In my time at the Children’s School, I began to see several patterns in the ways the children played and exercised creativity, curiosity and discovery.

A large consistency was tangibility. The students loved to feel things, such as pouring sand, water, play-doh, magnets, fuzzy walls, etc. They seemed to be fascinated and engaged with interesting textures, and then the nature of the interaction would determine if they would continue being engaged.

Another interesting pattern was the idea of engagement through experiencing the unexpected. There was one three year old who got a hold of a magnifying glass. This allowed him to obviously see smaller things in greater detail, but the optical effect was just so unexpected that it became somewhat of a puzzle for him to figure out. Once he understood how the effect roughly worked, he was delighted in himself, and was able to use that magnifying glass as a tool for greater discovery afterwards.

I think I will pursue both of these concepts—using unexpected experiences and interesting textures to engage the children, and lead them to greater discovery and wonder through the gradual understanding of the apparatus.