Self portraits

Half of Vinden children did self portraits before Christmas... the intention was for all the children to do a self portrait, but there was just not the interest, so time and energy was invested in following what the children were actually interested in.

I tested again today to see if the children had a new interest in drawing self portraits (just with pencil) - and there was new interest again. So today 6 of the 11 children in Vinden sat down with one to one interaction with me. For some of these children this was the first time... for one of the children it was the first time I saw a face/figure being drawn at preschool. So it felt exciting... for me and the children.

We looked in the mirror together and talked about what we could see and how we could draw that on the small piece of paper. I start small because my experience over the years with early portraits is that most children feel comfortable exploring self portraits in a limited amount of space... almost as if there is some kind of security in the size of the paper... some of the children filled the paper... others made small faces even for the paper...

I like watching how they hold their pencils, how hard or light the press the pen on the paper, how they choose to draw and in what order... it is so fascinating to see the great variety.
I offer support... primarily in the beginning to slow down and look closely - as there is a tendency to get going and then continue in automatic, feeling shapes and the movement of the pencil rather than trying to capture themselves on paper. Two of the children I encouraged to start again, this they did willingly, as they just started with a series of random circles in rapid succession rather than drawing the face and then pause to look closely again... once they were in the rhythm of pausing and looking the more details they saw and the more interested they became in what they were doing.

Two of the children had done portraits before Christmas, so it was interesting to see the development... sometimes the devlopment is seen in the process rather than the product - in other words in the ease that the child had drawing the self portrait. It is why I like to sit with them individually, so that I can scaffold if they need it, but also so that I can see their processes - so that I can better work out how I can support each child in their own unique developmental journey. What sort of activities would be good - for example those children with handgrips that make drawing less precise could do with more time climbing trees, and hanging on monkey bars etc to strengthen their hand muscles... so I can plan with Ellen which parks we should go to that will enhance writing skills through gross motor skill practice... etc etc

Already we have seen how the self-portraits have inspired the children... especially the child who draw a figure for the first time - as in the afternoon the child sat down and drew a family of figures... parents and sister with the sea behind (which had a little look of using perspective).

Hopefully the interest in self portraits holds for a while - and the whole group will sit down at some point and draw one...

looking closely. Using the photo I put up on Filosofiska facebook page... we will be putting a little more up on that page in English from both preschools, if you are interested you can pop by and take a look.

the family drawn later... and one very proud child (two very proud teachers) - and most importantly so happy that we have waited until the children were ready. Yes, we see many places doing amazing things... and yes I am itching to do many amazing things with the children, BUT I enjoy the AMAZING things that the children are interested and ready for... we wait with patience, as we believe in the competence of children, and that when they are ready, there will be more joy.

The Good Example Fair

I was going to do a decent length post about my particiaption on the behalf of Filosofiska Preschool at the "Good Example Fair" - but after a twitter chat about philosophical play with #EYTalking and Sara Stanley my brain is over full with thoughts and it all needs sorting again... which considering I will be doing a course on philosophy with children at the weekend with my colleagues, I doubt I will have much time to sort before it is filled to the brim again...

I now have lots of photos from Canada I am wanting to share, more ideas from there, ideas about today and I know there is so much more on its way...

So just a quickie...

One of the best parts of today was meeting up with staff from Stureby Preschools where they work "Normkritisk" with the children and each other... in other words the staff and the children talk and think  about the norms of society and reflect upon these as to why they are norms, are they good that they are norms, how does it affect others that do not fullfill the critieria for "normal" - so included in this is gender, age, culture, religion... basically the whole of life... looking at it reflecting on it and creating an atmosphere that is accepting of everyone... creatign genine understanding, empathy, tolerance... the very same reasons as to why philosophy is important for us at Filosofiska... to reflect on the world, to ask questions, to undertand the perspectives of others with respect... there was a mutual desire to collaborate and share more with each other...

