Look, Listen, Smell, Taste, Touch

04/07/2003

Look, Listen, Smell, Taste, Touch

"You can't be afraid to make mistakes. You've got to play the game aggressively."
–Lou Pineilla

LOOK, LISTEN, SMELL, TASTE, TOUCH

In Creative Experiences for Young Children (Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2002 -- www.heinemann.com), Mimi Brodsky Chenfeld encourages early childhood educators use all senses in educating young children:

"The ancient Greeks followed their teachers around, walking and talking about the great themes of life! They called that 'peripatetic' education. With your children, take a walk, even around the school. What do we see? Stop and talk about it. Stop and listen. What do you hear? What do we smell? Pine? Mint? When the beloved educator Herb Sandberg was visited by friends just a few days before his death, they wanted to share with him that the daffodils were now in bloom and waiting for him to recover and see them. Unable to talk because of a respirator, Herb wrote on his clipboard, 'A child once said, "Yesterday I heard a daffodil bloom!"' His friends knew that Herb was telling us to take the time, like that little child did, to listen to the daffodils bloom. 'Synthesia' is not a disease! It is a gift young children remind us that we have and should cherish. With a group of children, we were playing with changing images into sense impressions. We were talking about the afternoon, say, two o'clock. I asked the kids what color two o'clock reminded them of. One of the boys immediately responded, 'Orange.' His seatmate jumped to his feet, in some kind of bewilderment. 'What's so orange about two o'clock?' he asked. In these walk-abouts and talk-abouts be open for very creative ways of describing what we discover. Extend the ideas into stories, word walls, charts, posters, poems, and more."

The Exchange publication, The Wonder of It: Exploring How the World Works, is a guide to teaching the excitement of scientific pursuit to young children. Articles speak to supporting children's curiosity, stimulating their thinking, teaching them to ask good questions, and sharing the joy of discovery. A celebration of the importance of wonder in the lives of children. Check it out here!

For more information about Exchange's magazine, books, and other products pertaining to ECE, go to www.ccie.com.