Ravynne Jenkins

Sheldin Wilks
Jason Lam
Psych 211
Midterm Project
20 October 2016

The preschool that we are working with is Foundations Preschool of Washtenaw County

and this preschool prepares children from low income families for future success in academic

and social life. At the same time, Foundations Preschool enables the parents to find new

opportunities and growth, personally and as a parent. One of the classes that we work with on a

weekly basis is the Blue room and this is the room that we decided to do the project with. The

Blue room has a larger group of kids and this can be a hassle at times, but nevertheless it is fun.

The typical day of volunteering starts when the kids are beginning to wake up from their

naps and enjoying their snacks during snack time. Towards the end of snack time is when the

kids begin the usual routine of Plan, Do, Review. The Plan, Do, Review is a curriculum through

the HighScope Program and is used to help the children learn how to take initiative, solve

problems, work with others and accomplish their goals (Epstein, 2012).

While working with the children during this time it has been easy to notice that one of

their favorite books to read is the one written by Jon Stone, The Monster at the End of This Book:

Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover. With this realization it has been decided that the proper

theme for this class is monsters.

Main Goal

Our main goal is to engage students in a way that will evoke the depths of their

imaginations in a topic theyve proven to be interested in. Following a loved book by several

activities is hopeful to render more enthusiasm from the students. The fictional aspect of the

project takes the focus off of learning about concrete ideas and lets the children to explore their
imagination. We have gone into great detail in this course regarding the lack of imaginative play

and exercises incorporated into this generations early childhood education. By creating this

project around this established goal, we hope to involve the childrens imaginations into these

activities in a way they may not be used to.

While being on site, weve noticed the types of activities the children do dont leave

much room for a creative process. Specifically with the after hours group, we tend to see

structured crafts with set colors and set toys for them to play with. This hinders their ability to

grow creatively, which is a critical part of their development at this stage. We wanted to move

beyond the usual structure of this preschool classroom and add the important factor of

imagination.

Activity Proposal

The project that we want to do with the kids is to have them to use their bright

imaginations to create their very own monsters. The following is a lesson plan that will include a

little bit of instruction and the materials needed to complete this project.

Materials Needed

paper bags pipe cleaners Markers

googly eyes white paper popsicle sticks

glue sticks construction paper Glitter

Feathers crayons scissors

*All of these materials will be provided by the teachers and the preschool.

Project Breakdown
 1. Facilitator Roles

a. Facilitator 1: Gather kids on the alphabet rug

b. Facilitator 1: Read the book provided, The Monster at the End of This Book:

Starring Lovable, Furry Old Grover.

i. Facilitator 2: Set up the craft tables.

c. Facilitator 1 & 2: Ask the children what they think their monster would look like

d. Facilitator 1 & 2: Present the craft to the children

e. Facilitator 1 & 2: Split the kids up into two groups: one for Miss Allisons table

and one for Ms. Alicias table.

2. Childrens Instructions

a. Using the base materials (i.e. paper bag or construction paper) decorate and create

your own monster with any of the materials before you.

Objective of the Craft & Potential Challenges

The objective of this project is to engage the students in the classroom via the book they

seem to enjoy the most and have consistent interest in. The main goal of project is to have each

of the students create their own individual monsters with any of the materials provided, but along

with the main point we also would like the kids to be independent when creating their monsters

as well as sharing the supplies that are being used. Another goal for the project is to teach the

kids to experiment with some new materials that they wouldnt use on a typical craft day. Each

of these goals that we have for the project correlate with the developmental stages found in the

Preschooler Development article.

The problem with this craft is that we dont want to have an example monster to show

them. We fear that this might discourage the students and make them feel inadequate if their
monster doesnt look the the example. We also feel that providing an example would limit the

use of their imaginations, therefore defeat one of the main purposes of the activity. Our solution

to this is to simply tell them to create a monster using any and all of the things in front of them.

By saying this it challenges them to experiment with some things that they might not have used

prior to this activity, as it also requires them to problem-solve and converse with theirs

classmates to gain new ideas. A second roadblock that we expect to run into is that there is a

possibility that not all of the student want to use the paper bags as the base of their monster,

which is why we plan to provide a plethora of construction paper.

Game Proposal

We developed our game, Monster Hunt, around the concept of having the children work

in teams we are incorporating the essential milestone of this stage into our project. This search

and find game involves cooperation and working as a team.

Materials Needed

1 pack of yellow balloons Sharpie Markers

1 pack of green balloons

*We will purchase these materials and create the monster balloons prior to going into the

classroom.

