The Scenario
We all know the scenario. You set out new playdough at the art desk only to have it all disappear in a day and a half. Of course, most of it you sweep up at the end of the day as dried up balls on the floor. Where the rest of it went is probably a question you really don't want answered. Most of the experts' advice on this subject is to teach the children to thoroughly pick up the playdough and snap down the lids when they are done. However, we all know there are those children who pay no attention to our efforts to teach this concept. The experts also expect us to replace the playdough whenever it is gone or every week to cut down the spread of germs. Replacing the playdough every day and a half is way beyond all our means. Replacing it every week is beyond most of our means. However, as I said at the beginning I do believe playdough should be in our art centers. What is the practical solution?
Self-Control
Before I answer that question, I want to discuss the concept of self control. In her book, Mind in the Making, Ellen Gallinsky talks about seven essential life skills. The first skill she talks about is focus and self control. A part of teaching that skill is to help the children understand the concept of wastefulness and the consequences that come with it. What are we doing as childcare providers to instill this very important skill into the children we serve? Actually, I believe we are making it worse with our "Poof" environments. When a child wastes all the playdough, "poof" more playdough appears. When a child wastes all the paper, "poof" more paper appears. When the children destroy all our books, "poof" more books appear. What are we doing? I say we're shooting ourselves in the foot because we need for children to develop self control. Yet, we are daily teaching them the opposite.
My Solution
With that said, I will tell you how I not only solved my playdough dilemma, but also taught the main playdough wasters how not to waste the playdough. It wasn't fair to the majority of the kids to withhold replacing the playdough regularly because of the few kids who wasted it. Therefore, I bought a large variety pack of playdough and let each child choose a playdough. I put their name on it and explained that each child had their own playdough now. I told them they were to play with only their playdough and no one else could play with their playdough. If they used up all their playdough, they would have to wait until I replaced the playdough to get more.
Now I can hear everyone screaming that giving each child their own playdough is too expensive. However, because they are not sharing the playdough, it does not have to be replaced every week. How long you decide to go before replacing it is entirely up to you. I chose to replace the playdough every month the first few times and then every other month, which ended up saving me a bundle. I did every month to begin with because I knew there would be those children who would waste their playdough in the first day or so. When their playdough was gone, it was gone. The rest of the children still had playdough and believe me, my lessons about being careful to put it up and snap the lid took hold. It was tough on those children for the first month. However, when they got another jar of playdough, it lasted longer the second month and by the third and fourth month, they had learned their lesson.
Respect for Materials
This solution solved more than just the problem of wasting playdough. It taught the children to respect the materials that I provide for them. It taught them not to take things for granted. I removed the "poof," and it accomplished quite a bit. You may not solve this problem in the same way as I did. However, I hope you will consider the detrimental effects on the children of our "poof" environments when dealing with similar situations. If you have other issues you would like to see addressed in this blog, just add your suggestions as a comment. Goodbye and God bless!! Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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