Wonder Walks

This summer I hope all of you will join your amazing children for wonder walks.  Just step outside the door and let the world astound you.  Nothing more is required.

Table Talks

On the last few days of school, the children and I gathered around a table to talk and draw.  Our conversations ranged from current events to fantastical tales and everywhere in between. 

Listening to the children is one of the greatest joys of my job.  Their questions, ideas and insights never fail to inspire.  

As a parting gift, I wanted to share one such conversation with you.  Lean in to hear what they had to say. I hope this little snippet warms your heart as much as it did mine.  It's my sincere wish that we might postpone our eager rush to explain or correct and simply engage in a conversation among equals, no matter the age or beliefs of our companions, with curiosity and a sense of possibility.

A             I'm drawing flowers.

W            Me too!

G             Flowers die but they come back again.

Me          What happens when they die?

A            God takes them to heaven.

Me          I see and how does that work?

 

C God is a human who brings you up to heaven.

W He died hundreds of years ago.

Me What is Heaven?

E             What!!! You don't know about heaven?!!!!

A Heaven is a place where skeletons and fairies live.

Me Whoa, that sounds like a strange place.

W and E No skeletons aren't in there.

A Well your bones go there when you die.

W Yeah, when you die and go to heaven you become like God but not the real God.

Me How does that work?

G When we are dead for hundreds of years we become strong like God.

Me Who is God?

Group       Seriously?!!

Group  God is really old and strong and he has a bow and arrows.

Me Is God a man?

Group YES!!!

Me Well is there a girl God?

Group No

Me Hmm.  I don’t know how I feel about that because I’m a girl.

(A few girls nod in agreement but insist God is a man.)

L         Maybe God can turn into anything God wants to.

A         Yeah, so God can be a girl too if God wants to.

L         Hey, I have something to say.

Me Go for it.

L         We don’t even know if God is real.

W         Yeah, when God died hundreds of years ago how did he get to heaven, he was just bones then?

G         Well, God started hundreds of years ago with sand temples, then he died and someone else 

                became the sand temple God and he went up to heaven and became the real God.

Me How does God get up there?  

E Yeah!  He’s dead and not a God yet.

L Okay so maybe someone just called God a person.

Group No, it's a real thing!

G and L Maybe we don’t really KNOW if it's real.  

L If God makes people in heaven before they get borned maybe it's real but we don't know for 

                sure.

E Maybe God’s not the one with the bow and arrow, maybe someone else is and we just think its 

                God.

Me That’s an interesting idea.

W Maybe Jesus is a different guy too.  Maybe God is bigger than all the guys?

E Hey Angelina do you know how Jesus died?

W Yeah Angelina do you know about Jesus?

Me Tell me!

W Jesus lived a long time ago. But he got eaten by 53 dragons!

E Yeah but before the dragons he got poisoned and pulled apart and then the dragons ate him.

Me Whoa that seems like a rough way to go!

L Maybe people like to tell stories.

Group Yeah….  

(long pause)

W If God’s not a person maybe God's like gold lightening or something! 

A             Yeah!  

G Or an animal… or all animals.

C I don’t think animals can go to heaven.

A Accept birds.  Birds can go to heaven.

Me There are birds in heaven?

Group Yeah because they can fly.

(Clearly the group isn't impressed by my ability to keep up with the logic of the conversation.)

Me Well we can’t fly like birds. How does that work?

W Well God was a human and flew up to heaven, my Dad told me how but I sort of forgot, and        

                after hundreds of years he became a God or strong like a God.

Me So does everyone who dies become like a God after hundreds of years.

Group Yeah!

W But it takes longer for some people.  I don’t know why.

E All the grown ups die. Well actually I don’t know if they are gonna die, because maybe if you don’t get sick maybe you don’t ever die but if grown ups, that’s you guys (pointing at me), die they will be in heaven or not heaven.

Me What is "not heaven"?  

E Not heaven is when you didn’t get sick and didn’t die.  If you’re in not heaven you become a 

                grandpa or a grandma or something. 

