Playvolution HQ Podcast Podcast Por Jeff Johnson arte de portada

Playvolution HQ Podcast

Playvolution HQ Podcast

De: Jeff Johnson
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The Playvolution HQ Podcast dives deep into play and early learning, from loose parts and power play to school readiness and curriculum. This weekly, short-format show goes beyond the resources available at playvolutionhq.com, delivering original content like DIY ideas, terminology deep-dives, commentary, news, early learning history, and more.Explorations Early Learning Crianza y Familias Relaciones
Episodios
  • PHQP_0029 Sample Staff Fitness Standards

    PHQP_0029 Sample Staff Fitness Standards
    Jul 21 2025
    In episode PHQP_0029 Sample Staff Fitness Standards, Jeff follows up on a promise made in episode 23 to share sample staff fitness standards. Episode Video Watch Now: PHQP_0029 Sample Staff Fitness Standards Episode Notes PHQP_0023 Fit For Care Why American Kids Grow Up Hating Exercise The Sample Staff Fitness Standards Transcript Welcome to the Playvolution HQ podcast. I'm Jeff Johnson. Thanks for pushing play on with the show. So, my dogs Slinky and Gigi are getting old. Slinky was napping today and it was time to go out and I just kind of gave him a little nudge with my foot to wake him up and he just shook like a bowl full of jello and didn't, I thought he passed away during his nap and I was befuddled and I nudged him again and oh hey, hey boss, ready to go? And we got up, but he is filling up with tumors and someday I'm gonna, he's just not gonna be awake from his nap and I'm gonna be heartbroken. Gigi is slowing down too. When we first moved to the beach three years ago, we'd go for five mile walks every morning and then maybe again in the afternoon, we'd put a couple miles in and about a year ago, Slinky just stopped going for the beach. He just goes outside and takes care of his business now and that's about it. Now Gigi's slowing down and why am I throwing that here in the podcast? Because life comes at you fast and you gotta make the most of it and enjoy those moments that are good when you can because sometimes the more savory, less sweet moments come up and that's kind of what I'm going through with my pups now and it kind of breaks my heart knowing that at some point in the probably not too long future for Slinky and the mid-range future for Gigi, it's gonna be the end for them. So that's kind of a depressing way to start the podcast but if you got thoughts about little pets, let me know. On with our one topic for this week. I said I'd come back, episode 23, I think it was, I talked about staff fitness standards and the lack of them and maybe the need for them because it is important to have staff who can keep up with the kids if you want kids to be physically active. And so I said in that episode, I don't wanna rehash that whole episode but I said I'd come back with some sample fitness standards and that's what we're gonna get into this episode. I know I wanna preface this, I talked about this in episode 23 as well. We need to be able to make accommodations in fitness standards because people are differently abled and we want to have those people working in the early learning profession because I think it's good for them and good for the children and good for the culture and civilization as a whole. On the other hand, we need to have enough people on staff who can meet the physical standards, some basic physical standards for health and safety reasons. And so while I throw these sample standards out there, I'm not saying every single person on the staff needs to be able to meet these, but absolutely there need to be enough staff people in the ratio at any time, on the premises at any time, that can handle the physical demands of the job. And beyond that, we make accommodations for people. Let's take a look at these though. So first, I think strength is, one of those standards we need to have. You need to have a certain level of strength before you can successfully work in this profession. There's a lot of lifting, a lot of toting to do, not only of kids, but of equipment. And so I think a reasonable strength standard for the early learning profession is the ability to repeatedly lift and carry up to 40 pounds. That's getting a almost preschooler toddler up on the changing table when you need to. That's moving tires that are out of the playground as loose parts around. That's hefting and hauling the water play table around the playground, those kinds of things. Filling up, carrying a cooler up to the playground for a picnic lunch,
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    13 m
  • PHQP_0028 Interoception And School Readiness