I also chatted with Viktoria Mullo, atelierista in Fredhäll and Kristinebergs preschool area and how they have been working digitally with the children... something I saw in Canada being used effectfully too.

 And Åsa Örnevik in Skarpnäck and her work to increase the amount of organic foods consumed in preschools, including growing own food, as well as helping design toxin free preschool environments.

I also attended some mini-seminars... just 20 minutes long for each session, where preschools tried to cram in as much information as they could about their good practice... but I will share more about that another day... my brain needs to rest...

A quick observation was that some communes of Stockholm had chosen NOT to share any Preschool good practice... some did not shed much light on their practice and others took more space, like city planning, or sheltered housing etc, and some communes really show-cased the preschools... I am curious about how all of this was decided... 

"Our city on the way to world class" - and yes that statement "world class" was the inspiration behind my master's dissertation

a view from above

Kungsholmen - digital learning

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?

Traditions... reflections on them...

During my time in Canada traditions were discussed often... and it is something that Ellen and myself discuss often at Filosofiska... how we can weave traditions in a meaningful way... of course Ellen will challenge me completely as she does not see the need for traditions - for Christmas, for Easter, for mothers day etc etc etc...

Talking of mothers day... today is mothers day AGAIN.... again you wonder... well I have already done the British Mother's Day and acknowledged my own mother living in the UK... then a few weeks later my children acknowledge MY role as a mother as it was Mother's Day here in Sweden... and now its all over facebook again... Mother's Day - although how many countries it is mother's day today I don't know...

I haven't celebrated mother's day or father's day in Sweden for a long long time... it has been something we have left to the families to do together... afterall not all children have mothers and fathers - for various reasons - and an activity that focuses on a parent means we are creating an exclusive activity/situation - as often what is a mother or father is not being talked about, but it is a an activity of making somthing for the said parent. Of course I have heard that these children without that particular parent can make something for the other parents, or a grandparent or whoever is important for the child (but I wonder if THAT is decided by the child or the adults?)
MY son asks why do we celebrate mother's day etc... when is it children's day?
Of course that exists... 20th November it is Universal Children's Day... but that seems more to do with the rights of children rather than celebrating childhood in the same way we celebrate mothers and fathers... and oh, by the way today in Spain it is Children's Day
Here in Sweden we celebrate children's day in October (used to be Cinnamon Bun Day) and also on November 20th...

Valentine... what is LOVE? The children said it was a Sky high tree that was daddy coloured, filled with hearts, butterflies, ornages and stars... when we looked for signs of love they saw their handprints and footprints in the snow... we used this to create the trunk and leaves of the tree. EXPLORING a tradition through philosophy

BUT my question is why don't we see all the activities etc on FB connected to children's day in the same way we see them for Mother's Day, St Patricks Day, Christmas, etc etc... why are children not being celebrated in a wash of activities... and what ARE these activities... are they stuff the children do to please the adults, learning experiences, the children's thinking, the adults thinking,...?

And when you start really thinking about it... how come there is this need to move from one tradition to another throughout the year... when do the children have a time to breath, a time to reflect... or come to that, when do the adults busy with preparations for all these traditions have a time to listen to the children, observe their interests and interpretations of the traditions...?

I am not against traditions... or against the activities connected to them... what I struggle with is when the activities have become the tradition rather than exploring the actual tradition. I wonder how much the children understand the many traditions that exist around the world when they are explored on a craft basis... I have done no research on this... so its all just thoughts. I am curious. I want to explore how children learn...

I love looking at all the amazing crafts and projects online... and the creativity of so many people... but I also like to interpret them... use them as inspiration rather than just copy... because I have to look at the children I work with and ensure that the experience is adapted to their learning...

