Living inquiries
Well-being and belonging
It is important to create an environment where every child feels valued for their gifts and as gifts. As they learn and investigate their world, they need to feel confident that they can achieve their best potential.
A pathway for engaging with well-being and belonging is through having Joy in relationships with people, places, materials, and ideas. Moss suggests that ECE spaces can give;
”constant rise to wonder and surprise, magic moments and goose bumps, and a source of hope and renewed belief in the world”
(Moss, 2013,p82)
- what does this mean to me ?
- children find joy in their relationships with materials, people, and ideas. Do materials, spaces or rituals / routines invite joyful engagement.
- what does it mean to be in reciprocal relationships with children, families and colleagues.
To me it means that an early years space should be one that offers magical and precious moments where children continue to grow positive views about the world because the space supports them and encourages them in their learning.
This is Ava. I watched her grab a piece of paper, climb onto the chair, clip it on the isle, ask to write her name for her and then paint a few strokes, puts it away to dry and repeat this almost 20 times or even more. Each time, she had a bright smile on her face and showed it off to Mary. What a special day for Ava as she discovered her independence. The availability of these materials allowed her to creative a positive relationship with art . The engagement with these materials was definitely joyful and I’m sure Ava had a feeling of belonging as well as achievement. The last picture is Ava recognizing that her name was spelt wrong. I was truly impressed by her recognizing that wasn’t her name and she corrected me, “it’s 2 A’s”. This reminded me of my Program planning class with Carolyn where I learnt that it’s not the outcome that matters but the process. In ECE, we value meaning making . Although Ava’ s art was made of a few strokes, it’s not the outcome that matters but the process of her getting up and clipping the paper on her own. This is a reinforcement of the image of the child as strong, competent and full of potential as per BC ELF.
The famous art table reminds me of what it means to be in a reciprocal relationship with children, colleagues and families. The children love this table. They have so much joy as they engage with these materials. No instructions on what to make. Just the right materials to allow creativity. The educators created this space after recognizing what the children liked. The children use these materials to create things that they wil, take home at the end of the day which allows families to get to know their children better. This will allow educators and families to work together in supporting the children in their interests .