Th child and the city...

A friend of mine shared on facebook the following

Being a woman is kind of like being a cyclist in a city where all the cars represent men
You are supposed to be able to share the road equally with cars, but that's not how it works
The roads are built for cars and you spend a great deal of physical and mental energy being defensive and trying not to get hurt
Some of the cars WANT you to get hurt. They think you don't have any place on the road at all.

It got me thinking, not only from the perspective of human rights, equality for women and men... and those that are not included in this binary way of viewing life... where as adults we DO have a voice to be defensive and avoiding getting hurt... while children do not... they are seldom afforded a voice.
They experience being the cyclist as if in the dark and with no lights or reflectors... they are virtually invisible and the adult world seldom considers them as equals on the road. (Of course I don not include those adults who are working hard to listen to the voice of the child, that are advocating children's rights etc)

 For four years I went out with my group of preschoolers to hand out pepparkakor (gingerbread cookies) as a symbol of goodwill in December... and I was always incredibly ashamed of the behaviour of MOST of the adults. Yes, there were those that came up to the children and interacted, that saw the children, admired their baking skills and enjoyed the message of goodwill... mostly parents with their young children and retired people... the majority actively avoided eye contact with the children (ranging from 2-6 over the years) actively ignoring the children's wishes of goodwill and offerings of sweet things and sometimes even ensuring they walked as far from the children as they could... some even snapped at the children (of course I was always there offering support so the children did not get disheartened.)
the children were forgiving... when we talked about the adults that chose to ignore us they thought it might be because they were shy and did not dare to talk, or were in a hurry and did not have time...
for me I felt sad that we have lost a sense of community where we all participate and support each other and focus on this sense of goodwill.

I ended up taking hundred of photos to document who ignored the children and who interacted... men between the ages of 20 and 60 were those who did most of the active ignoring.

On Friday I will be listening to Tim Gill who writes "Rethinking Childhood" which brings me to the point of cities and child friendliness and space for children to play... and how cities are designed for cars and not for children... maybe even all people...

this in an area between buildings... not designed for children, but the children called it "hide and seek" pak because it was great for that, and they always started with that game before going into other sorts of play... jumping, chasing and building with the junk they found there.

Stockholm has some car free streets during summer... this summer with be the third in "Alive Stockholm" (Levande Stockholm) where several streets are free from cars and filled with people and activities instead... another street has been added to this list of Summer-pedestrian-streets, making it four streets/partial streets that are car free. Some will have pop-up parks. I will be checking them out and taking photos this summer to see just how child-friendly they are. Last year I just enjoyed some of them... this year I want to investigate them a little more.
http://www.stockholm.se/levandestockholm

the city hall is not designed for children, and yet the children found play possibilities here too

and on the 17th of September a part of the city will be completely car free for the day in order to bring up more dialogue about how cars affect the city and the potential of a city without cars...

image from Stockholm Stad
Bilfritt område = carfree area

Those of you who have explore this blog will have seen the page about Stockholm play-spaces... I have shared images of play-spaces here in Stockholm, and also some spaces that are public but I have felt allowed for children's play to be a part of the space too... really that is what we want... spaces where we can all belong with equality, young - old, men - women and everything in between... you know  EVERYONE!

What I see in these play-spaces is that, especially on weekends, there are more adults than children... or at least it feels that way as the big adult bodies take so much space... I watch and see how adults follow their children round the play-spaces. ONLY ONE play space had children playing without any adults in sight... this was in the south suburbs of Stockholm in an area with many immigrants... maybe a different play culture? I liked it, the space belonged to the children, the children were creative in their use of the play space... it reminded me of my own childhood when we went to the park on our own to play - the children in the play space were aged 5-15 - while in the ones dominated by adults the ages were 1-6 maybe a few 7 and 8 year olds too... of course older children will not want to play here, there is no space for them.

