"Feeling, Learning and Growing" is a fascinating guidebook (in Hebrew) for parents and early childhood educators on senso-motor stimulation produced by Ezer Mizion.

The book discusses the importance of active play and movement in early childhood and its influence on the cognitive learning process. "Warning signals" that may indicate slight developmental difficulties are introduced, along with techniques and novel ideas for dealing with and minimizing them. The book is accompanied by attractive illustrations and offers a wealth of activity ideas for the home, playground and pre-school classroom.

This valuable guidebook was written by the directors of the Active Nurturing Playground Project, Mrs. Simone Wolfson and Mrs. Malka Stoler. It is warmly endorsed by early childhood developmental therapists, medical professionals and educators. Production of the book, which is a Feldheim publication, was sponsored by the Bernard van Leer Foundation.

The book can be purchased at Ezer Mizion branches and at Feldheim stores throughout Israel.

The Active Nurturing Playground Project

The Active Nurturing Playground Project trains early childhood teachers in identification of minor developmental challenges, providing them with tools for early intervention in mainstream pre-school frameworks.

In its first decade nearly 7,000 pre-school children and hundreds of kindergarten teachers took part in the project, which gives the educators phenomenal tools to identify children at risk for learning disabilities and to implement effective intervention, as well as tools for senso-motor stimulation and enrichment for all the children. The guidebook was launched with distribution events in the cities where the project has a presence.

Among the topics studied in the active Nurturing Playground are:

• Creating a rich developmental environment for all children.
• Altering attitudes towards the importance of active play in the pre-school years and towards children with slight developmental challenges.
• Identifying and minimizing developmental difficulties in children ages 3-6, through guided active play in the playground and pre-school classroom.
• Early referral of children for developmental therapy at a young age, in cases where intervention in the pre-school framework is not sufficient.

The Active Nurturing Playground Project is backed by quantitative and qualitative research that checked the efficacy of the program and examined the processes of change that took place in the educational staff in their attitude towards the child with difficulties, as a result of their participation in the project.

Thank you to the Bernard van Leer Foundation for their generous grant in funding this project.