Home Hot Topics Articles Directors' Choice Awards About Us / Contact Us Activities & Curriculum Activities for Outcome-Based Learning Arts & Crafts Music for Learning Recommended Reading Sharing Boards: What Do YOU Think? NEWSlink Current National News Conference Calendar Topics In Early Childhood Education Art and Creativity in Early Childhood Education Job Sharing Board State Licensing Requirements Stay Connected! Each month we'll send you an email filled with articles and ideas for your classroom. Subscribe Now Date: 4/4/2006 11:14:00 PM Author: bobbiann (bigddog803@go.com) Subject: it all depends on were ya live! I visited schools in the South (USA), and the preschools there many kids came to school barefoot. Hawaii is pretty much flip-flops, which can be taken off when you are seated in class or out on the playground. You can stub a toe as easily as pinch a finger. Doctors recommend shoes for babies when they hit 2! Shoes outside if protection is needed. The foot muscles need to develop. And then there are those Waldorf schools. Many lessons encourage the kids to go barefoot. There are many foot muscles that are never used if you have shoes on. And if you don't work those muscles, you'll never develop full use of them. All though I wonder, one activity was picking up small ojects like a pencil or a marble with you toes. After you pick the object up, then you pass it off to the other child in the circle. Teaches motor balance and an awareness of your body center. The oine use I have for this, I can pick up a pen off the floor without bending over! Try that shoe wearers! Name: Email: Subject

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