Truth be told, I did not write today’s blog.

Written by past blogger Jen Asimow, this post dates back to December 2014. Although seven years have passed, Jen’s words still ring true and remain relevant.

Her classic post, Top 10 Ways to Keep Calm This Holiday Season, is a welcome and much-needed reminder that we can find and cultivate calm as we weather the storm of COVID variants, holiday parties, family interactions, travel schedules, cooking, housecleaning, holiday-gift shopping and the dreaded supply-chain disruptions that threaten to derail shipments of eagerly awaited holiday gifts.

We are the constants in the lives of young children and—like most things that pertain to early childhood—we need to keep in mind that “less is more.”

Keep it simple and cut the curriculum in half this month if necessary.

As educators, we know that this month is crazier than it needs to be. So be kind to yourself, your staff and your students. Many programs simplify life by celebrating the seasons and removing all of the “themed” expectations that are scheduled around the holidays.

So take a deep breath, resolve to take the road less traveled and read Jen’s post. With COVID adding an extra layer of stress this holiday season, you’ll be glad you did!

Top 10 Ways to Keep Calm This Holiday Season

by Jen Asimow

December 3, 2014

Unless you work in a faith-based program, the holiday season should be almost non-existent in your classroom. Some of the December holidays are rooted firmly in religious teachings and others are celebrated by specific cultures. None of them have a place in diverse and publicly funded programs.

That does not mean that we should ignore them altogether. Children will arrive each day with stories about the comings and goings of extended family members, hopes for expected gifts or reasons for missed school days. They may be exhausted, irritable, bleary-eyed or wrung-out. They may be overly excited or revved up. All of these emotions will require a steady hand and a caring ear.

This is the time of year when hopes are inflated and dashed, when tummies hurt from eating too much and when bedtimes are ignored and exhausted children still have to get up and get to school. So I have come up with my Top 10 List for Keeping it Calm this holiday season.

We have been seeing an abundance of artistic expression lately as our friends, neighbors and the children we care for embrace the pause necessitated by the pandemic and let their creative juices flow.

At times like these, I like to bring Andy Goldsworthy’s books back into our lives. I use Goldsworthy ‘s examples to teach my early learners and their families about ephemeral (pronounced ih-fem-er-uhl) art. Ephemeral art is short-lived. The children often refer to it as “earth art” or “land art,” but ephemeral is such a great word that I often introduce it to broaden their vocabulary.

Andy Goldsworthy is an ephemeral sculptor and creator who specializes in crafting art from natural and found materials. His books have inspired and challenged my budding artists for years. Goldsworthy’s goal is to celebrate and study nature by interacting with natural elements as intimately as he can. He generally works with whatever is available at the site of his design, including stones, twigs, thorns, muds, snow, icicles, brightly colored flowers and leaves.

So what does this have to do with math and science? Plenty! As we explore ephemeral art this month, you’ll be amazed by the many STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) learning opportunities that ephemeral art projects can provide—and the many early learning standards or benchmarks for math and science that you can meet through this amazingly fun art form.

When we begin to experiment with ephemeral art, we use natural resources (sticks, stones, leaves, ice, shells, sand) to create our own original designs. For the children, this involves collecting, sorting, grouping, designing and often patterning. This hands-on learning can be used to deepen children’s understanding of the aesthetic qualities of natural materials, to enrich their vocabulary and to get their creative juices flowing. Earth art is creative fun that can be done by everyone!

When children engage in design, they often use nonstandard units to measure length and capacity. They use vocabulary that describes and compares length, height, weight, capacity and size. They express wonder and curiosity about their world by asking questions, solving problems and creating art that may change course in the middle of their design process. Land art allows children to develop and use models to represent their ideas, observations and explanations through their designs. All of these creative endeavors will meet Illinois Early Learning Standards—and will very likely meet your state or institution’s early learning requirements as well.

We love to create our own earth art using whatever natural materials have made their way into our program. Sometimes, to get the children’s creative juices flowing, I will do the collecting and sorting. I will often model the process for the children by sitting quietly within sight and starting my own design. Sometimes the children will work on individual projects and, at other times, they will collaborate on group projects. We never know quite when the inspiration will kick in or where the design process will take us.

