"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt
Friday we made it into Boston for our first visit to the Children's Museum. With our new free museum pass and only $10 to park, this is our most economical choice for playplaces! Now if we could just do something about the drive in and out (ug) of Boston, we'd be all set!
The coolest part of the place was the climbing structure right when you walk in. It's really stunning in it's design and artistry. The kids were drawn to it like magnets. They're in this shot somewhere...
The bubble room was sweet, especially this contraption that envelops you in one giant bubble. Gabriel could only get it halfway up before it would pop...
Simone entered a trance lying beneath the turtle aquarium...
And I was envious of this light table that I've always wanted Rich to build for me. (It's not too late!)
Room after room, (construction, balls, cowboys and water play, to name a few) were right up everyone's alley.
Before we left, the rain had stopped long enough to check out the huge boulders right outside the museum.
"By nature people are learning animals. Birds fly; fish swim; humans think and learn. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do - and all we need to do - is to give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask for, listen respectfully when they feel like talking, and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
John Holt
"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it...and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." -Grace Llewellyn
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
George Bernard Shaw
Real, natural learning is in the living. It's in the observing, the questioning, the examining, the pondering, the analyzing, the watching, the reading, the DO-ing, the living, the breathing, the loving, the JOY. It's in the joy. ~Anne Ohman
"How could youth better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?" -Henry D. Thoreau
1 comment:
wow. i totally envy you. our science museum in the city is in such a bad shape that it will be closed pretty soon. nearest one is in more than 2 hours away and trip there is expensive.
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