In 1998-99 I did a research on how children use museums looking at 6 museums in Stockholm and six museums in Yorkshire... interviewing parents, teachers and the museum workers. What I found was that museums in Sweden seemed to have more space for children on the side of the exhibitions... yes they had considered the children, but they had not made the exhibitions inclusive and attractive to all in the same way that museums in Yorkshire had... the UK museums had a greater focus on connecting their exhibitions to the school curriculum than in Stockholm (although Sweden is catching up on that it is still no way near what the UK museums offer in the sense of down-loadables etc... and that might not always be a good thing... I am just stating fact.)
But for me, this sectioning off feels like much of what happens with children all the time... they are institutionalised from the age of one (some start preschool later here in Sweden) where most of the play will be within the preschool perimeters - indoors and outdoors.... I have worked at MANY places that have said one and two year olds should not be taken on excursions because they are too young, or it is too dangerous etc etc... and I have worked at a place without their own outdoor space and saw that ALL ages can play all over the place... we just have to conquer those spaces... in the sense that yes, we ARE allowed to play here.

Together on the Square... the children designing how their dream square would look... it went through MANY design changes over the six months, as they learned more about the needs of others...

I spent 6 months on a project called "Together on the Square" where the children and I explored how the public square could be a place for everyone to meet, to learn about our community and to participate in it with others... The children played on the open square OFTEN, and by choice. There were no climbing frames or things specifically designed for children... but there was space to run and play... and in winter the snow was plowed into big piles here making fantastic places to play on unintentionally. By taking the time we allowed the children, and ourselves to see the play potential of this public space. This gave us all the strength to see play potential in other public spaces... my adult eyes got to see a new Stockholm! in the film below you get to see "our Stockholm" we really travelled all over the place and finding play everywhere... I am also fortunate not to have been constrained by a variety of policies that restrict how I go out - safety is important, but the teacher is deemed competent in knowing what is safe to do with the children... this group of children I had worked with for 3.5 years, I trusted them completely, as they trusted me... this meant we could go on adventures together... for some groups I have worked with where there is not the trust yet, or the ability to explore safely then I have asked parents to come too... In Sweden we have on average a 1:5 adult- child ratio.

I am looking forward to listening to Tim Gill and finding out more about children and cities... and making cities more people friendly.

Outdoor action art...

On National Preschool Day we took the art out... a continuation of Together Paintings, a continuation of the art from last year's National Preschool Day where we created art with coloured ice, and a continuation of projects done by the various groups... hands, birds and Together on the Square - the paint flying onto the paper was supposed to be the bird part of the art, but as it was rather windy that day it made controlling the paint very difficult, as the paint flew everywhere... so something to save for a less windy day...

BUT there was plenty of action even if the children were not squeezing the paint onto the paper themselves...

the idea was for the childrento dip their hands into the paints on the paper, to mix and blend and then create handprints on the cloth... of course this would create many artworks... on the paper and on the cloth as well as on hands...

handprint making

and then the chance to inspect what has happened to your hands...

of course not everyone likes to get their hands messy, and the brushes being used for water painting on the square found their way to the paint...

shoes were also used

and bikes too... so of course the wheels became small works of art as well... at this point the cloth had bee taken inside as the outdoor hands-on exhibition was coming to a close.

National Preschool Day

Just a few quick pictures from today... as it is late... I went out and have a marvelous time with a friend instead of fixing all the photos!! I have a life too! LOL

making handprints on the cloth that we made the coloured ice art at last year's National Preschool Day - I loved watching the children marvel at their handprints on the cloth and the colours on their hands.

this is how it was set up... coloured squirted onto a paper for the children to explore and get their hands covered and then create prints on the cloth... there was LOTS of action.

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water beads... one child was asked by their mother "How does it feel" - "It feels REAL" was the reply. All the beads were mushed by the end of the afternoon!! And boy do they ever bounce well on concrete!!

on another table there was clay... with water next to it to wash hands... without a shadow of a doubt the water became the biggest attraction...

I had a funny feeling that the water would be a big attraction so I had come prepared with mugs and brushes for outdoor ephemeral art...

outdoor baking - playdough style...

Happt National Preschool Day... 30 years of celebrating Preschool in Sweden!!

and the art on the paper became an opportunity for decorating wheels!!

More photos and more description of our day will come tomorrow... but just had to share a few today!!

Shadow art continued...