Our students understand that their creations are a gift to all who see them. But they also accept the reality that their art is ephemeral and may not be there when we return to the sites of our creative endeavors.

I feel that this concept comes rather easily to children who spend many hours outdoors. They understand that the seasons, weather and wildlife are ever-changing. The plant that they could jump over yesterday has literally grown overnight. The tree stumps that they balanced on yesterday are now slippery from the overnight rain. Growing up with these daily changes and challenges allows children to understand that their artwork, their building projects and even the vegetables in their garden may disappear overnight. We have some mighty hungry rabbits and raccoons in our neighborhood. Snapping a picture to document the learning and sharing it with friends and family helps to remind the kids that everything about nature is ephemeral.

This month, I have a challenge for you. Currently, as we spend the majority of our days closer to home, wouldn’t this be a great time to share earth art with our neighbors? To create visual offerings on the sidewalk, in the park or in the forest for passersby to discover and enjoy?

So embrace the pause! Bring joy into the lives of strangers by creating ephemeral art and fostering the development of early math and science skills in our youngest learners!

Color blending is a fun, hands-on activity that encourages understanding about early math concepts.  Creating an artistic, open-ended curriculum is an exciting way to explore math as descriptive language and problem-solving skills are formed.

We can help children build important connections through shape, line, and color and they begin to see form and portion as a distinct part of a larger picture.  By discussing how to add more paint or less water, children learn to measure and estimate.  They are beginning to identify with a world filled with many shades and hues. By focusing on art, we can easily shift the focus to math and the variety of ways it is used in our everyday experiences.  Using numbers in collage, painting shapes, and drawing objects can help children use art as a basis for understanding math. The basic skills of vocabulary, description, sorting, matching, observing, and experimenting are inherent to color blending.  Children will discover cause and effect, figure out solutions, and understand how things work in relation to their environment.  These are all essential blocks in building an important foundation in math as well as necessary to each child’s educational journey.

The more we involve children’s senses in any artistic process, the more memorable the experience will be for them.  Mixing paint with glitter or essential oils can become a celebration for the senses.  With a little imagination, the simple act of painting becomes a colorful journey as primary colors transform into secondary colors right before a child’s eyes.  Red and blue mix together and then, magically, purple arrives.  Children will observe how every color began its journey as one of the three primary colors. This fact alone is fascinating as children will watch with wonder as this magical process evolves.  Artistic experiences can evolve by adding a variety of art tools and textures.  Children can paint with feathers, balls, or leaves and use the sidewalk or wood as a canvas.  Sometimes the color of mud is made and then the marvel of mud pies could be investigated.  Each new discovery can evolve into a higher level of learning. 

Since the love of all things new comes naturally to children, finding ways to incorporate their ideas will take their curiosity even further.  Creating is effortless when children feel confident to express themselves.  They will acquire new ideas through their creativity and learning becomes natural rather than a forced process through teacher-initiated activities.  This inclusion helps to create a learning environment that is both meaningful and enjoyable.  Children find comfort when their ideas are considered.  By giving them a role in their learning experience, it will heighten their curiosity as well as their confidence.

As we investigate color and math with children, they begin to make connections to the importance it plays.  Color is one of the first things children use to make distinctions between what they observe and how to describe it to others using their newly developing language.  They find immense gratification in pointing out a red leaf by explaining its difference from the green one.  Through this process, understanding how color can describe something is both enjoyable and useful for them.  Color can excite, shift a mood, inspire, or remind us of a special memory. Children are delighted to discover the magic of color, it’s importance, and how it changes often by way of their imaginations.  By recognizing color, expressing observations, and understanding shape, line, and proportion; children are discovering how to use color to mathematically organize their world.  Connections are discovered, and treasured memories are made.

There are also great ways to incorporate mathematical concepts into the projects.  Take a look at this one.

Here, the teacher provides the petals, stems, and flower centers.  The numbers are already written on the centers, so the children simply have to put as many leaves on their flowers as required.  This is a good one for younger children.  You can challenge the older children by creating simple addition problems with the flowers.  Give an older child 2 flower centers (a 2 and a 3), have them complete their flowers and then have them calculate how many petals both flowers have all together.  Once they figure that out, they can create another flower with the total number of petals.