Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
The Importance of Independent Play with Lenore ...

How do you encourage your kids to be more independent? When do you as a parent step back to give them the space to step up?

Lenore Skenazy joins Janine today to discuss some of these questions. They discuss: 


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Building Friendships and Social Skills with ...

Friendships are such a wonderful and special part of life. From memory making to going through the highs and lows with your peers makes life so much richer. As a child, learning social skills and how friendships fit is a huge learning curve as they go through their childhood and find their ‘people’. As a parent, how do you connect and how do you teach your kids basic social skills and about what a great friendship can be? 

Today Janine is joined by Caroline Maguire and in this episode they discuss:


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Practicing SEL through Play: An Interview with ...

How do we teach our children social and emotional awareness in a fun and play filled way? Eventually our children will become adults so when they walk out into the world, we want them to step into their lives as aware and in control of their emotions as possible. 

In this episode we discuss:


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
Helping Kids with Friendships and Social ...

Have you noticed social skills missing in your kids? Caroline Maguire, author of Why Will No One Play With Me?, joins me to discuss how to support your child and build them up through play.

Here’s some of the areas we cover:


Calm & Connected Podcast, Families
Janine Halloran
A Conversation about School Readiness with ...

The transition to preschool to elementary school can be such an anxious time for both parents and for the children. There’s a lot of unknowns to get them ready for and sometimes we think there’s lots we have to do to prepare them for starting. Today we discuss what you can do to help reduce anxiety for your little one with nursery practitioner, Caroline Allen. 

In this episode they discuss:


Play Matters

,

Three Awesome Fred Rogers Quotes related to Social and Emotional Development

,
Three Awesome Fred Rogers Quotes related to Social and Emotional Development

Recently I watched the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor all about Mr. Rogers. I enjoy documentaries and like to watch them at night as part of my evening routines. I started to watch this one evening, and within the first few minutes, they had already talked about emotional regulation and social skills. I decided to stop and watch it during the day when I could write things down.. When I watched the documentary, I took a ton of notes, and I wanted to share some of my favorite quotes and insights I gained from watching. Take a listen!

, ,

Part Five - Games & Activities to Work on Perspective Taking

, ,
Part Five - Games & Activities to Work on Perspective Taking

What is perspective taking? It’s the ability to take another person’s point of view. This is a building block towards empathy. There are lots of different teachable moments that can happen in day to day life where you can talk about different perspectives people have on the same situation. There are also several games and activities you can play with children and teens to help them practice the art of walking in someone else’s shoes.

, ,

Creativity and Imaginative Play

, ,
Creativity and Imaginative Play

Play advocates often talk about the importance of open ended play, open ended play materials and having play be child led instead of adult led. There is a popular theory called Loose Parts was developed by Simon Nicholson in 1971.

, ,

Open Ended Play, Loose Parts, and Playdates

, ,
Open Ended Play, Loose Parts, and Playdates

Play advocates often talk about the importance of open ended play, open ended play materials and having play be child led instead of adult led. There is a popular theory called Loose Parts was developed by Simon Nicholson in 1971.

, ,

Why I Love Playdates!

, ,
Why I Love Playdates!

The play date has been getting some negative press, with people listing all the things they don’t like about them. There are pros and cons to everything, so I decided to explain why I appreciate play dates.

, ,

Board Games, Card Games, and Social Skills

, ,
Board Games, Card Games, and Social Skills

On today’s episode, my focus is all games. I talk about all the different social skills kids practice when they play board games and card games. Did you know that by simply playing a game, kids work on…

, , ,

The Importance of Play and Teachable Moments

, , ,
The Importance of Play and Teachable Moments

On today’s episode, my focus is all about play…

  • books I love

  • quotes I love

  • the social stages of play by Parten

, , ,

Introducing the Calm and Connected Podcast

, , ,
Introducing the Calm and Connected Podcast

For quite some time now, I’ve been thinking about starting a podcast. I finally did it! The podcast is called the Calm and Connected Podcast, and here’s what you’ll hear about in the first episode…

,

Book Review of Purposeful Play: A Teacher's Guide to Igniting Deep and Joyful Learning Across the Day

,
Book Review of Purposeful Play: A Teacher's Guide to Igniting Deep and Joyful Learning Across the Day

There is so much research about how play supports learning. But how do you, as a teacher implement that in the classroom? You may feel overwhelmed and not know where to start.

If you’re interested in figuring out how to incorporate more play into school, especially at the early elementary school levels, I highly recommend reading

16 Different Types of Play

16 Different Types of Play

Inside: Definition of 16 play types from Bob Hughes and ideas for play materials to encourage variety in the way children play.

Definition of play:

“Engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose.”

,

The Importance of Outdoor and Inclusive Play: An Interview with Missy Benson from Playworld

,
The Importance of Outdoor and Inclusive Play: An Interview with Missy Benson from Playworld

Inside: An interview with Missy Benson from Playworld, talking about the importance of outdoor play and inclusive play, and the new PlayForm 7 in the Boston area.

“Oh. my. Goodness!!!” my daughter shrieked with excitement. My son’s eyes widened and he took off running toward the playful chaos of the playground.

, ,

How Pretend Play Helps Children Learn Social Skills

, ,
How Pretend Play Helps Children Learn Social Skills

“Mommy, you be a cop and we’ll be the robbers! We’re running away and taking your money!”

Lately, my kids have been playing cops and robbers. They’re always looking for new items to “steal”, and then they run to their robber’s fort (aka under our dining room table). My husband and I are the cops. We look for clues to track the robbers, and then we usually have a little exchange ---

,

Book Review - Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

,
Book Review - Play: How it Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the Soul

I’ve been wanting to read this book since I watched Dr. Brown’s TED talk all about play. As someone who is a huge advocate for play, reading this book was thrilling. There are so many great quotes and wonderful information about the importance of play and it’s impact on our social lives. Here are a few of my favorite highlights from the book.

Copyright © Encourage Play, LLC 2021