When is my child too old for Wonder Studio?
This question has come up from many different folks these past couple weeks. I have contemplated this "age" question myself a lot. With a 10 year old and a 13 year old...I find my children asking at times, are they too old to try "this" or "that"? I see that they are sometimes embarrassed of their impulses for imaginative play or trying a sport or skill that they know others began when they were 4 years old.
I don't like the idea of limiting ourselves by age.
I am a believer in play. Whole-heartedly.
What does it mean to play?
For me, play means developing your ability to go into the unknown.
Play is an attitude towards life.
Play is interchangeable with Wonder.
So, when someone asks me if their child is too old for Wonder Studio...I feel a deep sadness.
This question sounds like, "Is my child too old to wonder?" "Is my child too old for play?"
And, I want to shout from the roof tops..."Let the children play!" (And Adults!)
So...the contemplation for this month is...
"How do you limit yourself or your children with age expectations?"
I see myself doing this most often with expectations for behavior in my children.
I see this in myself when I feel guilty on choosing to paint or draw instead of laundry or paperwork.
But, if I wasn't being philosophical or metaphorical and just quite literal...
Wonder Studio is designed by a Early Childhood Educator Pro Expert. I have a Master's Degree in Early Childhood which certifies my teaching age range from Birth - age 8 (2nd or 3rd grade, depending on the college.) I purposely chose this age group rather than Elementary Education because I really liked the wide age range and the understanding of the first 5 years of life of being the most important developmental years for the human.
Everything that you see or experience at Wonder Studio is designed with this model in mind.
Let's take the blocks as our first example...
Wooden unit block play across Developmental Stages: (A Constructivist Approach To Block Play in Early Childhood by Karyn Wellhousen and Judith Kieff, p. 41)
Stage 1: Carrying
Stage 2: Stacking
Stage 3: Bridging
Stage 4: Enclosures
Stage 5: Patterns and Symmetry
Stage 6: Early representational
Stage 7: Later representational
If we look at Stages of Development instead of putting an age limit on things, I think it opens us up to so many possibilities.
A child of any age can walk into Wonder Studio and experiment with these many stages. With the mixed age grouping, many kids will jump between stages when they see older kids playing in more advanced scenarios.
Playing a musical instrument also happens in stages rather than ages as well as a person't devotion to practice. If you don't practice your instrument, you will stay at lower stages.
IT IS THE SAME WITH PLAY. IT IS THE SAME WITH ART. It is the same with socialization.
We need to practice these skills.
I don't ever want to lose my sense of Wonder. My sense of play.
I cultivate it everyday in myself, in my children, and in my studio.
Please join me in the Play revolution.
