Nursery Child: “I’ve written a story” “Tell me more” I respond Child: “It’s about all the children saying goodbye to their mummies & daddies in the morning. I’m going to read it to everyone at Circle Time” Me: “Can’t wait!” Child: “It’s a big story” She reads it to 34 children.

A Nursery child draws an elephant with wonderful succinctness. A simple expressive line and perfectly judged areas of tone capture the imagination: “I’ve drawn it for you…It’s sitting down and feeling sad because it’s the last day of school…and his trunk is crumpled up” Utter Joy!

That wonderful moment when a young child gives you a drawing and you realise they’ve handed you a window into their world of development - a synchronous exploration of motor control, marks, linear expression, writing, shape and space. Each nourishing the other. Joy!

What do you give to life, when life has it all? The effort of being original, is like a thank you. Wayne Shorter.

Nursery child invites us into some thinking on shape and space: “I’ve made a face do you want to see? You turn the circle and the mouth can be happy or sad… But I can’t decide if square eyes are happier than triangle eyes!” We look, wonder and I see what he means. Joy!

“I’ve drawn the Taj Mahal by a beautiful rainbow river” ‘They’re so beautiful’ I respond “Do you know what the numbers are?” the child asks “The doors?” “No…they are the way I drew them, I started with 1, I did 2, and 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 and then I glued them on the river”

“Those who desire to sing… find a song.” Plato. So much of teaching is finding your own voice: a voice that inspires learners to discover theirs, and sing boldly themselves. When I find my song, I’ll sing it with all my heart.

Nursery child simultaneously unpacks his thinking about number & the Montessori number bead box: “The 5’s go 5, 10, 15 4’s go 4, 8, 12 3’s go 3, 6, 9 I haven’t done 6’s but I think they go 6, 12: I’ve been thinking about it, and I haven’t thought about the 9’s yet” Joy!

A question that shadows every lesson: At what point does my hand, meant to lift, hold pupils back?

I love it when the Independent learners turn me into a waiter ...you know: ‘Are you enjoying your learning?’ ‘Yes!’ ‘Can I get you anything?’

A nursery child explores the Montessori Shape Boxes. She intuitively engages with the properties of congruence, shape, colour, and magnitude, using them to create imaginative and varied designs: “I’ve made a rocket, and there are lots of stars around — every star is going to be different!” Joy!

Play is a spark, if you let it out of the box it ignites ideas. New thoughts arrive like unexpected guests. Play wanders about our heads in ways we can’t predict and in places we forget to look. Imagination is refreshed. Best of all, it discovers things we could never dream alone.

Nursery child plays on the “Number Ten Study Rug” with Numicon “You can make 10 with 5 and 5 and that’s fair but you can’t make ten with 6 and 6 “ “You can’t make ten with 7 and 7.” He laughs. “You’d have to squash a 7 down into 2 and 1 which isn’t fair … Or three!” Joy.

I see Play’s magnificent fusion of thoughts, actions and discovery as a form of thinking in itself. A primal language simultaneously abstract and concrete, relishing the unexpected, loved by mind, heart and body, and birthplace to innovation.

Picasso transformed a bicycle seat and handle bars into a Bulls Head. It’s been said a child could have done it. I wonder, isn’t the point the other way round? We adults DON’T do it, anymore. Do we wish our children trade in these transformative powers for ‘adulthood’?

Nursery child: “I’m cutting out paper ‘spaces’ & putting them in a study box” Spaces? “Spaces are things in-between words, if you don’t have them the words get jumbled up” Oh? “Word spaces are real and not real, I’m making real ones for everyone to use between words”

Since my pupils are the main stakeholders in their learning, why plan it without them? And, if I want them to drive their own learning, the sooner they’re in the driver’s seat, the more prepared they’ll be when the road is theirs to travel alone.

There are so many reasons why ‘finding time for focussed play’ is a problem worth solving…

A Nursery child picks fresh leaves & daisies and lays them out with careful attention to position and 1-1 correspondence. She adjusts any spacial and numerical errors as she goes: “Squirrel is making a picnic, all his friends get one daisy each so they don’t squabble!” Joy!

The idea, attributed to Marcus Aurelius, that ‘the soul is dyed by the colour of our thoughts’ seems, to me, very powerful. We become ‘what’ and ‘the way’ we think. As a teacher it really hits home when I see 35 young minds awaiting the influence of my thinking…

A Nursery Child draws hearts, counting them as she goes: “There are 34 children in circle time and I’ve drawn all their hearts. I’ve got a heart too, so I’m drawing my heart as well” ‘One for each child’ I respond. “Yes” she responds “Everyone has one heart, we have to look after them!” Joy!

A Nursery child develops her skills in employing expressive line to capture our goats in the nursery garden. The goats potter about. “The ears drop down, the horns stick up” She observes, hugs and feeds them between strokes of the brush. “I want to make another drawing, and another, and another’

I want to slow the curriculum down so learning can breath, experiences can be savoured, thoughts turned over, ideas become realities. Why put my foot on the gas? Better to immerse ourselves in the broader landscape, enjoy the company, take the journey well, arrive richer.

EYFS child describes the creative process: “I made the stars by rotating triangles” “I like drawing inside shapes to make them all different. I love decorating the perimeter. It makes them like flowers. Flowers are shapes with petals!” Acrylic, collage, Pen on canvas.

“The best place to learn to drive is the driving seat.” my driving instructor told me, as I got behind the wheel. “The vehicle’s twin controlled.” It triggers the thought: What about a duel controlled pedagogy where we put our children safely in Learnings driving seat…

Nursery Child painting: “It’s a Rainbow Flower. You need a rainbow seed to grow it, just like any kind of tomato seed makes a tomato plant’’ Me: “An apple seed won’t do then?” Child: “No” Me: “Or an orange seed?” Child: “That’s it, you’re getting into this…I think you understand”

If I want to see the brilliance of a child’s thinking, it helps to turn the lights down on my own.

A Nursery child picks up a pen and captures: ratio, texture, shape, perspective, positive & negative space, direction, form, horizontal, vertical, parallel lines. What do we see? An Aloe Vera.

Epictetus pointed out that nature provided us with two ears and one tongue. It’s such great balance, especially if you’re a teacher. So, why is it, when I’m teaching, I frequently end up with five tongues and one ear?

Sometimes, with the of best intentions I oversimplify learning to the point where I rob the children, of experience in untangling it for themselves.