A while back I shared that the children were creating shadow style art or silhouettes inspired by the art that we see on the square outside the preschool.
As it is National Preschool Day on Thursday we are getting everything ready... and one of the windows has become a shadow art installation...

Above is the actual art in the Square!!

this is what the art looks like from the inside... it reminded the children of the shadow puppet shows we did before Christmas as part of Project Fear and our dark exploration.

We all had to go outside to see what it looked like... and with the silver background, we certainly do have a feel of capturing childhood and the children's wishes for the square (balloons and flowers) with the inspiration of the artwork already existing on the square!!

So what do you think?

Shadow art continued...

The silhouette paiting we did the other week (inspired by the artwork on the square) has continued today... this time focussing on birds and balloons... most children chose to cut out a balloon. This was an opportunity to use scissors - something I see a great interest in, but not always very focussed... so the children were challenged with cutting along the lines...

Some children made fringes around the balloon shape, other cut round, some on the line carefully, others at high speed and just a little distance from the line...
Just one of the 11 children choose to cut out a more complicated bird... but when she got going she inspired another child to have a go...
One child could not stop cutting and her balloon disappeared into shreds...

Afterwards we went out to look at the artwork again pointing out the birds and the people... and there was a mention that we need to draw a cat...

Two weeks left to National Preschool Day and our Exhibition on the Square... can't wait..

but first a trip to Canada...

Experimenting with Wind and balloons

Since being in Boulder last year and seeing upright windtunnels for children to experiment with I have been wanting to contruct something similar myself. Once I found most of the materials to construct it the electric fan I needed to complete the wind tube/tunnel was out of stock...

Oh JOY upon joy - yesterday I found it in the store (I was only intending to get a USB stick - for the presentation/workshop on Pre-philosophy and the Art of Listening I will be running in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada this coming Saturday)...

Today we started an experiment ...

I put out left ovr snowflakes from the winter fairyland that I just dismantled, tinsel and this stringy glittery stuff... It was brilliant fun watching it fly across the room - and tangle onto the children and look like snail trails on the floor. It was less fun picking all the stuff up as it had become super static... but it was not THAT problematic... but if you are testing out something similar... don't forget to plan time for tidying up... and also I worked out if you span the threads into balls then it lost some of its static clingyness...
One of the children tried a broomstick... it did NOT fly (contrary to the folklore of flying broomsticks)

The reason I waited so long for this particular fan is that it could be angled upright too - which really allows you to experiment... we used balloons (something the children have been talking about having in the square - connecting the project with the experiment... and of course our group name is "The Wind" so experimenting with wind is something I have been wanting to do for AGES). At first there was one balloon and it flew up with the wind and danced for a while before coming down into someones eagerly awaiting arms...

In the end we had up to five balloons... we noticed that when there were more balloons the balloons danced in the air for a shorter time... sometimes they could stay up for quite some time, one at a time...

The children learned about taking turns... yes they ALL wanted to hold the balloon and put it onto the fan, but one child was able to see to the needs of the others and share turns when she realised that she had had many turns and some hardly any... even if they were not able to give away a turn, they became aware that another could and did...

When asked why the balloons danced in the air, one child answered it was because the air pushed them up... and all the children agreeed. When I asked them where the air came from... they ansered outside...

So we took the experiment outside onto the square... the very place where they wanted balloons... Would the balloons fly and dance in the air outside where the air comes from...

Of course the balloons did not dance in the air... although they did blow around so that they needed to be chased. each child got a balloon of their own to experiment with. There was a lot of runnning and a lot of laughing and problem solving when balloons popped and a child was without a balloon... they solved it by sharing a balloon and playing TOGETHER. Stoicks were used to play hockey with the balloons too... of the ten balloons that went outside 6 balloons returned to the preschool. All popped balloons were the responsibility of the children to collect and throw away and they were bale to do this competently.

Of course playing with balloons gets attention... and as always the children loved to share with others what they were doing... sharing smiles and laughter too.

It was also fun to see our handprints still there from when we painted on the square last week... no rain means that the handprints were beautifully preserved... the children tried to work out which print belonged to them....


When we went inside I asked the children if the balloons danced in the square as they thought they would. NO, they all said. Why not, I asked. Because you need wind, and there was not enough wind to make them go up in the air...

