Now that the tot is three, so many things have changed. She can talk her way through temper-tantrums explaining to us specifically why she is screaming and ranting, run that much faster away from us while we yell her name (desperately), and determine for herself if she’d like to nap or not (which is not so great for any down time for me). Sure, she’s also developing in amazing ways and exploring all the new things her brain and body can do, but it really seems so many of those things turn into a reason to have a toddler/parent show down.

And, during those moments, I try to take a few deep breaths and remind myself she’s a toddler and her behavior is typical. She’s also learning from the world around her, so setting a positive example is essential. It’s also pretty important to take a step back as the parent and give the child a chance to explore and learn from mistakes.

Through the concept of constructivism, a child is encouraged to learn through determining his own path of knowledge and individual process. Each child is different and special, just like their learning, and constructivism supports the idea that we construct our own understanding of the world we live in through generating rules and ideas based on individual experiences and trail and error. With the learning theory of constructivism, there are no flash cards or standardized tests. Instead, the child is supported to follow her instinct and create her own knowledge and strategies for understanding and learning.

Um, what the heck is constructivism? Don’t worry, it’s nothing to freak out about – and you might find learning about constructivism benefits you and your child. So, here are some facts…

The history of social constructivism leads us back to Lev Vygotsky and his social theories of learning. His studies found that a child often successfully accomplished new tasks while working in collaboration with an adult instead of on his own. This does not mean the adult is teaching the child how to solve problems, but through the act of the adult engaging with the child the learning experience improves and offers the child the ability to refine thinking and perform effectively. It is the idea of “can do” versus “cannot do,” and offering the child opportunities to change to the “can do” attitude with supportive, individual adult input.

By combining the idea of social and cognitive constructivism, the child is able to develop in positive ways. Social constructivism emphasizes the learning a child accomplishes through interaction with others and outside experiences. Cognitive constructivism is based on a child’s developmental stages and individual learning style. As stated before, each child is different and when her specific learning style is determined, her ability to learn is enhanced, especially when adults are able to fine-tune teaching to fit her specific learning.

Teaching with Constructivism

The educational system is not conducive to comfortably support constructivism in the mainstream classroom. But, there are small things educators, and parents, can do to support a child’s learning and development through constructivist theory. It is thought that most educators view learning as an objectivist theory, with the belief that learning exists outside of the bodies of learners residing in books and other educational documents. This leads to curriculum being based on teaching the child through textbooks instead of through experience. Through constructivism, the main way of learning is the senses, causing the brain to build a full understanding of the surrounding world. This leads us back to the understanding that each child is an individual creating separate unique responses and experiences.

With testing being the popular way to determine a child’s knowledge base, constructivism encourages the concept of experience and interaction. The process of learning through doing and engaging is the goal. Also, understanding each individual child’s prior-knowledge is key, used to build and grow adult interactions and teachings. This encourages greater bonds between adult and child and deeper educational experiences resulting in higher knowledge and self-esteem.

Ways to Integrate Constructivism

Introducing constructivist theory may seem like an unattainable goal for the classroom, but educators can make a difference through making simple changes and a bit of extra time. Parents can benefit from doing the same thing, creating a positive environment where the child is encouraged to explore and build his knowledge base through constructive ideals.

Take time to talk: It’s challenging in a bustling classroom to cover topics required by state standards of learning and maintain requirements of the school, but shortening lectures and book study and adding more interaction and discussion is one way to offer each student the opportunity to take part in learning. Including activities that encourage the student to apply their existing knowledge and real-world experiences promotes constructive learning. A healthy class debate is always a wonderful way to talk things out and hypothesis new ideas and problem solving.

At home, take time to talk through problems and encourage conversations at the dinner table, discussing new and exciting topics. And, don’t forget to ask lots of open-ended questions!

Doing is learning: Get out of the classroom and use those senses for learning! This goes for the home environment, too. As a population, we get caught up with the Internet and other social media as ways of entertainment and education. That big, heavy textbook has been replaced with surfing the interwebs. Turn to the great outdoors, along with real-life social interactions for learning and growth. Taking students into the real world to test their ideas and knowledge benefits constructive learning and understanding. Encourage a group discussion to finish the lesson after the out-of-classroom experience. And, parents can do the same by getting out of the house for a simple nature walk.

