a day of being Creative, Curious + Kind…
Piece written by Lainie Holmes, facilitator of the Creative, Curious + Kind program at LYKKE Kids
Last Thursday, the kindie kids took us in directions we never imagined…
When the first kindie arrived, he decided that he wanted to surprise the next kiddo coming. “I’m going to hide treasure for [kiddo’s name]. I’ll put it in the monster’s mouth.”
Me: “How will he know where to find it?”
Kiddo: “I’ll make him a treasure map!”
Off he goes to begin drawing the treasure map…
He begins with the green body, eyes, the red mark for the treasure, a line pointing to the treasure.
Me: Ooooh, and look at the shape of the teeth! As I stand by the monster and guide my finger around the outside of the shape without saying anything. My goal is to have him notice the lines and their direction; to notice the shape. He then adds black triangle shaped teeth to his drawing (shown above). Yay! I think. Steps towards observational drawings.
The next kiddo arrives and is handed his map. Next thing you know, the map making begins…
I’m then asked for a map of our neighbourhood. They want to know the names of the nearby streets. I open up Google maps on my phone and we’re now reading the names.
I’m curious to see where this might go. As they create maps, I decide to make a treasure map for them…
I explain how my map works. How I’ve labelled it with the street name. I’ve used little notches to show where there are door openings. I’m curious to see if these details will translate into their own maps. We start looking at the map and trying to figure out what everything is. “What could this rectangle shape be?” “A bench!” “What could this oval shape be?” “A basket!” Now suddenly we’re identifying shapes and learning how to read something from a birds eye view. Seeing from different perspectives.
Once they see how the map works, I label it with three red spots to show where I’ve hidden actual treasure for them. They work together and are thrilled to find Halloween stickers, plastic vampire teeth they can wear, and glow in the dark tattoos.
Will they want to label maps? Will there be more creation of treasure maps? No, they are ready to move on. And I’m not forcing them to do more. They have taken from it what they can / want for now and it’s meant to be playful. Their interest has now turned to the Monster Maze. They venture inside and are SO excited. I ask, “would you like to help make it spookier?” Yes!!! is the answer.
They spot caution tape and instantly want to include it. They are practising their scissor skills as they cut pieces to add to the maze. “Oh, this is spooky!” one of the kiddos says. More and more tape is added. I ask, “I wonder what caution means?” We talk about where we have seen tape like this before… when we see broken windows. When there’s an accident. “I think it means responsible,” someone says. “It means watch it,” says another. We talk about how it means warning, be careful, watch out... A little impromptu vocabulary lesson in play.
A kiddo sees a nearby sign that says, “enter the Monster Maze… (it’s not spooky, more silly and fun).” I watch as he goes and grabs a piece of black paper and a marker. He plops down nearby and looks up at the sign, slowly copying one letter at a time. When looking back and forth, he seems uncertain of how to start, so I point out details of the letter - I see a circle. Kiddo draws a circle. Now I see a line that comes down from this side of the circle. Kiddo adds the line. Now we’re practising letter formation and noticing features.
Another kiddo decides to draw a skeleton to add to the maze. “It’s a [kiddo’s name] monster! It only eats [kiddo’s name].” Which sparks laughter. Now we’re hearing a whole story about this skeleton and how it only eats this other kid. I wish I would have recorded it, because it’s a hilarious story we could have revisited. Skeleton picture is added to the maze and suddenly someone suggests that they need to make tickets!
Kid: Yes, good idea! When the grown-ups come at the end of the day, we can give them tickets to go inside.
Suddenly multiple kids are making tickets out of colourful paper and stickers… then we need ticket holders! Next, “no, it will cost them $100 to go inside the maze.” “Will Lainie have to pay?” “No, Lainie doesn’t have to.” “Yes, she does!” To which I say, “that’s okay! I have $100 dollars!”
Me: “I wonder what colour a $100 dollar Canadian bill is?” as I look at the art studio shelves filled with colourful paper (I know the bills are brown; I am modelling being curious and my thinking process).