Together painting on the Square

All year we have been making Together Paintings... working together, painting together, creating together - learning to collaborate, learning to listen to each other and learning to appreciate each others abilities and to learn from them...

If you are new to my blog you won't know about our project... "Together on the Square" where we are focussing our attention on the public space right outside the preschool. The children have been learning about design, they have been learning about their own wants and wishes, and those of their peers... we have also been asking those living in the sheltered housing /retirement home what they would like to see on the square... in an aim to design a square for EVERYONE - to be "Together on the square"...

Today we were visited by Karin and Anna who are responsible for the redesign of the area - Anna being the lanscape architect I mentioned last week. We got to share our ideas with them, and they listened enthusiastically to our ideas and wrote them down. It feels so important and so wonderful that the children's opinion are being listened to and given value... this is how it should be! ALL the time... a city that listens to its children... to all of its citizens...

Two of the recurring themes that everyone has mentioned, regardless of age, has been more colour and more flowers/green/nature...

So this afternoon we carried a table out into the middle of the square and started painting flowers ... adding lots of colour...

We used watercolours cakes directly on the paper with brushes and a spray bottle so that the water would stay clean, but also to add an experimental dimension to the whole Together Painting... and it certainly worked as I hoped... there were those children that just sprayed on the cake of paint to get their colour and those that sprayed everywhere and let their colour flow... in the end the spraying became the most important part of the process... so the flowers that had been painted became "rained" on and became blurred as they flowed into each other... the children ran back and forth to the actual flowers growing in the flower displays newly placed in the square - and the fact that they wanted to make purple involved expanding the number of colours available by adding a blue to mix (and to get to hear that wonderful tone of surprise as a child discovers purple for the first time by mixing... a new discovery, a moment of true creativity and learning)...

Before our outdoor art session was over the children started to use their hands and create colourful handprints on the ground...

This was a session where we became a part of the square - people came up to us and talked about how the square needed more colour and how wonderful it was to watch the happy creative children interacting with each other and the paint.

The wind blew a little chilly, despite the glorious sun... and a half an hour was long enough with wet colourful hands before we needed to go inside and warm them up again!

it was actually a good idea to have a little distance between the table and the flowers... the little run back and forth helped keep us warm...

lots of experimenting... it was fabulous watching the colours flow in the puddles that collected here and there due to lots of spray action.

many wishes for a colourful square coming true!

Painting TOGETHER with eggs

The Together on the Square project has very much inspired us in the atleier with our TOGETHER paintings - so it seemed very appropriate to do the same Easter inspired egg painting as last year witha few adjustments...

click here to read about last year

This year instead of fruit boxes we used trays... this meant the children had to be much more careful in what they were doing... I noticed last year that the high sides of the box allowed the children to feel safe about the egg being contained and therefore did not work as hard together on keeping the egg whole... the trays had low edges... enough to keep the egg on the tray as long as they were focussed on what they were doing.

It requires a lot of collaboration and communication - not just with words but feeling and sensing the movements in their partner so that they could work TOGETHER to make the egg roll...

Of course the egg fell off a couple of times (it was boiled, so there was no mess, except for a lovely paint trail as it rolled a bit).

There was LOTS of nervous laughter and excitement.

Another reason for doing just two at a time, is the whole concept of taking turns and taking joy in other people's joy - empathy - this part seems to be the hardest part... especially for the children who have already had their turn... it is a process... a process we are seeing lots of positive results as the children become better and better at giving each other pep talks and supporting each other in their processes. So it DOES feel like a worthwhile process to continue with...

Together on the Square project continues

Today we talked about the square again... but this time talking about what sort of questions would be good to ask their parents to find out what they think... and so the children have "homework" to ask their parents... and the parents get to write their thoughts down which will be collected on Thursday and then over Easter I can make a collage of their ideas for the children to see and compare with their own ideas for the square. I am not going to reveal what the children guessed the parents would write... because parents do read this... and I don't want to be unduly influencing their choices!!

We also have confirmation that the landscape architect WILL be coming - next week to meet the children. So there is great excitement about that.

