I just found the Green and Natural Mom Blog via a mention on Look Who’s Drinking the Digital Coolaid, and I loved some of the examples she’s found of positive discipline.
Jane Nelsen Ed.D. has written and co-written several wonderful books and the one I have been devouring is
Positive Discipline for Preschoolers – Raising Children Who Are Responsible, Respectful, and Resourceful…
In the Positive Discipline book, Ms. Nelsen recalls how a teacher had a time-in section in her classroom. She filled it with fluffy pillows and cuddly toys and named it Antarctica. Any child could choose to go to Antarctica whenever they need to cool off. It was really a clever way of taking the negative connotations of time-out or the corner and made it whimsical and meaningful. It also taught them a valuable skill…retreating to cool off when we are loosing our cool with someone or a situation and are about to do or say something we shouldn’t. Can I have an Antarctica corner?? LOL.
Of course, I immediately wanted to send all of this wisdom to my children’s teachers, because, shit, do you really think this stuff will work at home? More to the point, do you really think I’d ever move out of the Antarctica Corner?
Tiffany goes on to list some terrific sources for materials to make your own cool-off corner – click to read more!
I’m definitely bookmarking this blog – she has a knack for presenting useful, informative stuff in a way I can digest, and we all know what kinds of genius that takes.
…the cool thing about using Antarctica as the focus is that you could really help reinforce climate change and ecological values as well. Its all good. Here is some stuff I found, bookmarked, or already have that would be perfect for our Antarctica Cool Off Zone.
- Folkmanis Puppets Polar Bear CubPuppet Plush Toy – Gotta have polar bears in our Antarctica/Chilly/Snowy room. This one is a cuddly puppet that has won 2 children’s toy awards. YES…I know polar bears don’t live in antarctica but stuffed polar bears are much more cuddly than a penguin so we have to have polar bears.
- Plush Baby Emperor Penguin – My kids are crazy about penguins and they are an arctic creature so they deserve a home here too.
- Hugg-a-Planet Pillow – We really like and use our huggable earth pillow here. The kids hold it and lay on it during story time, we use it during homeschool geography lessons, and it has spurred some great conversations about how people live in other countries.
- ImagiPlay Puzzles – We have a few of these and they are really fun. They have two that perfect for a chill out room…a polar bear puzzle and a penguin and chick puzzle.
- For the floor maybe a sheepskin rug to give the appearance of snow. A white flannel sheet would work too. And of course lots of fluffy white pillows everywhere.
- Snowflakes can be made out of paper we have aorund the house…my kids love making them. You can also buy some pre-made and they can used for winter/christmas decor too.
- A snowflake Kaleidoscope would be cool too. I couldn’t find one at Amazon though. Just this classic tin version.
- A big Antarctica wall map.
- Books that would be a good addition:
I’ve got Tiffany in my reader. She has lots of good stuff!
I LOVE the idea of “Antarctica”… my kids classrooms could certainly use this! Like you, I’d never leave.
Cheers!
Jamie
Very Cool! Love the mention.
Keep up the good work!
Nice! I love the idea. Keep it up.