Game Breakdown - Monster Hunt

1. After the craft activity, we will engage the children in a game which sticks to our monster

theme. The game will follow the following format:

2. Facilitator Roles

a. Decorate small balloons with monster faces.

 b. Ensure that there are two different colored balloons with each balloon in the same

color group having a different face drawn on.

c. Place/hide the balloons around the classroom ensuring that no balloons of the

same color are near each other.

d. Split the children into two teams assigning each team to one of the two different

colors.

3. Instructions for Children

a. Find the colored balloons for your team and place them in the designated area.

b. The team to find the all of their colored balloons the fastest wins the game.

Objective of the Game & Potential Challenges

The primary objective of this game is to help to the children to establish and meet an end

goal while working as a team. This goal stems specifically from the childrens developmental

stage at this age. By working with them to split them up into teams and encouraging them to win

while playing fair, we will be building fundamental skills. This allows for the growth of the

ability to cooperate and adds in a factor of motivation.

This game may prove to be problematic in some aspects, but we believe the pros of

playing this game will outweigh the potential cons. It will be a challenge for the children not

only to solely concentrate on gathering their color, but to work with those on their teams and

those on opposing teams. It will be essential that the children cooperate to avoid fighting over

who found what balloon and competing with their allies. This team building game will force the

children to develop a sense of teamwork making way for overall cooperation.

A potential challenge across the course may be getting the children to engage while

incorporating a disruption to their schedule. Specifically, for some students like us who go
during the childrens playtime, getting them to engage in a structured craft may prove to be

challenging. With such an active group of children it may prove to be a challenge to getting them

to play the game in a safe and cooperative manner. We plan to prepare for these potential

challenges by having a fair amount of communication with the teachers in the classroom so that

they know exactly what we plan to do and can therefore help us along the way. Another way we

plan to overcome this challenge is to ensure there are enough balloons so that each child can find

at least one. In doing this, we believe there will be more cooperation amongst the kids.

Educational & Developmental Appropriateness

Throughout the course we have focused on the sense of self in the preschooler as well as

how the new generation may suffer from a lack of creativity. We believe this is largely due to the

structure of early childhood education which takes place in classrooms today. After speaking

with a guest lecturer, we were informed that we should not give the children any type of example

when explaining the craft. We took this advice as well as the lessons other guests have taught us

and molded our project around it. By allowing the child to form their own opinion about what

they believe a fictional character to look like and translating that into the craft, we plan to

activate their creative instincts. Hopefully, this will garner an infinite number of possibilities in

the craft and leave each student with a different visual.

We have also learned that in this stage of their development, it is imperative that the

preschoolers learn to work cooperatively with their peers (How Children Develop and Learn).

This skill is seen being taught to the children daily while we are at site. The teachers encourage

the students to talk through issues they are having with their peers. We usually see the teachers

acting as facilitators for discussion between children in conflict rather than simply punishing a

student or fixing the problem. While the teacher stepping in when conflicts arise to solve the
problem may be the quickest way, this cheats the children from developing the fundamental

skills of problem solving and cooperation.

The game also fits into the developmental stage as it involves motor play. The different

types of play are essential in the early childhood phase (Anderson-McNamee & Bailey, 2010).

Playing helps to develop motor, cognition, and social skills. By incorporating the running and

physically moving around the classroom, not only does this give restless children a break, but it

helps them to use their learned motor skills while working towards a common goal while their

friends.

The craft is aimed to strengthen the development of personal opinions in the children.

With the freedom to create and to express, comes the acceptance and delight with ones work.

We hope to communicate to the children that no matter how they choose to express themselves,

as long as it is in an appropriate manner, they cannot go wrong. We want to encourage them to

be confident in their creations and explore their thought processes and decision making skills

through this creative process. The High Scope curriculum is centered around building child

initiative and satisfaction (Epstein, 2012). This is seen as a key concept to learn during this

developmental stage. By using a developmental scaffolding chart, they have established these

ways to reflect on and incorporate child development into their curriculum and we used this

curriculum while developing our project.

Overall, this craft and game that we have planned helps to demonstrate some of the

expected behaviors that is typically seen in four-year-olds. For example, they like doing things

on their own and this is what we anticipate for them to do when making their monster. They also

love playing with others, especially in groups of two and three. Making friends makes sharing

easier.
 References

Anderson-McNamee, J. K., & Bailey, S. J. (2010). The importance of play in early childhood

development. Montana State University,[online], available: http://msuextension.

org/publications/HomeHealth andFamily/MT201003HR. pdf [accessed 09/06/2014].

Epstein, A. S. (2012). The new HighScope curriculum. Continuity and change: Keeping what's

good, adding what's better. ReSource, Winter, 2013, 5-12.

How Children Develop and Learn*

*No information found on the article to cite correctly.