My son has spent the day with me at work - and is now off to the forest... so I am siging off for today to spend some girlie time with my daughters to watch a film together that would only elicit groans from Michael!!

Below are the two square ideas so far... the lower one being the latest and most appreciated version so far...
 

The coming week...

This week will be filled with looking at photographs...

The children will get to see the photographs they took last week, and consider whether or not they meet the criteria of what they felt is important... Play, Love, Painting and Traffic Safety (there was not much photo taking of traffic safety, so although they discussed its importance they have not thought about taking photographs of it... in fact the children have mostly focussed on LOVE and PLAY...)

I am also looking forward to a phone call to arrange for the landscape artist to come and visit us and show the maps/plans of the area and for us to share our ideas for the square and the avenue up to the forest/play area/hospital at the far end of the complex of housing that makes up Dalen. This was a part of the project that we thought we could not make happen... and here it just fell into our laps, sometimes we have luck on our side.

AND of course there will be a bit of Easter weaving its way into our week... with egg decorating on Wednesday.

Tomorrow my son will be spending the day with us (as there is a week long school break) and then he will be off to the forest to spend a few days with his grandparents. My daughters will spend the day with me at preschool on Tuesday - and then they too will spend a few days in the forest too - returning for the Easter weekend to spend as a family... at least they will have a few days without early mornings!!

My children are well liked by the the Vinden children... they ask frequently when they will next visit... and I LOVE the names they call my children - not Sophia, Isabelle and Michael - but Sophia Lisa-bell and My-god!!

This could be a perfect way to continue the Together paintings with an Easter twist... I wonder if they remember doing this last year?

Square inspiration...

Of course when I say Square inspiration I am not talking about the shape, but the public square outsdie the preschool. Project "Together on the Square"

There is a work of art on the wall of the supermarket that has inspired us to create our own work of art... using our wishes for what we want on the square and also love/friendship (things that are important)

We used the overhead to create the shadow... and used the shadow to draw around rather than drawing around the children... so that more detail could be seen. I drew round the children... as standing still was VERY hard and they needed support to try and keep still long enough for me to get the general shape of what they wanted to create. We had a good giggle about just how difficult it is to stand still... even the one who thought she could stand really still!!

Flowers were a must for three of the children and circus tricks was a must for the fourth. We talked about the direction of their body... and what they wanted to say with their shadow - like facing a friend to talk to them (are they going to give the flowers to each other, or to someone else... these are further questions we can ask).

The children were challenged to keep within the lines, to create a solid black shape. I knew that this was something easily within their abilities if they focussed... we got one circle outside a body, due to a lack of focus and the desire to join in the fun... so a quick action without thinking resulted not with a hole in the middle of the body but to the side. We talked about the need to focus - and the children agreed that we could focus and have fun at the same time... we just had to think a little more!!

I say "we" but it was the children doing all the painting... I got to take a step back and just listen... offering a bit of scaffolding every once in a while once the children were obviously in full control of what they were doing... the most suport they needed was with their choice of paintbrush - that they could change brush to meet the needs of the painting (details or filling in big spaces).


Those that finished quickly were able to offer help to others that needed more help to get finished (with a gentle reminder that they needed to look at the tecnhinque their friend was using and to try and keep to that technique... two used feathery strokes, while the other two used slow and solid strokes)



I found it really interesting at lunch when one of the children that had been in the blue room doing a totally different project with Ellen (building castle with big soft blocks, stools etc usuing a photo of the castle which Ellen had made and taken the day before... could they recreate the castle using only the photograph? - they have done this with their own castle, of course then they had the knowledge of how they built the first castle themselves and not just the photograph... it is always so interesting to see how we can further challenge the children in something they enjoy doing) - anyway back to the story... one child that had been in the other group saw the art that we had made and saw herself... "that is me" she said. And when I looked again, I could see what she meant... this has made me think, can I take photographs of the children's shadows and then show them... would they be able to recognise themselves by their own shadow image?


The art is not going up yet... it will be a part of the exhibition for "Förskolans Dag" (National Preschool Day) - and we are not quite finished yet!! (But I am not going to reveal more...)

