An early childhood expert roused a crowd of 400 preschool educators with a joke that even their young charges could appreciate.

“Do you know the difference between broccoli and boogers?” asked Bev Bos, speaking Sept. 9 at the 22nd annual Jewish Education Association Early Childhood fall conference, held at the Alex Aidekman Family Jewish Community Campus in Whippany. “Kids don’t eat broccoli.”

The joke was characteristic of Bos’ animated presentation, in which she urged teachers not to stomp on children’s imaginations or stifle creative play, but to make sure that what they do with kids is “real” and “authentic” — in other words, meaningful to them, whether it’s art, nursery rhymes, storytelling, even reading a book.

“Don’t you love when teachers say the children forgot 98 percent of what they learned last year?” asked Bos, teacher and director of the Roseville Community Preschool in Roseville, Calif. “They didn’t forget it. They never learned it. Because 98 percent of information leaves them within five minutes unless it is real, hooked to an emotion, and relevant to the child.”

The conference was arranged and hosted by the Jewish Education Association of MetroWest New Jersey together with its early childhood network of preschool directors who meet on a monthly basis. All of the network preschools except the JCC MetroWest school delayed opening until Sept. 12 in order to enable teachers to attend. “This is a growth opportunity and an opportunity for us as a community to learn together,” said Joan Bronspiegel Dickman, JEA early childhood coordinator. The conference also meets the state requirements for in-service training for pre-K teachers in New Jersey.

Bos was chosen to speak, according to Dickman, to inspire the teachers. “She’s an inspirational way to start the year and makes you think about how to set up your classroom environment, how to ask questions of young children, and what childhood should be.” The conference was open to anyone in the JEA preschool network. In addition to 27 schools from within the MetroWest area, educators participated from five other schools: the Mountaintop at Temple Har Shalom in Warren, Westfield’s Temple Emanu-El, Temple Emanu-El of Pascack Valley, Temple Beth-El Mekor Chayim in Cranford, and Closter’s Temple Emanu-El.

Bos, owner of Turn the Page Press, was accompanied by her colleague Michael Leeman at the presentation.

She encouraged educators to use the oral tradition of nursery rhymes with children, adapting and expanding them. She suggested that mistakes made in working with children were passed on, like a “spell,” from generation to generation. “We all live under the spell of how we were raised. ‘How many times have I told you…?’ What a stupid question. The child wonders why you can’t count….”

Bos also urged the teachers to emphasize creativity in art, one of her specialties. “Cutting things out and following directions is not art,” she said. Rather, she advocates an individualistic approach. “All they need is good quality white paper set up on easels — no construction paper — and 300 things they can paint with.” If it were up to her, she said, paintings of apple trees and recognizable images, particularly those modeled by a teacher, would be banned.

Children’s storytelling is another outlet Bos uses to help children express themselves. She told the audience she walks around her own classroom with a clipboard in hand asking children, “How does your story start?” Each day, she said, her children run over to her and say, “Bev Bos, get your pen.” And she writes down their stories and sends them home exactly as they are.

The stories often focus on events in children’s lives, from older relatives dying, to incidents of sibling rivalry. They might be a list of words, she said, or simply, “boom boom boom.” But in addition to capturing young voices, such stories can also serve as warnings.

There seemed no end to Bos’ creativity and love for mess, from the 250 pounds of red clay she offers the children, to her love for sand. “Once each year, I bring in 3,000 pounds of sand and dump it in the middle of the [class]room.”

But participating teachers, although inspired, were also skeptical about the resources necessary for the kind of school Bos runs. Asked how she accomplishes writing down all the children’s stories, Bos said, “We have parents in the class.” A collective sigh went through the room.

Later, participants reiterated their concerns to NJ Jewish News. Gail Frowley, a teacher at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Short Hills, said she was inspired to try to be “more relaxed and open and give the children the freedom to not squelch their imagination.” Still, she added, “I don’t see how to do things as openly as she professes. It would be pandemonium” at the B’nai Jeshurun school. Bos, continued Frowley, “has an awful lot of help in her classroom. And I’m skeptical because of the population of parents here and their expectations. Our school has a reputation for being academic. We can’t radically change our program.”

Others, while skeptical, thought they would try to implement pieces of what Bos offered. Wendy Stern of the Mountaintop in Warren called the presentation “wonderful” and said, “I’d like to incorporate her different approach. We’re used to so much structure and curriculum at such an early age.”

Meg Schneider of B’nai Israel in Millburn said she will try storytelling. “I’m going to walk around with my clipboard and try to get them to talk openly about real life things. I think I’ll go over to the most talkative student first and go from there.”