L When you guys are dead (pointing at me again), we become you. We will be the grown ups.

G Yeah thats how life works

C and A Yeah!

Me I see. It’s kind of like the flowers.

Group. Yeah!

Me You guys are going to new schools, what will I do when I have more questions?

A  Maybe you could talk to different kids?

L Yeah, kids always have answers.

Group Yeah they do!

I couldn’t agree more!

Enjoy your summer and thank you for the great privilege of learning and working alongside your children.

Stay Curious, Live with Wonder and Keep Listening,

Your Studio Teacher, Angelina

Smoothies, yummmmm!

Cooking continues to be a great favorite in 440!


This week the children made their own smoothies! Based on recipes of their own design. Be sure to ask about it and try your hand at smoothie making together. Most of them even put spinach in it! A great way to hide your vegetables?

Birds!!!

Toddler’s in the kitchen!

The BIG P

 
A BIG thank you to the Michalek family for making the BIG P (aka Puff Pancake) with the Ward Hobbs Class.  The children LOVED it!!!

The recipe is pretty straightforward:

4 eggs, 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 t. salt, 1/2 c. milk and 2 T melted butter.  Mix it all together.  Pour into a preheated, oven safe pan with 2 T additional melted butter and bake for 11 minutes at 450 degrees.

Top with lemon and powdered sugar!  Mmmm, mmmm good!

This one didn't puff quite as much as at home but it was equally delicious!!!

Have a special recipe you'd like to make with the kids?  Reach out to Angelina and we will make it happen!!

A BIG week in the studio

I have spent this year learning how to serve the children after a global pandemic. And they have taught me so much!!! Particularly about the importance of relationship, mistake making, risk-taking, unstructured play, independence and resilience. These hallmarks of childhood are important reminders for adults too as we all reemerge from a period of social distancing and more.

If you missed my studio talk here is the End of the year video I shared.

And now here are a few snippets from the week:

On another note:

The Artisan Center window display is up and available for your viewing pleasure! Please make it down to the corner of Third and Detroit Street to see the children’s artistry up close and in person. 

Be sure to stop in the store to say hello and peruse the beauty and bounty always in stock!!

See you next week!

Ward Hobbs Introduces Biomes

Want to know more about biomes?  Well the Ward-Hobbs class is eager to share!  Click on this video to learn more!

Cooking with Children

Picky eaters? Dinnertime doldrums? I have just the thing to cure those cooking blues.  Invite your child into the kitchen with you. 

How?

I’m glad you asked (rhetorically of course)!  

Here are a few cooking tips gleaned from my years of cooking with children:

• Adult ineptitude is seriously underrated.  Of course your child will need some basic knife skills (here is my current favorite kid knife) and a basic understanding of kitchen protocol, but otherwise try on an “I don’t know'' attitude.  This will work wonders for building confidence and curiosity in the kitchen. And that confidence will translate into less opposition at the dinner table!

• The meal isn’t always the goal. The experience is.  Remember learning is an opportunity to get things wrong (safely) and make discoveries. Instead of passing along a family recipe, cultivate an attitude of culinary curiosity and adventure.

• Ask questions! Here are a few to prime the pump: 

• What would happen if we added baking powder to these muffins and not to the others? (Try it!)  Does roasted broccoli taste different than steamed? How many ways can you cook an egg? (Give them half a dozen and see what they can come up with… one egg at a time. It’s okay, messy happens.  It’s a part of learning.  Learning to clean up is an important part of being a chef and it’s fun too!). 

• If you are making vegetable soup, go to the store and let your child pick out all the vegetables. (tip--- anything pureed goes down waaay easier.  What you can’t see doesn’t scare you.)

• Light a candle to set the stage and put on some cooking tunes.

• Taste and smell along the way! 

Whatever you do, resist the urge to correct or praise.  Instead encourage mistake making and intrinsic motivation. Cooking is a creative science after all and it can be a source of pure dining delight for children of every age.

If you have any lingering doubts, click on this link to see how fun cooking can be!