I can reveal though that today I have been in touch with a landscape architect concerning the devlopment of the square and the allé (avenue) between the square and the forest... hoefully they can come over and show us plans/maps of the area... and they are interested in hearing our ideas...

Reflections on the new design

I haven't brought the project book home... so I will have to go from memory... and there has been a lot of reflection today... with the children, by the children and amongst us teachers too in our planning/reflection this afternoon...

The children were happy with the new design... there was a great deal of excitiment... they could see all the things that they had been talking about... and could answer easily one of the questions asked by the children at Richland Academy in Canada...

"we thought up all the things, all the ideas and Suzanne wrote them down and then she put them all on the photograph"

You could see there was great satisfaction that we had created this design from THEIR ideas.

My memories of this morning are too vague.. and I want to get it right... so I will leave their ponderings of the design and share their excitement that other children had seen their previous photo design... and amazement that children so far away were interested in them... and that they ALL spoke English and not Swedish. We looked at the map, and saw that there had been children from Ontario that had celebrated The International Fairy Tea Party last September... were these the same children they wondered.... ? There was great curiousity about the age and the names and what they looked like... just as we had seen that the PK children at Richland Academy had the same curiousity about us...

We played outside on the Square, pretending that everything was already there... pretending there was water to swim in, a castle to climb and big fountains splashing... then it was time to mix gravel, old autumn leaves (apparantly mushrooms), some grass and puddle water to create snail soup (I did check to make sure there were no lives ones in there... but it was all imagination!!)

During snack we prepared the children that we would Ellen, Emma and I would be planning/reflecting and asked if they knew what we did then? They had no idea... so i told them that we asked ourselves three questions...

• what are the children busy doing/preoccupied with?
• How can we meet/support this?
• What are our reflections?

So the first question we started WITH the children... did THEY know what they were preoccupied with... many of the children shared their experiences from home... which is maybe not so surprising on a Monday when they have spent the weekend at home... but there were a few answers about what we were up to at preschool and most of them were things that we had seen too... some of them were made up on the spot... like "my foot" because a child had been working on putting on their sock!! Which, yes the child was pre-occupied with that... but only for less than a minute!!

We felt that the project "Together on the Square" had been a little fuel injected today with the enthusiasm the children had seeing their ideas on the photograph. We will be taking in plasters and things for the role-play tomorrow... I have a bunch of brightly coloured ones in front of me right now that I bought when my son was small, but he refused point blank to have anything so colourful to remind him that he had hurt himself (the complete opposite of his sisters who LOVED all the animal shaped plasters and Disney plasters). This will help us follow up the children's interest in mending hurts and problems with plasters... and we will see where it takes us and how to continue supporting that...

Tomorrow we will have another philosophy session with an adapted story so that no-one gets hurt, only frustrated that they can't get past all the "attractions" on the new square. Will this provoke thought about making adaptions? We already started talking about this as we saw people with prams, bikes and also wheelchairs going by... and we asked how would they get past if the square was full of water, castles and others things blocking the way? One child mentioned a short-cut, another talked about a tunnel and yet another mentioned that a rucksack with new dry clothes should be carried by everyone so that when they got wet by walking through the water they could get changed into something dry!!

This week in the afternoons the children will get the chance to cut out ideas and glue them onto an image of the square that they have already been working on (well most of them... those that took an interest) - this the children seemed very excited by. Next week we plan to start plotting out a more to-scale" design... using the childrens new found knowledge and skills of map-making and building based on them... two months we have been slowly building up to this... I feel so happy it was not rushed, that we took out time, and that the children are no ready to be competent in their designing of the square... of course doing things to scale will require more scaffolding from us...

AND next week's philosophy session will be about "what is important" to them ? As the "Through the Eyes of the Child" project kicks off in earnest. We have reflected on how we want to approach this... and felt that we want to get the children thinking about what is important to them so that they are making a concsious decision about what they want to take a photograph of, and how they want to communicate what is important to them through the language of photography... so a week of dialogue BEFORE we get clicking... then a week of clicking.... then a week of dialogue about the actual photographs and which photograph the children in Vinden will select as theirs to be uploaded onto the project to be shared with others around the world!!

