Current obsession: parent and infant groups.
Current weather: depends on the time of day

Sleep, beautiful sleep. Oh how I missed thee. Not many people staying at the hostel last night meant I got to sleep!

We started our morning by visiting another Loczy site which runs Parent and Infant classes.  These classes cater for children 6-24 months of age, and run 1.5 hours for 6 weeks (so a family comes once a week). The parents’ task is to sit against the wall, and be there for the security and comfort of the child while the child explores this space.  The caregivers (2 in a class) do any intervening if and when necessary, as well as work with the parents to help them learn to observe their child, answer any questions, and help parents understand the value of their children’s play, what the child is learning, and how they do not need to play with the child and stimulate them, as the child can find their own play and problems to solve. They also learn to trust that their child will solve problems that they have set themselves; whether this be through using the objects, or any conflict situations (where many parents step in very quickly to ‘solve’ the problem for the child). Many parents bring their children to this class (they run about 6-8 in a week) and they only join up through word of mouth. Often parents come for a 6 week ‘course’ and then bring their child back to the next, and the next, and often bring their other children.

Here are some photos of how the room is set up.  The room is tidy, inviting, and feels very peaceful.  I don’t know if you get that impression from the photos, but when we walked in there, there was an atmosphere of clam and security. Also, they try not to use too many plastic toys, although plastic has it’s place as a material to be explored and learnt about.

Climbing box for in, over, out, and under.
Cups are for stacking and putting things in.

hidy corner for playing peek-a-boo and having quiet time to oneself

small climbing frame so children can explore their body.
The holes are often used to hide small objects in.
Forgot to mention that there is a shoes and socks off policy for the children (or they can use the socks with grippy rubber soles)

Wicker dog basket is used for climbing in, hiding things in, putting dolls to sleep, and having quiet time.

For collecting and stacking

Extra objects that the children can choose from. You can see the array of wooden objects and metal bowls.

collection of different objects. The cloths are useful in many different ways; dressing dolls, covering the body, and for the very young babies, to easily grab, chew and explore.

Buckets, bowls and ladles for using as tools for scooping and collecting.
Metal cups for stacking and making great sounds.

Overview of the room

Anna explained to us that this room was not quite ideal. They wish it could be a little wider, and a little shorter, as they have found the length to be difficult to work with. But they make do.

After our talk with the caregivers, we were visited by Eva Carlo, a well known researcher.  She spoke with us about children around the age of 1 years, and how this time period is a key time in the children’s mental growth.  This is when the formation of the ability to understand abstract ideas, the awareness of how objects can exist even when they do not see them (the schema of children hiding objects to find them again) and that when the child does not see an object, it still exists in a time and a place. We watched a video of a child who was using a basket and a shoe.  He had already discovered that you can put an object inside of another object and it can stay there.  In the video, the shoe fell out, and he didn’t see it.  He then tried to find the shoe in the place where he last put it.  In the meantime, the shoe fell out beside him. He either did not notice it, or not recognising that the shoe beside him was the same object, for he kept looking for the shoe that he had put in the basket.

Around this time, children start to categorise and collect objects with certain attributes. e.g. at first they might collect all the lego pieces.  As they master this task, they might collect all the red lego objects, but the blue ones might not be of any interest to them.  It is for this reason that having many objects with the same or similar attributes comes in handy, as well as a few tote bags or baskets for collecting and transporting these objects in.

It is this classification, that develops over time, that is the basis of mathematics (algebra), and building, for to be able to stack blocks, you need to have an understanding of the centre of gravity (which children learn through being able to freely understand their body), balance (again through moving their body), weight (learnt through freely exploring objects without being ‘taught’ how to do so), and to find objects that fit ‘just right’ in different ways. Knowing that a large block will not balance a large block is classification of which block has which attributes.

This is also the time where Convergent and Divergent thinking start to be noticed. Convergent Thinking is creative problem solving, when there is more that one solution.  Divergent Thinking is when there is one solution, and you are able to follow the process to arrive at an end solution.

With these types of thinking, clear signs of symbolic (dramatic, role) play start to emerge.  This is when the child may pretend to eat food, but knows and understands that if they put the empty spoon to their mouth, there will be no food there.

One of Eva’s researchs found that Pikler babies tend to get less frustrated when they try to solve a task and their approach doesn’t work. E.g. if a Pikler baby was trying to stack blocks, and they continued to fall down, they would not get as frustrated.  This is because they have been able to self-regulate, or understand when the problem is too much for them at the moment.  This isn’t to say that they will forget about the problem.  The child will move away, calm down, and at some stage later (the next day or the next week) will attempt the problem again.  If the task is impossible, they will come to that conclusion on their own.  If they succeed, then they can enjoy the feeling of achievement.  In this way, you can clearly see that a child has a hypothesis (Can I stack the block on top of the stone?), check the hypothesis (trial and error with many attempts), and draw a conclusion (no I can’t/yes I can).  The beginings of critical thinking.  Alternativly a child who has not been brought up according to the Pikler method becomes easily frustrated, finds it difficult to have the patience to solve the task, has difficulty regulating their frustraion levels and knowing what to do with them, and waits/expects an adult to interviene.

The afternoon was full of discussion which was more directed at childcare centres; how many objects should there be? lots so that children do not have conflict over the same toy, and has the opportunity to collect a satisfying quantity, or few so that they do not get spread out over the floor, making the room chaotic, and therefore the child’s play chaotic.

Also about making order. When should the adult tidy, should they expect the children to tidy as well? The conclusion of this was to tidy the activities that children were not using to keep them presented nicely and rekindle their interest in the activity, but not so much that the child doesn’t have time to finish what they were doing. Also, to not expect the children to tidy, but to role model tidying that the children will probably help you out anyway.

After class I went back to the hostel to change my clothes, before heading into town. I decided that I’d go for a walk down the waterfront and to treat myself to dinner.

Lovely sunset at Moszkava tér

Parliament buildings

Proof that I am actually here 

One of the many churches in Budapest. I love the architecture of the roofs.

Chain bridge with Liberty statue in the background

Another angle of the Parliament buildings

Dinner was at Sophia’s Piano Bar, which had (I’m guessing) a Hungarian piano player. He was very amusing, because he was singing a few English songs, like ‘What a Wonderful World’ and he only knew the first verse and the chorus, so he sang that over and over. Oh funnyness.  For dinner I had fruit soup, (which I was told to try by Bridget) which was much like a fruit smoothie with a bit of whipped cream, put in a bowl instead of a glass.  Was still nice though.  I also had a pasta/tomato dish, because that was about the only thing without fish in it.

By the time I’d finished eating, the sun had well and truly set, and the waterfront was lit up beautifully.

Buda Castle

I managed to find a bus that went back to the main square, and then a tram back to the hostel. It took me up past Buda Castel, which was really pretty all lit up.  I’m getting the hang of the public transport system here. Even though it’s in a different language, as long as you match the symbols, it’ll be okay.

Current Mood: energetic

Tags: Budapest, Early Childhood, Pikler