Children at Play by Amanda Quesnell

Transformation is huge among children, they are consistently changing, growing, and learning new things every day. One of the great things about working at LifeWays is that the children get to stay with the same teacher, children, and in the same suite until they are ready for their next school. As a teacher it is exciting getting to spend time with the children throughout their stay at LifeWays. We get to see the child grow developmentally, physically, and emotionally. We get to celebrate all the exciting challenges the children overcome that are big and small.

At the start of winter many children struggle getting ready for the outdoors, but by the end of the season they have learned which shoes go on the right feet, how to zip their coats, and how to put there mittens on by themselves. Once they are able to get ready without any help they are so proud and happy, they run over to me showing and telling me that they did it all without help. In my suite the children like to celebrate this by giving me two high-fives then helping the other children around them get ready, showing off their new skills.

We get to see babies learn to sit-up, crawl, walk, and talk and as they turn into toddlers we get to help and see them become more and more independent. 

Another great thing about observing the children throughout the years is watching them form friendships. Children that once fought become friends, learn to play together, take turns, and let others join in. They figure out how to solve their own problems that arise during play and figure out how to entertain each other without toys.

Going into the woods is one of the children’s favorite and most popular things to do. They find things in nature to make part of their play. The children love to play with sticks and rocks, make lunch out of mud, leaves, grass and flowers, and climb trees. It’s really exciting to observe the fun and creative things that children play with in the woods by only using nature. The children like to use a log as a fishing boat catching big fish to eat, flying an airplane or riding a motorcycle- the log has many possibilities of what kinds of fun the children will have that day. With all the technology around today it is nice getting to see children enjoy nature.