Children and Hands-On Learning

Stack some stones with kids!

The fiber artist Renate Hiller was interviewed about handwork and kids. I thought it addressed the value of children and gardening perfectly:

 "In the past there were all the professions of the shoemaker and the tailor and so on, and that’s also being lost. 

If you do practical work somewhere on the school grounds, there is practical work going on. The children will all go to that. 

They’re really drawn to that. They want to experience it and however the reality is that there’s less and less of that. In the home, you know you can use already bought vegetables, all chopped up and ready to eat. 


There is very little activity like kneading the bread, and you know children grasp first an item and then they grasp with their mind.


 So if they have very little to grasp other than plastic readymade toys then what their mind grasps is very little..."

 Renate Hiller






Comments

  1. www.ravenscourtgardens. comJuly 24, 2015 at 3:13 PM

    A wonderful post, timely with kids at home for summer. My children went to a parent participation magnet school. The motto of the school was I see, I hear, I do, I remember! I am a hands on learner and giving children the building blocks to make their own toys or tools and letting them see the process of growing food etc. is essential to their becoming a well rounded person. I taught preschool for 15 year or so years while my own kids were growing up. I miss the days of working with children instead of adults : )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jan JohnsenJuly 25, 2015 at 6:03 AM

      Laurin,
      what a wonderful school ! I think that should be the motto for all our schools. What kind of people will we be without learning that honey comes from bees, sunflowers give us seeds and time follows the sun?...

      I only hope that today's kids look up from the screen long enough to appreciate the night sky. Thanks for that lovely comment.

      Delete
  2. kapsul gasaAugust 12, 2015 at 8:42 PM

    Great post..,thanks for sharing. Goodluck!

    ReplyDelete

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