Taking the children's ideas... the new design

Last week the children got to see their square design constructed with magnets and blocks etc in the contruction area as well as lots of images of real life public space design, which I selected based on the children's expressed interests in previous dialogues.

They reflected about what they would like to keep and what they would like to change... the monsters and the balloons and flowers were keepers for everyone... the castle was a keeper too, but they chose a different design, as the idea of sliding and playing appealed . The cupcake should be replaced by waterplay, and the doorknobs replaced by a fence and animals (which I have not managed to fit on... and with intention, as to stimulate the concept of how busy/full the square already is). The shiney surface was replaced with anew shiney surface design they saw, and there was a need for benches... ones that could be played on, and the one with lights was very appealing to (understandable when we have really dark winters here).

So what will they make if this image...

AND what will they think of the feedback they have got from Richland Academy on their previous design? it is going to be an interesting day for sure tomorrow!

"The New Square"

Today we had a philosophy session with the children, although this time I wasn't with... so writing this post is going to be a great way for me to see the process of the session...
I was with two children in our little "library" reading books and supporting their language development... last week we got a new pedagogue in our group, to support us with a couple of our children who at this time in their life need some extra scaffolding - language being one area, the need for small groups to reduce sensory overload being another. it is wonderful to be able to provide the children with the support that they need right now... and being able to have such a small group (of just 2) really allows you to see their language and what areas that need scaffolding the most...

back to the philosophy session.
We wanted to introduce the children to the thought that others will want to use the square too, and that their decisions in their designs have effects on other... Ellen wrote a story about the square... here it is

There was once 11 children. Every day they used to play on the square together. The square was big and many people lived around it. Close by there was an ICA supermarket. One day one of the children said
- I wish it was summer on the square

-I wish I could swim

- and I wish that there were flowers

- and a castle, said a fourth

- I wish there was a big cake, said a fifth.

They sat in a ring in the middle of the square and began to think. After a while they got an idea: we can re-build the square so that everything we wished for was here. And the children began to build. The Castle became bigger and bigger. Around the castle they planted rose bushes, just like Sleeping Beauty's castle. Round the bushes they dug a lake. Inside the castle they baked a huge cake.

When everything was finished the children were satisfied. Wow, what a square they had built!

Suddenly someone screamed

- Help! Help me! Heeelp meeee!

The children ran out to see what it was. On one side of the castle was an old man. he had fallen into the lake and couldn't get up. Now he was screaming for help.

- Ow! OOOWWW! burst someone else

The children ran further and saw an old woman stuck in the rosebushes. She had sratches on her arms. Now she was crying for help.

- Hello! HELLLOOO! shouted another, I am not going to get to the train on time

The children ran there and saw another old man that looked at his watch. he looked angry when he looked at the new square. He wondered what had happened.

Then the children sat in their castle and began to think. How were they going to solve this?




The children had some thinking time and then were given the chance to suggest some ideas for a solution...

• if the children could look for other children they would have blood, lots of blood
• maybe they could build another square
• what if there are old people there too?
• they have to go to a square without people.
• do such squares exist?
• yes, for I have seen them before
• they have to go to the dentist they can get a plaster.
• they need to find another square
• if you get a splinter in your finger you have to get tongs to remove it... they could come to the square when they are ready
• the old ones need to go to the doctor
• should all the old people go to the doctor... is that a solution?
• If one build a castle who is allowed in?
• it should be in the corner
• so that the old ones can get by... do you think that is a good idea?
• its a strange idea, we should have the castle behind the roses
• but they hurt themselves on the roses...
• they can go to the doctor
• you have to take care or have a rope so she can go to the doctor. A rope that you can sit on.
• is that a good idea?
• I have many questions. he can help of a horse. One can borrow a horse and ride it so that you come to the doctor
• is that a good idea?
• YES
• where should the horses be?
• in the corner
• in the stables
• who will take care of the horses
• we will
• I will
• I ride horses
• But when we sleep who will take care of the horses?
• when we sleep we can put the horses in the stable, they sleep
• they cannot come out, we lock the door
• if I think about old people, some have difficulty walking and use a rullator, they cannot ride
• then they can have a sled to go on and hold onto the tail
• is that a good idea?
• no, they can have a lot of plasters and then they can go
• they cannot walk so they can lie in bed, then they can walk again
• if they go into the castle, there is a woman and a crown.
• one can get a bandage on the foot and remove the thorns
• but if there is a castle on the square how will wheelchairs get across?
• they get carried..
• who will carry them
• others who live in the castle

