The ART of Discovery

It doesn't take long, just one morning with the toddlers, to become a lifetime advocate for the power of wonder and everyone's right to it.  As adults, we have seen and experienced a lot.  We understand many of the basic principles of our physical world and often approach them with a dry "yeah-yeah" or become so habituated that we no longer notice them at all.  We must remain vigilant to this tendency in ourselves, otherwise we might just rob ourselves AND others of the opportunity to DISCOVER something for themselves... which is the equivalent of robbing the Fort Knox of WONDER.  Here is an example from a single morning spent with the toddlers and what they learned speaks for itself.   I didn't tell them anything about the materials.  I just put them out and watched them explore.

Sand, glorious SAND.  "It's soft".  "Feel it".  "I'm at the beach."  "It feels good." "This is my mom and my dad and me and my brother and my sister and this is school".  "She feels sad.  WAAAAAAhhh Mommy?  Mommy's here." ... the conversations and play went on for quite awhile.

And then the discovery that you can make marks in the sand!  Drawing!!!  And this led to a lot of exploration and exclamations!

 Next, they discovered the colored transparent materials.  

First they were sorted and there was a great deal of discussion about how best to organize them.  It was decided that color sorting was the way to go.

 WHOA.  Wait a minute!  If you lift them over your head they make colors on the wall.  How?

 SAY WHAT?!!!! If you put them on this bright contraption they cast an image on the wall.
 That's amazing! (Insert lots of whoops and hollers and jumping up and down)

 And you can look through them too and things look different when you do?

 What?  Seriously!!! You try it!  (Which of course I did!)

(A slight scream) and a new discovery.  A tiny bug.  The first impulse to kill it was waylaid by me and then a wonderful process of inquiry unfolded.  What is it? Where does it live? Does it bite?  Look how small it is.  Look how BIG we are.  

 The bug remained, more or less, unimpressed.

NOW tell me... the next time you eagerly rush to teach something that a child might discover on their own with a little scaffolding on our part and even preparation, what will you do?  I have witnessed how we, as grown ups, become thief's in the night/day and steal away the enthusiasm of discovery.  It's not intentional.  I do it myself.  It's the desire to share our understanding BUT the cost is great.  SOMETHING discovered for the first time is a miracle to behold. Every time I witness it I am astonished by the breathtaking beauty inherent in the simplest of things. I am reminded again and again by these great teachers, to suspend my lifetime of "knowing" and indulge my capacity for wonder in this moment...and this one... and this.

Celebrating Connections

As most of you know my research question this year involves developing connections, relationships and community.   The toddlers are such wonderful teachers for me about so many things and this is no exception.
In the midst of toddler studio day, this child coyly smiled at me through the glass separating her classroom from the studio.

 In no time another child had noticed her playful invitation from the other side of the glass and hurried over to engage.

The glass became a point of connection and soon a game of peek-a-boo was set in motion.  Their enthusiasm upon seeing one another through the glass and then around the door frame was contagious.

 And other children joined in.

These little moments matter.  They are some of the many ways humans build connections, relationships and a foundation of belonging.  I wonder if we as adults might adopt more of the toddlers playful, open attitude toward one another and welcome the everyday opportunities for connection, so easily overlooked, but so deeply needed.