In the Wonder Studio this month, the 5th graders have been busy creating models of tree houses, ornaments, carts, and a sundry of child-generated crafts. The thing that all the students like best about Wonder Studio is that no adult is telling them what to make or how to make it. They have agency over their ideas and how they take those ideas and make them a reality. The assortment of projects in process displayed on the studio table may look like a bunch of boxes, paint, and duct tape, but I assure you these are serious works of the imagination.
Over the years, I have often been surprised by what the students design and fabricate. They have made wooden skateboards, wild marble mazes, a rolling cardboard car with a steering wheel, and a pinball machine to name a few. Now, that we are in a smaller space, our projects have had to become more compact. The students have tended to do sewing, weaving, and beading projects instead. Often, I try to stimulate their imaginations with the materials I save and collect. Earlier in the fall, the dining hall had a surplus of cardboard soup container lids. I was imagining all kinds of things the girls could do with them. But I did not imagine that they would start their own Sephora store.
One day last week, as I asked them to clean up, I discovered a whole trove of Sephora-inspired projects. As I watched these eight girls create, I realized that they were engaged in an elaborate pretend play production. They had fashioned a cash register out of a box, created containers of all types of creams and lotions. I smiled and touched my heart as I look out on the table that they were using to display their wares. They were nine, ten, and eleven years old, and they still had a strong desire to play. They were still children. The world has not yet taken that from them just yet. They were playing “Sephora Store,” and they were happy and squealing with glee.
Children need this space to play and create, to make mistakes and learn from them. They need to exercise their precious imaginations. Sometimes I worry that I should get more involved, help them, give them some direction. But then I remind myself that I trust them, and l let them go and explore their ideas. And in that, I am never disappointed!
Word Dancer: Literature, the Arts, & Education 