Summer 2019 Week 1: Good Enough

I am filled with so much joy as we embarked on our first week of summer play at Wonder Studio. 

To be surrounded by parents and caregivers who delight in the play of children is such a gift. Adults who so value the power of play and who want to know more about these little beings that have been entrusted to all of us.

I thank you for joining us at Wonder Studio on this journey.
One of my favorite things about Wonder Studio and what I always loved about bringing my own children is learning about who they were.

One of my secret joys is sitting in the chair ready to greet these faces as they enter the studio space. I want to greet them as you all know but I love to watch their eyes as they look around in wonder at what we have spent hours preparing for them.

I always think of Mr. Disney and feel connected to his delight in creating a special universe where children's eyes are bright, hopeful, and joyful as they embark on their trip.

I know that Choo Choo painting may not be on the same scale as the Mad Hatter Tea party ride but I relate with the same desire to witness and be a part of a special world created for children that invokes Wonder.

Wonder Studio is meant to be a place where we can research children...see what motivates them, see what frustrates them...understand their secret natures.

However, I diverge from Disney in that I wanted this place to be a place where children are not passive receivers of joy (which is a wonderful kind of reception) but instead are invited to create joy from within. All the materials and how they are used at Wonder Studio is up to the child and her imagination.

We have lumps of clay not pre-formed into a mouse that can talk but instead the clay is an invitation of openness to become whatever the child imagines.

Imagination was the word on the chalkboard this past week.

Einstein shared his wisdom that the path to true wisdom is Imagination.

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”


I sometimes get carried away with offering too many choices at Wonder Studio but my hope is NOT for the child to do each experience but instead for the child to have the opportunity to see these choices and we can observe what they choose. In the choice they make, if the grown up they come with has the same curiosity that I have and allows them to make this choice, we can learn about the child but more importantly, the child can learn about himself.

I was so pleased to see a caregiver who encouraged her little one as he played with the blocks and dinosaurs for at least a 1/2 hour. She never rushed him along, she didn't take over his play, she was beside him, smiling, and seeing him. She held a presence with him that allowed him to know that his desire was important.
It's difficult to do that all day long everyday...but if we can offer it for a hour or two at Wonder Studio, Disney, or at the park, then we have done our best and our best is always good enough!