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Preschool – story time or outside time?
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If you had time only for one thing in a day when caring for small children only (1yo and 4yo) would you choose books or outside? Hmmm… Or maybe a better way to ask is, would you cut outside time short to make time for books when everyone is outside enjoying themselves?
Thanks!
Dana
Outside time trumps all!
I don’t have a set story time for our preschoolers. We just have lots of books available and pick up one and read whenever we are in the mood. We read for a minute or two, then they are off doing something else. We read a few books at bedtime, but it still is only a few minutes. I definitely wouldn’t interrupt outside time or playtime just to make time for stories. For your 4 yo, you might want to schedule 10 minutes for a bit of a longer story, but that shouldn’t steal from outside time.
In warm weather, you could always take a book or two outside with you!
Joanne
I suppose if I had to choose I would alternate days. But honestly reading to little ones takes so little time it can squeeze in anywhere (while they eat, before bed/nap, when outside, etc). Use the block of time for outside and squeeze a book in here and there all day. And if there is ANY media at all happening in that preschooler’s day (tv/computer/dvd/ipod/any kind of screen)then toss it out to make time for outside and books.
Another thought – SOMEONE has to be with this child all day. It may not always be mom, but there has to be time between all the caregivers to accomplish BOTH books and outside time. For example my husband often gets home and has to head to bed within 30-60 minutes, so he would be the one doing a book on those days because it is shorter than outside time. I would make sure the outside time happens with me. If I had a little one in daycare for some reason (maybe a single parent) then I would expect that daycare provider to be accomplishing at least one of the two things during their hours together. I have even called home from the hospital to read to little ones while I’m with Mason for surgeries, leaving the outside time to whoever has the kids. It is possible.
So now I’m curious dmcall3 – was this a hypothetical question or are there reasons and situations behind it???
Not hypothetical! And this may be a long story… 🙂
First of all, I’m an indoorsy, homebody, clean hands, critter avoiding type. I have tried to get my son outside more in the past but mainly to playgrounds. I have made “appreciating nature and the outdoors” a big current goal for myself with the intention of passing those benefits along to my children. I’ve noticed that my 4yo son doesn’t really ever choose to go outside and won’t go out alone.
We recently moved to a rural and beautiful area with a lot of land and forest. His grandparents are basically on the same property (separate house though). So the first “happening” is that my children would go visit their grandparents for long periods of time. I found out that they were being plopped down in front of the TV in a back bedroom and watching it for hours at a time. They were also being fed junk. We have asked repeatedly for them not to feed the kids (we send approved snacks up with them) or let them watch TV but they do with our children what they want. We have started severely limiting their time there with my son receiving consequences if he has anything there except water or watches TV. It’s gotten better but a lot has to do with limiting the time.
I kept thinking we’d start getting outside “when it gets warmer” but then I asked on this forum about getting out in winter and was emboldened to go ahead and jump in with both feet. We have gotten outside for significant portions of every day since except one when there were bad thunderstorms with lightening and tornadoes and such. I have definitely gained a lot from all this and it seems like it’s going well for the kids too. I’m trying to transition it to where they would rather be out than in no matter the weather and whether an adult is out there or not. I’m trying to go out there but not be overly involved.
As far as reading, I start at birth and try to read to them (each their own stories) 30-60 minutes each day. In addition to that, each evening my DH reads a story from the Bible and I read 1-2 books at bedtime. He picks a book and right now I’m reading a chapter per night from “Tale of Brownie Beaver” by Bailey. We recently saw a lot of beaver dams on a walk by a river so he’s enjoying this story because he can kind of relate to it.
So my question comes from the fact that some days we get up, do our morning routines, pack a picnic, then go out exploring in the woods, not returning until dinner time which means dinner, bath, Bible time, bedtime story, and sleep. Now one day a week the morning is story time at the library so I’m not worried about that day but some days when we are out walking and exploring and playing in creeks, etc I feel torn. I feel bad that we didn’t take time for “story time” but I also hate to be inside when it’s nice enough to be outside.
So there you go! The rest of the story! 🙂
Dana – enjoy it now, get the habit before you have to enforce indoor time for school to get done. It just might be a good motivator when he doesn’t want to do school – but only if he’s developed his love and interest in being outside. I love the sound of your days!
Love the rest of the story, that makes so much sense! Here are my thoughts:
#1 – grandparents…sigh. Some are less than helpful to say the least. We have one of those. Grr. No unsupervised visits with that one.
#2 – Wonderful on the outside time! I say go for it all you want and maybe just pack a book or two with the picnic.
#3 – I don’t manage individual reading one on one to every child every day. Too many kids to do that (ha! 30 minutes each would take me 3 1/2 hours without doing any school, and the next baby arrives this summer making that 4 hours). With that said I read aloud to everyone daily a few times, or even to groups. Then one on one happens in spurts. So I think if you’ve got some reading going on at some point each day (bedtime and Bible) you’re doing good.
#4 – I have one who doesn’t like outside time. He’s 8 and has never really loved it. Part of it is I suspect sensory, he hates having things on his hands, be it dirt, juice from an apple he’s eating, or anything. He’s one who will wear tennis shoes midsummer in the backyard with socks instead of sandals so he doesn’t have grass bits getting under his feet. I have to insist he goes outside sometimes. And accept that he may not enjoy it the whole time, but that he can survive it and it’s good for him. He also has tons of allergies, both outdoor and food, so I have to be on top of his medications or it is miserable for him to be outside.
Again, thanks for the rest of the story – I think you’re doing great!
Wow! Congratulations on moving from not wanting to be out at all, to spending all that time in the outdoors! I can’t wait until Spring, so we can start being outdoors more. The kids just love it so much.
I agree that bedtime reading is enough on the days that you are out that long. If you really want to fit in more reading, you could take a book along and read after your picnic lunch, or something like that. It could be especially fun if you were reading books about nature. Something like the Thornton Burgess or Arthur Scott Bailey stories. Then you could be looking for some of the things you just read about.
We also don’t do baths every night, so that leaves us more time for reading before bed.
Way to go mom!
Joanne
Tonight’s conversation:
“Mommy, when are we going to have story time today?”
“Before bed but you know what? Tomorrow’s going to be super rainy so we could stay in and do a big story time!”
“No!”
“Why not?”
“I like playing in the rain!”
Yippee! Like music to my ears! I do love the idea about taking books out with us! Definitely doable! Hmmm… 🙂
Thanks!
Dana
Dana, your story warms my heart! Makes me think of a song by Mrs. Kate carpenter called Florida Rain. (Google it, it will warm your heart even if you aren’t in FL.) great job with your kids.
Taking a few books outside to read has worked well for us. I’ve also taken one for me to read while they played in the sandbox, as long as they are in a small enough area for me to easily keep track of, should I ahem, *get lost in my book*. And I’ve also taken knitting outdoors for myself. I can’t remember which CM volume it’s in, but I know there are some nice ideas for time outdoors in addition to a walk or nature study that Charlotte wrote about. if I remember correctly all of the ideas could be used for younger children. One was about having the child describe a “view” asking him to describe what saw. Which is a good pre-cursor to picture study and narration. There was something about learning early geography (north, south, east, west) and she also mentioned a french lesson. I’ll try to look it up this afternoon, or maybe someone else will chime in with where to find it. I agree with the others, you are doing a GREAT JOB!
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