Know

When you entered your school-age program for the first time, you were likely overwhelmed by the task of setting it up for children. Perhaps it was already full of toys, books, and materials. You may have found yourself in a cycle of sorting and storing. Perhaps the materials in your school-age program are old and you have the opportunity to choose replacements. Regardless of your situation, how do you decide what toys and materials are worth including in your school-age program? When choosing materials, look for items for school-age children that are:

• Culturally relevant and anti-biased
• Developmentally appropriate
• Linked to children’s interests
• Linked to learning goals

Culturally Relevant and Anti-Biased

Classroom materials should be culturally relevant and anti-biased. But what exactly does this mean? Cultural relevance means that your choice of materials reflects the backgrounds, community, knowledge, and experiences of all the children in your classroom. An anti-biased approach means that you support and embrace the differences within each individual that may be presented. By choosing materials that validate and empower children of all racial, ethnic, and social backgrounds, you will build a bridge between children’s homes and school lives that will provide a strong foundation for learning. Including artifacts and natural objects from the local community or neighborhood in your learning environment offers opportunities for children to experience and understand their immediate world. Children should be exposed to items that are beautiful, ignite curiosity and engagement, and invite connections to their cultural identities. This includes making sure there are materials that send positive, inclusive messages about individuals with special needs. 

There are many simple ways to expose children and youth to positive images of people from a variety of backgrounds:

• Include clothes for men and women in the dramatic play area.
• Display pictures of men and women in a variety of jobs (police officer, construction worker, teacher, nurse, chef).
• Include items that represent cultures from around the world (cookbooks with pictures of foods, fliers from ethnic grocery stores, fabrics, cooking utensils, traditional clothing).
• Ask family members to lend you items from their homes.
• Add figurines or dolls that represent a range of ages, races, and abilities to the block or dramatic play area.
• Offer musical instruments from around the globe and CDs of traditional and contemporary music.
• Stock your classroom library with books that give positive messages about age, gender, race, culture, special needs, varied family types, and linguistic diversity.
• Look for games and toys that allow children to work together, take turns, and celebrate each other’s successes.

Remember to engage families in making your classroom a culturally appropriate space. You can display pictures of families or engage children in experiences that involve their families (e.g., creating a program cookbook where families can share their favorite recipes). Encourage family members to share their home language and to help you label items in the classroom with words from that language. For more information about making classroom materials culturally relevant, see the References & Resources section. This picture shows some traditional Korean clothing that a family brought into share with the rest of the center.

Developmentally Appropriate

Toys and materials in your program should also be developmentally appropriate. This means that they should match the stage of development and ability of the children and youth in your care. Because children develop at different rates, choosing developmentally appropriate materials means that you should have a range of toys available that can accommodate differences between individual children’s skills, thinking, interests, and characteristics. A program stocked with developmentally appropriate materials “fits” the child—the child should not have to adjust to “fit” the classroom!

Remember that program furniture should be size appropriate for all school-age children. This will require multi-age spaces to have a variety of sizes of chairs on hand, as well as step stools for sinks, counters, etc.

Between the ages of 5 and 12 years, children’s brains and bodies continue to develop. You will learn more about this in the Cognitive Development and Physical Development courses. Developmentally appropriate toys and materials allow school-age children to experiment and solve problems. They can encourage children and youth to play with others, take turns, and share. School-age children also need toys and materials that let them move their bodies and promote physical development.

Here are some examples of materials to include in your learning environment that are both developmentally appropriate and attractive to school-age children:

As part of selecting developmentally appropriate materials, you also want to ensure that the developmental needs of all learners are considered. Some children and youth with social, emotional, or attention needs may benefit from fidgets, or small comfort items, that help them release energy. Examples of fidgets include:

• Pieces of felt
• Small beanbags
• Small plush toys
• Pipe cleaners
• Squishy balls
• Bendy material

Fidgets can be great items to include in your “cool down” area or other quiet and calming spaces in your classroom, as they can help with self-soothing. For some children, fidgets can also be helpful during group meeting time, as they offer a release of energy in a quiet, nondisruptive way, which helps some children to focus more easily on the experience at hand. Just make sure children understand what fidgets and comfort items are for and how to appropriately use them.

Linked to Children’s Interests

Children and youth learn best when adults incorporate their interests into activity plans. Whenever possible, adults should provide materials that capture children’s interests and extend their learning. Here are some examples of materials and experiences staff members could offer based on interests from school-age programs.

By incorporating children’s interests when choosing classroom materials, you can help children make connections that extend their thinking and learning to new areas. For example, the rock station in your school-age program might spark children’s interest in rock formation, rocks and surfaces on other planets and moons, or an exploration of different jewels. Supporting children’s interest in hockey might spark a discussion of rules and regulations in sports and how these are developed and change over time. As discussed in Lesson Two on indoor environments, provocations are a great way to incorporate children and youth’s interests and help guide their play in productive, engaging ways.

Linked to Learning Goals

It is perhaps most important to think about why you have selected the materials in your room. Ask yourself:

• How will these items help children and youth learn?
• What will they learn when interacting with these items?

Use your knowledge of learning standards and the guidelines outlined by your curriculum to shape your program decisions. Look for materials that promote math skills like sorting, adding, and subtracting; literacy skills like recognition of high-frequency words; social skills like cooperative problem solving; scientific knowledge; and knowledge of the social world. Think about the ways you can engage with each individual to enhance the experience. What ways can the responsive language you use promote the cognitive understanding of the world around them? The developmentally appropriate materials in the chart above, when used in engaging activities, or paired with good provocations or displays, can help children and youth meet various learning goals.

Remember, the general rule is that children and youth should want to play with the materials you offer. In addition, the materials and experiences available to school-age children should aid their learning and development. See the Explore and Apply sections for further examples of learning goals and materials that help address them.

See

The next two videos provide examples of developmentally appropriate and culturally relevant materials for school-age children and youth.

Do

To help make the best choices for the children in your classroom, take these steps:

• Talk to a trainer, coach, or administrator about the materials that are most appropriate for your school-age program.
• Watch how children and youth play with materials. Introduce new materials when children seem bored or when they need a new challenge. Try offering provocations to help children or youth explore materials in a new or more focused way.
• Interact with school-age children as they play. Talk about their ideas. Encourage them to take the next step in their thinking.
• Reflect on the materials in your program. If you notice any biased materials (e.g., books that only show male police officers or soldiers), make a change.
• Ask families to get involved. Ask them to donate plastic jars, boxes, or other items for your art or construction areas. Invite them to share traditions from their homes or their family’s culture. Make sure that a trainer, coach, or administrator approves material donations for use in the program.
• Get creative. You do not always have to buy materials for your school-age program. Think about all the toys and materials you can find or make with children (e.g., create your own board games).

Ask yourself the following questions about the materials in your program:

• Do these materials reflect equity and respect the racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and family diversity of the program and of the broader community?
• Do these materials reflect the children and youth’s current interests and help spark new interests?
• Do these materials allow school-age children to play in a variety of ways?
• Do these materials help us reach important learning goals for children and youth?