    PHQP_0028 Interoception And School Readiness
    Jul 14 2025
    In episode PHQP_0028 Interoception And School Readiness, Jeff discusses the interoceptive system and its importance in school readiness. Episode Video Watch Now: PHQP_0028 Interoception And School Readiness Episode Notes Interoceptive System The Interoceptive System Simplified The Important Role Of Kinetic Chains In Early Learning PHQP_0027 Coordination 8 Sensory Systems That Drive Playful Learning The Benefits of Playful Aggression The Interoception And School Readiness Transcript Welcome to the Playvolution HQ podcast. I'm Jeff Johnson. Thanks for pushing play on with the show. So, I discovered something the other day. I, I, there we go. I discovered steak cut bacon. Now, look, listeners, if you knew about steak cut bacon and didn't tell me about it, I'm, I'm very angry with you. If, if steak cut bacon is a new thing for you, you'll be just as amazed as I was. I was doing my online shopping and I decided, hey, let's get a little bit crazy and move away from our regular bacon selection and see what other kind of bacon opportunities the world has to offer us. I found steak cut bacon. A pound of this stuff is four slices. So, each slice is like, like half an inch thick. And we, we, we partook, me and, me and the wife, Tasha, partook of the steak cut bacon earlier today. And it's delightful. So, what's that got to do with anything? Well, the world is full of amazing stuff and we don't know it all. And we should be open to, to checking things out and trying new things and, and looking for new things to try, I guess. And if you haven't tried steak cut bacon, you're in for a, it's just, it's just thick meat candy. Anyway, on with the show. Topic one and the only topic again for another episode, interoception and school readiness. So, the interoceptive system is a big part of school readiness, but it doesn't get much attention. Early learning programs spend a lot of time talking about, I don't know, knowing how to write your name and being able to, to name the colors and those kind of things. Those all seem, seem like school readiness things, but this is a very primordial, basic, simple school readiness thing that we often rush through in early learning programs and don't pay much attention to. So the interoceptive system is a, one of the eight sensory systems we've talked to. We've mentioned it on previous episodes. It's really about sensing the body's inner signals. So we've got all of these sensory systems inside of our body that are sending messages to our brains. And this kind of encompasses all of those. So this is internal signals that we're dealing with here and how to interpret the body's interpret, how to interpret the body's inner signals. And so it's not only wearing them up and being aware of them, but interpreting them, figuring out what they mean. And we'll get to that in a little bit more, more detail in a moment. So think for example, around your belly button, we can have a sensory experience in that six or eight inches around your belly button. And it might mean you need to eat because you're hungry. And it might mean you're feeling anxious or stressed. Maybe you need to relax. And it might mean you need to poop. And it might mean you need to pee. And it might mean you're getting sick and you need to throw up. And those sensations are in the same area. And the internal signals are very similar. And we can pretty much learn to discriminate against between them and tell the difference between them. And you get to the point where you know, oh, I've got to go pee or, oh, I need a grilled cheese sandwich. And being able to make those determinations when you're five, six years old and then heading off to kindergarten makes you a delight to have in the classroom and a happier student as well. It's good for the teacher and it's good for the student. The problem is learning to differentiate between those senses to make sense of them,
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    14 m
  • PHQP_0027 Coordination

    PHQP_0027 Coordination
    Jul 7 2025
    In episode PHQP_0027 Coordination, Jeff discusses coordination. Spoiler Alert--kids need to play more. Episode Video Watch Now: PHQP_0027 Coordination Episode Notes 8 Sensory Systems That Drive Playful Learning DIY | Sensory Play Ramps Hands Grasp Gently Poster The Coordination Transcript Welcome to the Playvolution HQ podcast. I'm Jeff Johnson, thanks for pushing play. On with the show. So, I talk more about coordination. Again, I'm trying to teach myself to play the guitar and I'm an old guy and I thought I was fairly coordinated. But when it comes to putting my fingers in the right place at the right time and making sure the left fingers are in the right place while the right fingers are in the right place while my heel is keeping beat, it's very, very complicated. And it's very, very frustrating. And I'm loving every moment of it. And it got me to thinking about children and coordination because over the last couple years, I've been talking to caregivers, you know, about play and all the other stuff we talk about in this show. And one thing that continues to come up is a lot of long-time caregivers, people who've been in the field for 15, 25, 35 years are reporting frustration with how much less coordinated the children are than they used to be. Somebody in Australia referred to it as kids that got floppy hands nowadays. And I think that's a thing. And, you know, I think it comes from the sedentariness and the screen time and a lot of that. And a lot of the things we cover on the show would address it. But I just wanna spend a little bit of time talking again about coordination. So that's our topic, coordination. So coordination is the ability to execute smooth, controlled movements. And it has a lot to do with proprioception, which we talked about in a previous episode. But coordination also has to do with the visual processes and muscle memory. And there's a lot more going on than just proprioception there. And one of the ways we can, yeah, we're realizing other sensory systems too. I forgot this slide was there. Vision is there, touch is there, the vestibular system is there. All of this stuff is working together. And for all of those things to work together, that's vestibular, the sensory system, that's four of the eight sensory systems at least working together all at once, is they need a lot of practice. And that's what I'm experiencing with my learning guitar is that I've made improvements. But especially because I'm an old guy, I've got this old brain that doesn't make new neural connections nearly as fast as if I was six months old. It's taking a long time. So I can see those slow progressions, but what it takes is repetition over and over and over and over again. And that's what kids need when they're building their coordination and these sensory systems. So our coordination develops from the core out, from our center, and then the big muscles, and then finally out to our fingertips. And so one of the problems, and I've talked about this before, one of the problems, one of the roadblocks to this in a lot of early learning settings is kids aren't engaging in enough big body activity. And if we want them to be able to sit still and keep their hands to themselves and manage a writing utensil, when they get to school, they need to be doing a lot more moving in their early learning settings than they're doing nowadays. They need to be a lot less crisscross applesauce and a lot more rough and tumble play and superhero play and running and climbing and leaping and rolling, spinning, and all that fun stuff. So core outward, if you want to get fancy with it, it's from the proximal to the distal, from the core outward. If you want to impress parents or your coworkers, you can talk about proximal to distal when it comes to coordination development. And this naturally develops, again, via play and exploration.
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    12 m
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