A Child’s Garden

Before I became an author, I was lucky enough to teach kindergarten to children when kindergarten was truly kindergarten.

The word kindergarten means… a child’s garden. Kindergarten is supposed to be a place where children learn by playing, singing, experimenting with art, textiles, sewing, tools, sand, rocks, water and above all, literature. Today’s kindergarten in America is like 1st grade was when I taught 1st grade. Most of the children enter kindergarten knowing all of their letters and some are already reading.

This is great but schools have removed the play aspect of kindergarten. Social, emotional critical learning that happens through play is now missing. Kids are missing an important aspect to the natural progression of being a child, learning from each other.

My call to all educators around the world is to return to our roots. Put the garden back in the life of a child. Let them play to learn. Children will learn to read, do math equations and experience science, but children of the age of 4,5 and 6 learn best through taking turns and getting muddy. Children learn the best when they are playing.

I can guess that no one in a corporate environment is asking each other if they learned to read at age 4 or 7. But, I can imagine that most people can remember the smell of playdoh or the pure joy of putting on a smock, knowing that they were going to get to paint.

A child’s critical learning is learned through experiencing the world around them. Hold hands, share a graham cracker and bring back the garden to the children.

Sincerely,

Lisa