Thanksgiving is a very special holiday, often associated with turkey, football (for some of you!), and time spent with loved ones. It can also be an incredibly chaotic day between meal preparation and ensuring children burn all their energy off before sitting at the table. We know that it can be a challenging task [...]
Children were made for outdoor play I don’t know about you, but growing up, my parents had to force us inside. We were “four-season” kids; every day, no matter the weather or temperature, we were outside for as long as possible. In fact, playing with the neighborhood kids on our street was my parents' [...]
Summer break has officially come to an end, and the brand new school year has begun! Preparing classrooms, writing up lesson plans, and meetings galore- all the excitement and overwhelm of welcoming a fresh group of students who eagerly await beginning a new chapter in their lives. While this can be a huge adjustment, [...]
Before my work with Preston Blackburn, I was an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Teacher, working most of my decade-long career with two and three-year-olds. When I explain to other educators, I understand how difficult it can be to manage AND meet the standards required of us, I truly do. However, what if I could [...]
Opening gifts on Christmas morning or your birthday is something special and thrilling. It is the culmination of the anticipation of knowing you will receive toys you’ve wanted for so long. You imagine yourself opening a gift, peeling open the paper, and tearing at the box filled with pure excitement and the rush of [...]
Heavy Work, Learning, and Behavior Heavy work helps kids' brains understand their bodies through a tricky little thing called the proprioceptive system. When they don't get enough information through this essential system, their brains make their bodies move anyway to fill this developmental need. It may look like bad behavior, or an inability to [...]
My name is Kelsey Schmidt, and for those of you who may not know who I am, I’m the Director of Sales, Marketing, and Social Media for both Pivot to Play and Pop Hop and Rock. If you’re unaware, April is Autism Awareness Month. Every year, beginning on April 2nd, those who have or [...]
Just for a moment, I want you to sit, close your eyes, and think back to a memory where you fully engaged in the kind of play that left dirt stains on your clothing, eliciting tingles of joy while collecting nature's treasures and possibly resulting in a scrape or two. Remember feeling the grass [...]
Girls. Some prefer tutus and tiaras, others prefer dirty overalls and playing with the boys. Either way, all girls are biologically the same and in this month’s newsletter we’re going to dive into the beauty that makes them who they are. Much like boys, we will highlight key differences that uniquely make a girl, well…a [...]
In the days of Beaver Cleaver and Samantha Stephens, boys wore blue, girls wore pink, boys played as firemen, and girls were housewives. Today, those lines are not as hard and fast, and most of us know preschool-aged boys who might wear a towel over their heads, so they seem to have long hair [...]