Ditch your expectations: Constructivism is not about test results and rote learning but about developing the child’s senses and understanding of the world around her. Find ways to encourage that learning through doing activities that are free of set limits and end results. Allowing a child to experiment with open-ended activities encourages creativity and self-esteem. If talking about weather systems, have students create a colorful weather collage. When discussing architecture, brainstorm as a group ways for building better covered bridges. Not only is the child developing her brain in amazing ways, she is pushing her senses to the limits learning more about his strengths and weaknesses and then making adjustments. Offering pre-tests allows for the teacher to gain understanding of student’s existing knowledge, aiding in creating educational lesson plans.

At home, direct open-ended questions without pressure on expectations. Use language focused on learning instead of results, such as grades, to instill confidence.

Introducing constructivist theory into the home or classroom is easier than one might think and offers fantastic benefits for both child and adult. So get out there and do some open-ended activities!

This week has been awesome. The weather has been amazing, the tot has been well behaved (as well as the adults), and even with the itty-bit of bad weather, there’s been fun things to do. We’ve been here before, which really makes it feel like we’re hangin’ at our beach house. Along with some serious beach time, there has been some extra-long walks around town and along the boardwalk.

Not much time for chatting on Twitter or posting on Facebook.

I’ll admit. At first my fingers twitched every time something awesome happened, wanting to grab the hubs’ camera to update via Hipstamatic. And I totally had to hold back from tweeting through our tasty lunch in La Jolla. And then there was that totally awesome moment with the tot in the sand and the birds and the surfers and the food and the farmers market…..

I turned off.

I put the laptop away and left the husband’s phone to the husband.

And, then, it happened.

I tuned in.

I started noticing things. Like wearing a swimsuit really isn’t the worst thing ever. And I’m the kind of girl that actually does like wearing big floppy sun hats – and they look pretty okay on me. I’m also all good with eating fried fish and chips every day for lunch and not spending the rest of the day worrying about if my thighs look fat. And that hanging out in the sand with your child really is super fun even though that sand ends up in areas not so desirable (which is what showers are for, right?).

And I discovered that sometimes putting away all the gadgets and just tuning into what makes you really happy without sharing it every 10-seconds kicks some serious ass.

Here are some more pictures of surfers and stuff.

Enjoy.

I’ll see ya on Monday.

It’s been a long week. The tot came down with a pretty nasty sick ick and the husband was super busy. On top of all that, the hubs had something going on tonight (Friday), which meant I would be on my own all day and evening with the tot. Yeah, yeah. I know some of you are rolling your eyes. But, after being with her all week, and the husband only seeing her for about two hours total each day, I was a wreck.

Last night the husband had a crazy idea. What about a date night – with the tot in tow? She and I could take the ferry into the city, rendezvous with him at the Ferry Building to enjoy a quick dinner (and a sampling of other tasty goodies), and then the tot and I could return home on the ferry with the hubs following behind an hour or so after.

At first I thought he was joking.

Load up a sickie, drag her onto a ferry, and then try to have a tasty meal out in the city?!

Yup.

I did it.

We had an awesome time. Sure, she yelled the entire time on the ferry that she was going to see her dada. Sure, she wasn’t wonderfully behaved while we were eating – but we sat outside and it didn’t matter. And, yeah, I forgot to take a picture of our dinner (but we can partially blame that on the margherita I had with the meal).

But, here are a couple of other pics…

Happy Friday!

Since my parents have left I’ve had to get back to doing all that stuff I used to, like putting away the dishes, doing my own laundry, and playing with the tot. Needless to say this week kicked me hard in the tushi and I was in need of some serious help keeping things together – including my daughter from having a complete and utter boredom breakdown.

In the gift-opening panacea that was the holidays blended with the tot’s birthday, we got several small containers of play dough, which were played with for hours and hours while Gamma was here. The thing is, all that play dough blended together into an unappealing looking green blob – and left this chemical-ick smell on our hands.

Blech.

So the other day we tossed together some of our own handmade play dough – with a spin. Instead of going through all that work to heat and stir and cook, I simplified things by adding hot liquid to the flour and salt. And, to combat that wallpaper paste smell of flour and water, we added some fresh grated lemon zest and juice to the hot water.

What’s really fun about this play dough is you can add food coloring and some scented oil to make things different. We tossed in a few drops of lemon food coloring to add to the already yellow tinged dough. Once your child gets tired of squishing with the play dough, the finished creations can be left to air dry, or baked in the oven on low heat for about an hour, creating a nice, hard little sculpture they can paint or put on display for everyone to admire.

