I love children. Their fearlessness and innovation are inspiring. I’ve always connected very easily with little kids, but after spending a couple hours in their domain, I realized I’d forgotten so much about what it means to be a preschooler. It’s truly amazing how simple life is at that age, and how uninhibited they are by societal definitions of normal.  There are no stupid ideas. Just something new to try.

Getting the opportunity to observe at the Children’s School was quite eye-opening. It was incredible to see how different each of the age groups behaved, despite the fact that they each were within 3 years of each other. It does make sense considering that is double many of their lives. The 3 year olds seemed to have the simplest motivations. They were the epitome of thrill seekers. They were always looking for something to do and could be content after vey little. I found it almost chaotic how much was going on, with all the toys everywhere, all of the sounds and music playing, it was borderline overwhelming for me but just enough for the kids. They would find something, play with it until they quickly reached boredom and moved on to something else. There really wasn’t much communicating as they all were preoccupied in their own little worlds. Although a few were interested in the music, most were very involved with their hands. Grabbing things and putting them together was very cool for this age group. Even if other kids were playing with the same toys, they were very focused on their own capabilities and exploring what their hands could do. I found it really interesting how for those few students who were incredibly talkative, the teachers never responded in baby voices. The teachers were very good and noticing and fostering this preschooler autonomy. Before we left for the day, I noticed a teacher walking with a little girl and just before she opened a door, she stepped back so the girl could do it. At the time, it seemed like a gargantuan feat for this 3  year old, but once she overcame it (with minimal help from the teacher), it was a brilliant display of independence.

The 4 year olds seemed so much more capable than their younger counterparts. Now having a better grasp of their capabilities, they were more outwardly focused. The games and activities they were interested in were a bit more complicated. Instead of blocks and trains, they were making puzzles and drawing pictures. Though they still were very self focused, they were more aware of their classmates and their opinions. I noticed temporary collaboration to achieve a common goal. The teachers also were influential in this interconnectivity. The morning welcome was very involved, adding song and chanting all the students’ names. I was really surprised that most of the kids were not on board with the warmup game. The teacher had them stand on colored shapes and come sit down when she called out the shape. Most of the students were kept getting distracted. It was only later when another teacher let them spin in place as fast as they could, did they have fun. I did notice that full body activities were better received. They are still very sensitive to new stimuli and new experiences. At one point, someone noticed a cricket in the corner. The whole class got up and clamored around to see. How funny it is to think that in a couple years, most of those kids will run at the sign of a bug.

The 5 year olds in Kindergarten were playing a whole other ballgame. They were clearly at a whole other level of cognition in the ways that they interacted with their surroundings. It was clear that they were now, much more focused on their classmates and the ways they played with them. The kindergarteners were playing much harder games with complex rules. A group of kids were rolling dice and collecting tokens, actions that had many potential outcomes. They were creating in uninhibited mediums and were very proud in showing off their accomplishments. There were paper airplanes, clay/Play Doh. I noticed a little boy asked for friends to tape wings to his back and he flew all around the room, telling all his friends and teachers what he’d done.

I think it’s going to be very important to specify what age group we’re building our demo towards because the things that are interesting to the different age groups can have a huge amount of variability.