This last year we have not done traditional crafts for traditions... what we have done is used philosophical dialogue to explore what the children already know about the traditions, we have extended their thoughts (as we have their reflections from the previous year so that they can see the development process in their own learning) and then we have made activities, art and crafts available to the children based on their thinking.. which also is documented and saved as part of the process for nexts year's understanding of the tradition...

project fear arose from the children's fear of heights as they were exploring fairy flight... it also came around the same time as Halloween... and became an excellent way of exploring this tradition too. the DARK became a central area to explore as many children were scared of the dark... so we played in the dark to work out what this fear feeling was and if we could overcome that feeling... and we did... "because we play in the dark, I am not scared anyomore"

Then there are the projects that we are doing based on the children's interests... of course we have followed these... and have been able to weave in traditions into these projects - allowing them to be meaningful for the children... of course this is always OUR interpretation of the situation.

As a child I loved doing Christmas/mother's day crafts etc it was never something that limited me... but I have had friends that have not experienced all these crafts in the same way... of trying to create something specific that has been pre-thought out by the teacher... and that there is the risk of being right or wrong...
But I have written about templates and creativity before (you can read that here) and you will see I am not against crafts in any way... but only when they are used without reflection, without an understanding of WHY, what the process is, what the learning is... and reflect afterwards as to whether that learning/effect occurred, and if it didn't why not, and what did happen instead... and how could the craft/activity be developed, adapted for the future... or even abandoned and a new one chosen...?

Reflection and learning... for children and adults is essential - and traditions are a part of that. Why are they being celebrated rather than JUST celebrating them...

I am quite sure that this post will provoke some more than others... and will stir emotions - both positive and negative... and this can be a good thing - if we talk about it... share our thoughts so that we all have the chance to expand our thinking...

After all philosophy has taught me... we do not have to agree with each other - but we do need to listen with respect and attempt to understand "the other".

Fairy mud

Over the years I have seen many blogs and facebook pages share fairy mud, or clean mud - basically kitchen paper, warm water and grated soap mushed together...

I felt it was time to try it out... especially since the soap has been sitting on the shelf at work for close to a year now waiting for this to happen.

Yesterday I announced the dates for the International Fairy Tea Party (which currently has its own facebook page... but the folks at Fafu and myself are talking about extending the idea and creating a website too... how fantastically magical is that?) - but the fairy talk got me wanting to test some thing out - and the fairy mud was the first... witha generous helping of red glitter...

Of course I had my son's birthday party in the afternoon and there was traces of glitter all over me... all the children giggled at the fact I had a "glitter virus". Glitter does have that effect of getting everywhere... but I just love the stuff anyway!!

Diane Kashin said I had fairy magic in her post Cultivate a Scientist on her and Louise Jupps blog Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research...
I am going to go with that... I like the idea of having fairy magic!!

Its was lovely and foamy, and it smelled so gentle and clean too - not strong and overpowering like shaving foam can. The child with slight eczema was given hand cream afterwards... as I was unsure as to just how the soap would dry out her skin - although I felt no drying out tendencies on my own skin (although the glitter did take a while to totally vanish, but glitter is not absolutely necessary)

I have left it to dry over the weekend... I want to see what happens, and to see how it can be recycled best... all in the name of science and messing about...

Snail park... true to its name!

 Constant morning drizzle meant the Snail Park was busy with snails... it also gave us the opportunity to think about the other...
To try and think of the snail's perspective in life...
Did all the snails want to be so close together?
Were the snails fighting or hugging?
Did the snails want to get off the bench?
How can the snails communicate what they want?
What right do the children have over deciding over the snails? (Hmmm, they have questioned me about decision making so much, it was interesting to see them with this question... and they were quite unprepared this time to answer it)
Where do the snails want to be?
Is leaving the snails on the path a good idea? Why not?
Do snails like to swim in the birdbath?
Do snails like to lie on their backs? Why?
Do snails like to be dropped? Why?

Through adult supported decision making (asking LOTS of questions) the decision was made to return the snails back to the greenery and to observe them there...

