Actual Questions and Answers
A young child asks about letters in order to learn about ownership and labeling, not because they want to have a formal lesson in identifying and writing out the alphabet and words! No, thank you.
Building Play
The play builds. Just like blocks on top of blocks. The children take the play messages left by the group before and move easily into their own play arcs. The play goes on. And on. And on.
Rivulets (Returning to the Play)
These direct experiences with play are rivulets. This independent (and collaborative) study which at the time, were all in the NOW, leave lovely interconnected webs of information that build future context and relationships. We work, we live, we talk, we share, we build ideas and things. All these are directly related to those early moments of discovery.
Children's Community
For children, decision-making is sometimes really overwhelming. Often what we think are small or easily made decisions are too much for little ones. How wonderful is it for children to find themselves in a community of other children, who get that and will help each other out when they need it?
Dig Here, a Play Message In Action
The dig pit itself IS the sign that is read by the other children. They read this play message just like we read the newspaper. A-ha, this is "it" and "everyone" knows...the work must be continued. The children are connected to each other through play.