It certainly is interesting to read, this session was with a group of six three year olds. There is a clear focus on the cuts and scrapes, and how children comfort themselves through accidents and illness with the fact that they will get better... the idea of not getting better has obvioulsy not occured to them. It would be interesting to read the same story with the older children of the group (that were not with due to days off, illness etc) - what would those children focus on?

And then to bring them all together with all their ideas presented would also be interesting - would their thoughts change, expand or stay more or less the same?

one of the designs from January... ballons and flowers on the square.

designs on the square!

The Together on the Square project is picking up speed now that we have worked on some of the skills the children need.

This morning we took a closer look at the photo I created using the square with a whole load of their ideas and constructions on it... and we looked at images of benches, climbing frames, water play, castles, etc etc etc that they got to talk about point at what they liked and consider again what they would like on "their" square...
A play castle... water play... balloons (take away the cupcake) were amongst the ideas that were being discussed...

We then went out into the square with chalks and the children got drawing their ideas and the locations of where these should be on the square. Some of the children were very focused... other wereinterested in exploring how the chalks felt and worked (including colouring their clothes... hohum - good thing its easy to get off!!)

a reminder of the photo of the square full of the children's ideas

chalk designs and planning

What is interesting with the square is that it is not devoid of risk... today there was broken glass... the children had to learn about it being sharp, and that avoiding that area was in fact the safest. Today there were lots of cars going across the square 8which is usually just a pedestrian square... but does has access for some vehicles). today it was a police car that went back and forth. The children have to stand still until we say that its safe to play again... so that the vehicles know what the children are doing... it has been a process, and luckily the cars here HAVE to go real slow as its not a road, so it is a great place to practice... but for some of the children the need to move that bit more is just to irresistable  - and so we need to stay closer to those children to support their ongoing process.
It is a risk... a VERY small one... and I remeber as a child how I played on the street with my friends... we were lucky as we lived at the end of a cul-de-sac.... but I still get nostalgic when the word "CAR" is shouted out... and how a whole gaggle of children moved their play off the road onto the paths and waited for the car to go past until we could reclaim the road with our play.

It felt a little like that today on the square... that we were claiming it for the children's play.... and leaving our play mark afterwards as a reminder that this is a space for play too!

Together on the Square...

Our project "Together on the Square" has been moving forwards all the time... even if it might not seem so visible...

Designing a square was not a skill the children possessed... so it has been something we have been scaffolding, at the same time as allowing the children to learn more about each other and how we come together to preschool each day.

In January I gave the families some "homework" that they should work together (parent and child) in creating a map between their home and the preschool, showing the route so that we would be able to follow the directions.

For the last two months we have been transforming the 2D maps into 3D maps using blocks and other materials in the construction area. The children learning to work together, with a whole lot of sypport from us. The aim was to introduce these new languages... of map making, of 3D representation, of map reading etc - and that by repeating it over and over again, with our support, that the children would master it enough to be able to apply the skill themselves... and last week they did. I was bouncing around the room with joy as I saw the children's 3D design of the square. They were competent in what they were doing, and also in how to delegate. it really was TOGETHER on the square.

this is one of the maps that we worked with the children to show the route to their house. After the construction we then walked to the house, pointing out the things in reality that we saw on the map and had built at the preschool.

the children's design for the square... with a palace (Sleeping Beauty still influencing their choices, as a palace was not in their original ideas about how their square should look, but has popped up in discussions this week)

MY surprise for the children... their desin construction and other ideas of theirs for the square... What will they think of it? I long to hear their reflections...

Exploring paper...

 Masking tape, strips of paper and scissors - then just add children.
We explored different ways of making bridges, folding and curling and cutting paper.
When we had finished our explorations one of the children thought our paper art looked like playgrounds... this has got us thinking about the possibility of designing the square in our "Together on the Square" project using paper...

There was also time to explore paper weaving...