May 17, 2017
Growing up, my all time favourite storybook character was Curious George! That silly little monkey got in to everything due to his incredible curiousity and fierce desire to explore his world. In reflecting on my childhood, I have come to realize that I loved Curious George so much, because I too was so very curious about my world.
As a young child, I spent more time collecting sparkly rocks and seashells at the beach than actually playing in the water. Their colours and intricate patterns amazed me! Hours would pass by with me looking through my grandmother's garden for bugs of all descriptions and other hidden treasures deep beneath the soil! I loved going through my mother's "button jar", which was filled with "millions" of different kinds of buttons. So many colours and shapes and sizes. I would sort them, make patterns with them and glue them to paper to make a pretty design!
The world was mine to explore and I loved every moment!
Our little ones too, are born with a fierce sense of curiousity and wonder. Their minds are wired to test and try out everything around them. As parents, caregivers and educators, we need to provide as much opportunity to explore as possible, both indoors and outdoors. The sky is the limit. Let's not surround them with too much plastic, but provide for them safe and natural elements to manipulate and experiment with each and every day. From this their imaginations will blossom and soar!
I am reminded of a quote from the famous Walt Disney...A quote we at Great Beginnings live by.
"Around here, we don’t look backwards for very long…We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things because we’re curious…and curiousity keeps leading us down new paths."
The more we foster our children's curiousity, the more doors of opportunity and learning will be opened to them. New paths will be discovered and incredible things will be accomplished.
Join us in this exploration!