid spaces: none

Kid-friendly exhibits: Most of the exhibits downstairs are kid-friendly and interactive.  The highlight for most kids is the full sized truck cab they can climb in and "drive", but there's also a walk-in train car, a mock package sorting center, a stagecoach they can ride, and many interactives throughout.

Pro tips: This is one of the hidden gems of DC - if you're going to be in the city at a particularly busy time (school vacations, 4th of July, etc), this is a great museum to visit for some quiet.

[playbasedkids-blog]

please touch! (visiting museums with young children, part 1)

This is the first post in a series on visiting museums with children birth through 5 years - stay tuned for Washington, DC museum recommendations next week!

I'm lucky to live and work in Washington DC, surrounded by world-class museums with free admission.  My academic background is in history and archaeology, so I love introducing my nanny kids to the wonderful world of museums from a very young age.  People are often surprised that my toddlers go to museums almost weekly, can behave themselves, and enjoy the outing, but they're favorite spots for both the kids and I, and they'll ask me if we can go to visit the airplanes (Air & Space), Henry the elephant (Natural History), or Marie the ballerina (Degas' Little Dancer at the National Gallery).

1) Have a plan going in.

Start small - plan to visit for about an hour maximum, and don't try to squeeze in things the adults want to see in the same visit.  The more positive experiences children have in museums, the more stamina they'll have for longer visits later on.  Make sure your child is fed, diapered, well-rested and comfortable, keeping in mind most museums don't allow food so cheerio bribery is off the table!

2) Check online for children's programming.

There's a big trend in museum education to welcome visitors of all ages and abilities, so chances are your museum will have events and spaces meant just for kids.  At the various Smithsonians here in DC, there are storytimes, toddler playspaces, art workshops, scavenger hunts, and interactive exhibits appropriate for the under 5 set.

3) Museum manners.

Set expectations with your children before you set foot in a museum.  My kids learn "museum manners," a concept I borrowed from a training with the director of the Smithsonian Early Enrichment Center.  Before we walk in a museum I remind the kids of our museum manners with a familiar call and response chant, touching each part of our body as we go:

Our feet are....

Walking!

Our voices are...

Quiet!

And our hands are...

On our belly!

4) Follow the child.

Sometimes, we're at a museum for a specific event, or I have a plan for what we're going to see based on the child's interests, or books we've been reading.  But other times, I'll just steer us into a relatively child-friendly exhibit and let the kids explore what appeals to them.  Once I spent 40 minutes sitting on the floor in front of a model sailboat with a 2 year old, talking with her about what makes boats move.  Other times they're most interested in the escalators!  Take off the pressure of learning something specific or seeing the most important things, and your kids will lead the way.

5. Expand the experience.

Not all museums or all exhibits are perfectly suited to young kids, who learn best through free exploration with all their senses.  Feel free to bring along props children can touch, books related to what they might see, or even art supplies (always check to make sure they're allowed in the museum, and don't bring anything noisy or disruptive, of course).  I especially like doing this in art galleries that are less likely to be interactive than other types of museums.  A great way to create an emergent curriculum is to recognize the area of interest for the child, check out books on the topic from the library, pack up some related toys, and head to a museum with an exhibit on the subject.  For instance, most toddlers go through a phase of being train obsessed - we might note this, read some books about trains together (Freight Train, The Little Engine That Could, Thomas, etc), pack up a few Brio train engines, take the Metro, and go to the transportation exhibit at American History to look at the different types of trains on display. 

With a little planning, museum outings can be fun and educational for adults and kids alike!

Do you bring your kids to museums?  What do they like to see there?

[playbasedkids-blog]

creating giftable art with children

Last month I talked about how most kids holiday crafts are aimed at adults rather than children, and don't represent real creativity.  Today I'm giving you a few ideas on how to offer creative opportunities that will still create beautiful holiday gifts for family and friends!

1. Use real materials

Go wild at the craft store and try out real canvases, acrylic paints, beeswax crayons, and modeling clay.  Quality art supplies inspire creativity and result in something that looks better than flaking tempera paint on wrinkled construction paper.

2. Decorate a finished object

A picture frame or the mat for a framed photo, a tree ornament, a plant pot, or an apron for grandma.  If you can incorporate a cute photo of the child along a sample of their artwork it's an extra cute peek at this moment in their life!

3. Collaborate

Artist Ruth Oosterman turns her toddler's scribbles into beautiful paintings, but you don't have to be an artist to work together with children to create a group project.  Try giving a toddler's finger paintings to older children to cut and glue into a collage, or print children's art on fabric for an adult's sewing project.

4. Go monochrome

A rainbow palette of paint looks lovely to start with, but add in a small child and it'll be muddy brown in a blink.  If that's not something you want to hang on your wall, consider giving a couple shades of one color, or adding in a metallic or glitter paint for dimension. 

 The play-based kids are shipped off to the grandparents, this play-based nanny is on vacation, and PBK is on break for the holidays! I’ll be back in the new year with regular weekly play prompts  and a series on visiting museums with young children!