The Totem Pole Conference 2011

Life Beyond Plastic - Giving Children Real Experiences

Children should be given real objects to play with rather than plastic toys to increase their opportunities to explore and learn. Associations their brains make in early years can be informed by the experiences they are given in childcare provision.

That’s the message from early years consultant and trainer Mary Barlow, here at The Totem Pole who would like to see early years settings providing real experiences for young children.

Mary has over 20 years’ experience in the private, public and voluntary sectors of childcare and education and is also one of the directors of The Totem Pole training and resource centre based in the grounds of the Belton Woods Hotel near Grantham.

She explains: “In our manufactured world adults and children use plastic objects every day. These are very similar in many ways – they are often smooth and have no smell or taste. By offering a wide range of objects that are not plastic – even something as simple as a bottle top or a fir cone – we enrich children’s learning by giving them real experiences.”

We have all seen Jamie Oliver’s work on the television changing childrens eating habits, and how often these children couldn’t identify basic fruit and vegetables as they hadn’t had any opportunity to experience them before. Mary would like to see nurseries, schools and playgroups offering real fruit and vegetables for children to explore instead of mountains of plastic food.

Children learn with all their senses so think of a real pineapple.  How does it feel? How does it look? How does it smell? How does it sound when you cut it open? How does it taste? Now compare your thoughts with a plastic pineapple.

At The Totem Pole conference, Life Beyond Plastic, Mary is encouraged childcare providers and early years professionals to bring along their plastic fruit and vegetables in exchange for a basket of REAL fruit and vegetables for them to explore with the children back in their settings.

But this is not the end for Mary, she would like to see a nationwide change in the experiences we are providing for our children in early years settings so that they become Active Learners for life.

If you would like to chat to Mary Barlow our lead consultant and owner of The Totem Pole to find out why her grandson thinks dinosaurs eat pasta please get in touch.