A 5-Minute Opportunity

I was in a day care center observing a lovely teacher use play dough with a 2-year-old. They were having fun. It was a great experience for the two of them. The teacher said, “Pass it to me. Here is some. Roll it into a big ball. Put it over there.” The main problem was she didn’t know she had to give the child the word “playdough.” In 5 minutes she only said “playdough” 2 times. She used pronouns and pointed 44 times. She didn’t understand that she needed to give the child the gift of words. A child’s brain cells need a grownups’ words.