This gave the children time to play other games... and for a while they played a line game...
Sometimes when we are walking to and from play-spaces in the area I play a game with the line... snaking my way back, looping round and greeting the children at the end of the line before circling back on track again, looping around trees and splashing in puddles...
The children organised themselves into a line and played this game, doing several laps of the snail park - runnning. stopping to re-group and then running again...

Does Boredom give birth to creativity? (and Provocations)

I have seen that this image and quote going round facebook recently... but its not the first time that I have seen boredom and creativity being put together... and yes I have kind of said it myself too... but is it boredom that creates creativity or is it that we as adults should not be afraid of the phrase "I'm bored" ? Because, when I have given myself the time to think, and rethink... really they are two very different things...

Being bored is not the most creative state to be in - but having unscheduled time and space to allow children (people in general really) to get creative is different - and maybe we should start thinking more about the word "BORED" and what does it mean.

If I am a child at school and I am bored and I have to sit through boring lessons, and I am expected to listen and pay attention... I hardly think that it is going to increase my creativity... in fact there is the HUGE risk that it is going to have the opposite effect... it will demotivate.

This is quite the opposite of summer - when emptying the days of activities decided and lead by adults gives the time to the children to GET CREATIVE - to start thinking about what THEY can do... the potential of the things around them... and in the beginning when children are not used to thinking for themselves, when they are used to having their time filled by others (school, afterschool activities, clubs etc etc) then at first there is the risk of the children saying "I'm bored".

I don't think they are really bored... they just don't know what to do... and maybe what we as adults need to do is not interpret the children as bored as the children are saying but that these children need  more space to practice filling their own time.

I like rest time for children... not only does it allow children the time to sleep if their body and minds need it.. but it gives children (all people) the time to feel comfortable with their own thoughts... to explore their own thoughts - to develop their creativity...

While I was in Canada I got talking with Diane Kashin and some others about "Provocations" -
are they really provoking thought in the children - or are they filling time? Are they an opportunity for creativity or are they the product of teacher creativity on the children's behalf? I have no answers, I am just thinking and rethinking... have some provocations become a glorified template where the activity is pre-selected by the teacher (the colours, the resources, the material, the topic etc etc) and all the children need to do is sit down and do it as they would have if colouring in a pre-made picture, or filling in a worksheet? How is the balance of thinking... are the children doing enough? Is there scope for the children to develop the provocation - to be creative - and is there documentation as to why that provocation has been put out... what is it that is being provoked - and afterwards was it successful as that kind of provocation... or did it provoke something else?

Instead of provocations on the table etc... could children be provoked by emptying their schedule...

I did that with a group of 24 seven to eight year olds once... we sat together at the start of the session and let them know that for the whole afternoon no toys or equipment was to be used in their play. That was all that I said. They sat there "bored" not moving for ten minutes at least just complaining... then one got up and asked if some others wanted to play - and they started role-play games, chase games in the outdoor area (as they could freely move in and outside) and the following 3-4 hours were filled with amazing collaborative play - and the children went home happy - some even saying it was the best day ever...

I had to be prepared that the children would just sit there in silence and whine for the whole afternoon... and some sat there longer than others until the laughter and play drew them off the meeting sofas and into the creative play. I was not afraid of the children having nothing to do, I was not afraid of them going home and saying they had been bored - because in the end I knew - I knew, I believed in their competence - that they would be able to fill time with their imaginations... either sitting or playing together.

I handed over TIME to the children, something I think children seldom get to have power over, for one reason or another...

So no, I don't think boredom is essential but I do think TIME - unfilled time for the children to fill themselves is. I also believe that when children exclaim  "I'm bored" it often means that they have not been given enough time to think through the possibilities... or enough practice at filling their own time

allowing children to just sit and watch... and sometimes someone else will want to come and sit and observe too

allowing children the space to go off and sit a little distance from the group to collect thoughts and to reflect on the sky, the clouds, the trees, the play - on life... (aren't zooms marvelous?)