Just looking for some inspiration :)

[Inspired by Reggio]

IME most kids enjoy what WE enjoy ... if we love doing art they are going to be drawn to doing art, if we love science experiments they are going to be willing to sit and do experiments, if we love to sing and have music on they are going to draw on that energy and sing and dance too

When I was in centre care it use to be fun to 'watch' how children reacted differently to different educators/caregivers .... I had peers who constantly complained the kids were not interested in art so she was not going to waste time offering it - however in reality it was her dislike of mess and therefore her 'anxiety' that they would MAKE a mess that prevented the children from enjoying art when she presented it ... cause I could go into that classroom and offer a creative art invitation and every child would come and spend time at it and enjoy it ... I am not afraid of mess and I belief in my heart if you 'explain' to children how to properly use mediums they CAN and WILL respect them and use them ... I have 18 month olds who paint with a color palette and a cup of rince water and brush ... they learn to 'rinse' their brush between colors, they learn to 'dab' the water off on a towel and so forth and they will paint for 30 plus minutes ... my older kids will paint for over an hour some days!

My weakness is 'science' ... I suck at getting experiments to 'work' so therefore am afraid to do them with kids and therefore they pick up on my anxiety and will fidget or misbehave making it even LESS enjoyable for me .... but they will all sit for 20 minutes enthralled at the Children's Museum when an employee there does an experiment - cause they are passionate and excited and well 'skilled' at offering them.

I attended a workshop a while ago about 'building curriculum' where the presenter asked us all to list the things we remember MOST about childhood ... what was meaningful is what we RETAINED as memories as a result cause the rest gets 'pushed out' .... and than they reiterated that THIS is what your daycare days should therefore be filled with .... and of the 150 people in the room who had to stand up and share their most favorite memory of childhood - not one stated 'my favorite childhood memories is when the entire group sat down at the table and glued cotton balls on ducks for spring crafts or working on my ABC worksheets and so forth' .... and that is a real eye opener for me too - cause I always felt to be respected for what I do I had to TEACH children .... however you only get to a be child for FIVE YEARS ... you spend the next FIFTEEN YEARS being TAUGHT TO in the school system - and that is when I decided I wanted childhood to be MAGICAL ... I want kids to remember those magic moments of chasing dandelions in the field, or playing with their bug collection in the yard, or the fort they built on my deck to 'hide' from me outside.... I allow my crew a lot of 'say' in how they spend their day cause it is their childhood and they should have a hand in molding it ... my job is to help guide them to make positive choices and be strong independent learners with a strong social skills set ... academics and the rest are built out of that!

Honestly based on that 'pool' of the 150 people in that workshop children's memories are of making forts inside or outside and hiding inside them where parents could not see - aka some 'freedom' from constant supervision, playing house with things from around the house and dressing up in mamas shoes and costume jewellery or putting on plays or reenacting TV shows - aka role playing with REAL things from the home and make belief using imagination and creative thought, being outside in fields and yards and playing chase and hide n seek building places outside to 'hide' where adults could not see and collecting 'treasures' for in their forts like stones, sticks and other things places they could be 'silly' without getting in trouble, getting MESSY in mud / dirt outside, finger painting outside after the rain or puddle jumping, racing things like cars of boats or other things and so forth - figuring out how 'nature' works by collecting things .... basically everyone described child led days and long periods of uninterrupted PLAY cause that was life back then .... before we started micromanaging children out the wazoo with 'activities to prepare them for the next stage of life' .... they played and figured life out