"A child should be brought up to have relations of force with earth and water, should run and ride, swim and skate, lift and carry; should know texture, and work in material; should know by name, and where, and how, they live at any rate, the things of the earth about him, its birds and beasts and creeping things, its herbs and trees; should be in touch with the literature, art and thought of the past." A Parent's Review "Education is a Life" C.M.
Harrison, who is just past one year, has not taken a liking to many of his toys. So many brightly colored, noise-making gadgets designed especially for him, yet he ignores them to search for the crash of the broom falling from the pantry or the fun of unstacking the tupperware in the cabinet. He is recently showing interest in knocking down his blocks and poking the stick of the ring stacker into a hole and joyously finding that it fits; so not all is lost on the basket of toys. But children would have something "real" from our world rather than specially prepared toys. They realize "real" things have a purpose. Adults use them. And how much more fun to make a toy using their own imagination instead of having it provided already prepared. Let them work with real materials to make a sword or costume or clubhouse. Let them relate to our world ~ to figure it out as they grow by being in it and of it, touching, tasting, exploring, learning.
They'll often come up with many ideas of how to do this if Mom will allow the mess. Just in the last week we've swam, played with sand, twirled in the rain, cared for sunflowers, soybeans, caterpillar, & frog, cut, drawn, colored, & taped, made costumes, wrestled, cared for siblings hurt by wrestling, made up games & learned new ones, embroidered, photographed, videoed, & blogged, cleaned, cooked, listened to stories, searched for sounds (where's that helicopter, bird, car?)..... I'm sure I could go on as could you. And just about all of it (maybe not the cleaning :-) comes from the children themselves. Give them room to relate to their world and see what a varied yet solid education they will gain even in their earliest years.