We used a few cookie cutter to make fun shapes, which we then put together into a mobile….

Ingredients

4 c flour

1 c salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/2 to 2 c hot water

Zest of one lemon plus its juice (optional)

Food coloring (optional)

Scented oil (optional)

Directions

Measure and add the flour and salt to a big mixing bowl.

Bring the water to a boil along with the zest and juice from the lemon.

Add the hot water to the flour and salt mixture, along with the vegetable oil (along with the food coloring and scented oil), and give a good stir. If things feel too stiff, add a bit more water. Or, if things are too watery, add a bit more flour.

Dump the dough onto a work surface and knead until everything is nice and smooth without being sticky.

It’s that simple!

*To bake finished items, place in a 250 F oven for an hour.

It’s been a bit of a whirlwind over here. We delayed Christmas until my parents arrived late last week, the husband and I went out on a pre-New Year’s date, and now it’s the tot’s birthday.

I’m about ready to crawl into a quiet corner and hibernate.

When deciding what to do for our big tot on her b-day, I wanted to keep things pretty tame, you know, because we’ve been opening presents for what seems like days and days and days.

I figured we’d make a special meal – and a special treat. She’s in love with chocolate and bananas, so I combined the two into something really tasty.

Choco-nana cupcakes.

These are really simple and actually not so bad for you – especially if you eat them just as is without the additional frosting. There’s less sugar in them and no butter, but you’d never know. Using a really big and not-yet-brown banana creates big happy chunks of nanners in every bite.

What you need

3/4 c unsweetened Dutch process cocoa

1/2 c sugar

1 1/4 c flour

2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

Dash of cinnamon

Dash of salt

1 t vanilla

1 tbsp honey

1/4 c vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 c milk

1 c big chunks of chopped banana

How to make them

Start by cranking your oven to 350 F and then get out a muffin tin. You can line with little liners or lightly grease with a wiping of oil. Now you can begin dumping all the dry ingredients in a big mixing bowl (cocoa, flour, baking soda and powder, cinnamon, sugar, salt) and give things a good stir.

Measure and add the milk, honey, vanilla, and oil and lightly mix. Go ahead and toss in those two eggs too.

Chop up a big banana and add it to the mix. If you’ve got smaller bananas, you might need two. Seriously – it’s that simple.

Gently stir things up and then spoon into muffin tins. You should have enough batter to make 12 good-sized muffins.

Toss those choco-nana muffins in the oven for 17-20 minutes or until the tops are cracked and firm to the touch.

Once things are cool, top with yogurt cream cheese frosting or a dusting of powdered sugar – or eat plain!

YUM

*Yogurt cream cheese frosting

4 ounces room temperature cream cheese

1/3 c plain (or vanilla) yogurt (strained for an hour)

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 t vanilla

After you toss your cupcakes into the oven, line a strainer with a sheet of paper towel and then plop on your yogurt. Let it strain for an hour or so – or longer if you feel like it. Then gently press the yogurt to release as much liquid as possible.

Whip the yogurt with the room temperature cream cheese, vanilla, and powdered sugar using a hand mixer and spoon into a heavy duty zip top plastic bag and smoosh to one corner.

Snip the corner of the plastic bag with a scissors and then squeeze the frosting out in swirls onto those nicely cooled choco-nana cupcakes.

For the last couple of years the husband and I have been a bit unsure what to do during the holidays. He’s from a Jewish family, mine has fun holiday/Christmas traditions, and we have no family in the area. The tot is still a bit young – she’s not all caught up with the whole “Santa” thing yet – and my parents decided to be snow birds and head out to our part of the country just after Christmas.

What to do?

We decided to delay the big celebration until later this week. It just didn’t seem right to open gifts on Christmas and then again on post-Christmas with the grandparents along with the nightly Hanukkah candle lighting and small gift sharing (and the tot’s birthday is in the first few days of January…. Can you say gift opening craziness?!).

Instead of just sitting around on Christmas and then hitting the all-you-can-eat China Buffet for dinner, we decided to do something different.

We packed up and went to the beach.

And it was awesome.

Okay, remember awhile back when I shared how I put together this little video sharing my Turkey Tortilla Sushi recipe for a chance to be on the Cooking Channel via the Hidden Valley Ranch Ultimate Lunchbox Challenge? Well, guess what? I’m in the running! (that’s me over on the right!)

