Play-Based Learning Conference

LAKE COUNTY, CALIF. (September 12, 2022) - A total of 80 early educators joined us for the Teaching and Learning and Playing, Oh My! conference at Konocti Vista Casino.

This conference was hosted by the Lake County Office of Education's Lake County Quality Counts (LCQC) program.

The keynote speaker was Kristen RB Peterson who flew out to Lake County from Minnesota. Peterson is the founder of Butterfly Hill Nature Preschool. She is an advocate for play-based learning in all early childhood environments.

She provided various hot topics on play-based learning. 

Play-based learning is when an educator encourages a child's learning through playful interactions. This ranges from playing with toys, making something in the kitchen or even reading together.

The participants did an interactive workshop where they created and experiment with various materials.

Peterson delivered a presentation in the morning based on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs lets us know that "children can't learn with an itchy butt" or an absence of a relationship with their caregiver.

After lunch, Peterson talked on the topic of getting children "ready for kindergarten". Children deserve a childhood, and when we rush from one thing to the next, we miss the stage the children are currently in. She reviewed how to embrace childhood.

Equilingual, an agency that provides translation services, provided simultaneous Spanish interpretation for the Spanish-speaking participants.

Visit our website for more information about the LCQC program.