I Google search an image and show the kids a brown bill. I choose a piece of brown paper and cut out my bill. “Hhhhmm, I wonder who this guy is?” The kids come over to take a look at him. “Look it up!” they say. “Ahh, his name is Robert. Robert Borden. Do you know how we have a prime minister in Canada? Someone who helps take care of the country? Well Robert Borden wasn’t the first prime minister. He wasn’t the second. He was the 8th!” I begin drawing his face, talking aloud about my process as I go. “Hhhmmm, some of his hair goes this way, the rest goes like this. He has eyebrows above his eyes… a moustache under his nose…” Before I know I’m surrounded by little people with their own brown pieces of paper, drawing Robert Borden along with me.
and this Robert Borden got turned into a turtle when he didn’t turn out as planned. Love it.
Me: “We have our money, but now where will we keep it?”
Kiddo: “We need wallets!” And he goes on to tell us about a wallet he has. He keeps Pokemon cards in there. I go and get my wallet to show them. I unzip it to show what I keep inside. My driver’s license, explaining what it’s for. My health card, so I can go to the hospital if I need help. My Costco card (the kids laugh), for when I need to buy groceries. Now one kiddo has decided to make a wallet, with a change pocket. Another kiddo is off working on his own project.
Fast forward to snack time. We’re sitting around a set table sharing a snack of fresh fruit, crackers, cheese and more. The conversation? About storms. It’s a rainy, windy day outside. Kiddo asks, “is it rainy today because of the hurricane?” Another kiddo, “what hurricane?” “There’s a hurricane right now called Melissa.” Which leads to conversation about tornados and questions around what happens when two tornados collide. We start talking about the names of storms. The kids want to know more. We find a website that shares all of the names already decided for hurricanes in 2025 all the way up to 2029. We learn that hurricanes are named with female names. Kiddo asks, “what about boy names?” We see that they don’t use all letters of the alphabet to name hurricanes - not q, u, x, y, or z.
It’s been maybe an hour and a half at this point. The kids come for 6 hours. We have:
drawn maps
read local maps
identified shapes in a bird’s eye view map and used it to navigate around the room to find hidden treasure
learned new vocabulary
practised letter formation through purposeful writing
used fine motor skills cutting paper, writing and drawing
learned about Canadian currency
talked about Canadian prime ministers
did some observational drawings
learned interesting facts about hurricanes
and it’s just snack time
And we’re having a lot of fun. We’re “just” playing.
This is what happens in play, and why I love it so much. Play is thinking.
Kids ask questions. They get ideas. They watch to see what others are doing. They feed off each other in exciting ways. They work together. They laugh and have fun. They get excited and jump up and down because of what they’re doing. They’re happy.
It’s so incredibly joyful to watch and facilitate.
Creative, Curious + Kind is a recreation, play-based program for kids.
What’s interesting is that learning is enjoyable. It’s fun. I think we’ve forgotten that in the pressures and expectations of society, in our government, school systems and beyond. In pursuit of achievement and standards, we’ve lost the joy that comes from learning and from play.
There is joy in learning.
And there is joy in play.
And for kids, they don’t see the difference between learning and play. And neither do I.
Note: In education, we talk a lot about the importance of process. It’s all the thinking and doing we observe that’s exciting. We listen to what kids are saying (it gives insight). We observe what they are doing or trying to do (it shows their interests, what they find challenging, where they are developmentally, and more…) We ask questions (asking good questions is an art. There are entire books in teaching dedicated to asking thoughtful questions - to get kids thinking, articulating their thinking…). Because sometimes the product just doesn’t capture all that they know and can do.
As a parent, you might pick up your child and see this…
a drawing of a green ghost? a brown piece of paper with some lines… a random drawing on a white piece of paper with a scribble. a spider tattoo. an ostrich on a yellow piece of paper? a stack of papers taped together? “Nice!”
But there’s so much more behind it all. All the thinking and learning behind these pieces. It’s not about the product that comes home. It’s everything that happened while they were creating it. And that’s the fun part.
If curious to learn more about our program, details here: Creative, Curious + Kind for Kindies!