They’ve picked the final three contestants and I’m one of them!

(Yes, I’m using lots and lots of exclamation marks!)

Show me some love and head on over to check out the competition as well as revisit my recipe for Turkey Tortilla Sushi. The winner is partly determined by how many votes the video gets – so vote for me once daily until December 27th.

The winner will be announced January 9th!

(I’m so excited!)

Here’s what it the finished lunchbox creation looks like:

Thanks for your support!

Today we had a wonderful adventure picking out the perfect Christmas tree. The thing is, nothing ever goes as planned – especially when there’s a toddler involved. I wanted pictures, the tot was running amuck, and the husband was focused on finding the ultimate tree.

Doing holiday stuff with a toddler can be challenging at times.

But, after we had a little chat about how running in the tree farm is a no-no, trying to pick up the mini trees isn’t a good idea, and holding hands is actually fun, we finally found a pretty-near-perfect tree.

During all this I was crazily attempting to get a few pictures of the unfolding events. My parents did a great job of taking pictures for us to look back on and I wanted to do the same for my daughter.

Once we got home and finished putting the (unbreakable) ornaments on the tree, I had a brief moment to look at the pictures I had snapped. They were fun and cute, but what to do with them? I could pop them up on Facebook or share a few on Twitter….

Bah.

I was recently introduced to LiveOn.com, and let me tell you – they kinda rock.

keep on reading…

Yeah, most kids love dressing up and enjoying the festivities of Halloween. But, our tot? Nope. She’s not into wearing costumes, won’t let us do anything to her hair or face, and doesn’t like hats or crowns or anything.

We thought she might be ready for it this year…

Between potty training and no more naps, our tot is a wreck.

We are too.

So instead of attempting to shove her into a costume she would just tear off, we got out the pumpkin, enjoyed scribbling, and then carved.

We also ate a ton of Halloween candy.

Happy trick-or-treating!

The other night the hubs got into bed after sneaking a peek at our slumbering daughter and pronounced her too big for a crib. I’ve known this for a while but haven’t wanted to say anything because I’m totally freaked about not having her in the crib. Sure, I’ve noticed her feet are almost touching the end of her crib when she’s all stretched out. Sure, I know she could crawl right out of the thing if she really wanted to. Sure, I know she’s growing (but I’m in total denial).

She’s getting too big for the crib.

Is it time for a big girl bed?

The idea sends chills through me – to the core. My evenings of  momentary respite from the chid flash before my eyes. I break into a cold sweat imagining having to sit in the room with the tot while she falls asleep ensuring she isn’t terrorizing the first floor of our house. Re-child proofing her room (and the rest of the rooms on the first floor) overwhelm me as I picture the bathroom door sneakily opened offering free access to all things child wants – like make-up and the toilet bowl brush….

She’s never going to stay in a big girl bed unless I strap her in.

(Really, I wouldn’t do that and in no way endorse any type of big kid bed that can either.)

Then, on top of all that, what type of  bed to go with? There’s so many to pick from, including:

The P’kolino Toddler Bed. This is super cute and slick, perfect for a crib mattress and the ability to transform into an adorable chair once your tot is too big for that crib mattress. And the price isn’t so bad, either. But, for us, we’re already busting out of that crib on all sides, so this one is out…

And then there’s this really pretty option from Stig Leander. I would love the house to come along with this super toddler bed – and for the price, it really should. A special mattress comes along with the purchase. The bed is uniquely designed to be a bit bigger than the average kid bed for room to play and lounge for those time your child wants to kick back and read Toddler Vogue.

And then there’s this option from KidKraft. Sure, it’s a bit plain, but this bed is all about safety and ease. It’s super low to the ground, allowing your tot the ability to feel comfortable getting in and out of her new bed and equipped with rails to stop her from rolling onto the floor during deep sleep (if she ever actually falls asleep…). You also can’t beat the price. Really.

There’s this option from Incredibeds. I’m not really sure what to say other than sure, it’s a cute idea, but could potentially turn into what toddler nightmares are made of…

There’s always IKEA. Their stuff is cheap, and sometimes a bit odd with unusual sizing and stuff, but, hey, there’s always IKEA. Here’s a simple option with a great price, but don’t forget, you’ve got to pick the mattress up from them, too.

So, what do you think? Which should we pick?