I ran across this article and found it of interest, especially with our focus on connecting and playing as part of daily life. One thing that stood out to me was the importance of developing life skills as a child including language, communication, and problem-solving. Play fits in perfectly with these. Another standout was how to develop a plan to gently decrease screen time. I’ve included a link to the article but we have an expert on that, right here in the community with @Max Orlewicz I’m interested in your perspective, was the article on target, too hyped, or something else? https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/article/some-of-what-happens-during-youth-cant-be-reversed-its-another-reason-to-rethink-kids-screen-time/

We have so much to celebrate this month. First, welcome to our new members, @Cristal Vancarson @Magda Pecsenye @Natale Padovesi and @Sharon Yeh I hope you find lots of new play ideas here and make some pals in the process. When you are ready, pop over to the Start Here classroom for quick explanation of how this community works, and after you visit #Choose Your First Adventure come back and share what it was with us. We'd also love to get to know you so please introduce yourself here or create a new post. The other two items we have to celebrate are: we are 1 person away from 100 members, that is amazing and would not be possible without your support and belief in play. When we reach 100, let's have a party. Speaking of parties, my birthday is coming up so watch out for a month long birthday celebration. What would you like to see during birthday month?

Dough Is a Structure, Not Just a Recipe One of the things that surprises kids when making bread for the first time is how physical it is. Bread dough pushes it stretches, tears, an changes texture in your hands as you work with it. A lot of modern cooking hides process from children. We buy things already sliced, frozen, sealed, or ready to heat. Bread-making slows everything down enough to actually watch transformation happen. What we call “kneading” is really the process of building structure. As flour and water combine, proteins called glutenin and gliadin begin forming gluten strands. Those strands create an elastic network capable of trapping the carbon dioxide produced by yeast. Without that structure, bread would stay dense and flat. That’s why kneading matters. Too little kneading and the dough struggles to hold shape but too much flour and the dough becomes stiff and too much handling and some doughs become tough. Kids can actually feel these changes happening in real time, which makes this a surprisingly powerful science lesson. They are learning through resistance, texture, observation, and adjustment instead of memorization. Bread-making also teaches something we do not talk about enough anymore: transformation often looks messy in the middle. Sticky dough eventually becomes smooth. Shaggy dough becomes elastic. A rough beginning becomes something workable through time and attention. Honestly, that may be one of the best lessons in the entire process. Today, you have two options, in the Classroom check out #Day 6: Rustic Skillet Flatbreads or Kids Can Bake Personal Pan | https://skoo.ly/kids-pan-pizza One dough ball, one little baker. Bring a kid to the counter. What are you baking today?

Thank you for believing in my vision. Let’s extend a warm welcome to our newest members @Charlotte Bick @Cam Parkes @Wendy Venema @Paula Artis and @Sandy Chong Charlotte is my real life assistant and she’s helping me organize the classrooms. She also has years of homeschool experience and I’m glad she agreed to help me here. Cam is new and runs an RPG community. I’ve asked him to schedule a game play session so so let us know if you’re interested. Thinking of you @Gus Gray @Daniel Cavaretta @Evelene Sterling @Michelle Fuentes as you were interested in our last live game night. Wendy has a mom’s group that some of you might be interested in and Paula is offering an AI camp for kids in June. Sandy and I know each other from Crust and Crumb Academy. A few days ago, she shared her dough was looking at her and I used that idea and her picture to create this welcome video. Enjoy and take a minute to introduce yourself. Then pop over to #Welcome to Connected Through Play to see how the community works.

I’m in the AI Storytelling community and working on ideas for our about page. Which video do you prefer: