Lehigh and Northampton Association for the Education of Young Children will Host Spring Conference

When a child builds a tower of blocks, she learns that if the foundation is unstable the blocks will tumble down.

“What happens first, controls what happens next,” said Walter Drew, Ed.D. creator of Dr. Drew’s Discovery Blocks and founder of the Institute for Self Activity Education.

He believes good quality teaching in the early years helps teach children skills, like persistence, that they can build on for a lifetime. He and Marcia Nell, Ph.D., co-authors of the book From Play to Practice: Connecting Teachers’ Play with Children’s Learning will be coming to the Lehigh Valley on Saturday, March 28, to show early childhood educators the importance of play at an all-day conference hosted by the Lehigh and Northampton Association for the Education of Young Children (LANAEYC).

“One of the things that happens not only for parents, but teachers, is they see the surface of play and they don’t recognize the neurological happenings that are occurring when children play and the connection between play and executive function skills,” said Nell, “The brain, from birth, is wired, but the connections are waiting for an experience to build these pathways. It’s through playing that these pathways to experience are built.”

Executive function skills are cognitive abilities that control and regulate most of what we do in day-to-day life. Executive functions include the ability to initiate, plan and organize, set goals, solve problems, regulate emotions, and monitor behavior.

Conference participants will engage in solo, cooperative and pair-play using blocks, fabric, yarn, and foam. Things that, according to Drew, “...stimulate the senses and the mind in playful exploration.”

“Teachers investigate and research a variety of materials and use them to help apply them in practice in the classroom,” said Drew, “Immersing adults in their own experiences helps them understand the importance of play.”

Since 1975, Drew has pioneered the development of reusable resource centers as a sustainable community building strategy. He serves as a facilitator for the Play, Policy and Practice Interest Forum of the National Association of the Education Young Children and the Reusable Resources Association.

Dr. Nell is an associate professor at Millersville University where she teaches graduate and undergraduate early childhood education courses and supervises student teachers. She serves as the Director of Research for the Institute for Self Active Education and is also a facilitator for the Play, Policy and Practice Interest Forum.

The cost to attend the conference at The Holiday Inn Express, 90 Kunkle Drive, Easton, is $55.00 for LANEAYC members and $65.00 for non- members. The registration fee includes breakfast, lunch, morning and afternoon sessions and hand-outs. During lunch, participants will be able attend a vendor fair. For conference updates please go to https://www.facebook.com/lanaeyc. To receive a registration brochure please email terryathomas@earthlink.net.

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