How do I inspire a hungry imagination?
October 30, 2013 11:41 AM Subscribe
I am a relative to a youngster (aged 6). I want to inspire them. Feed their imagination, help them to discover the endless possibilities that exist in all corners of the world. My question is how best to do this?
One of the things I think I missed out on as a child of that age was an understanding of the size and potential, and wonder, of the world around me. I'd like to play a part in opening them up to that somehow. Also I'd like to fire the broad interests they are beginning to develop from going to school. I was thinking giving them a few books, any suggestions on those lines would be good. I have toyed with the idea of a tablet or technology, wall charts and reference objects like a globe. Museum visits, films or activity suggestions would be great too. Also if anyone thinks it can be too much at that age, or I'd be better to solely focus on what their own specific interests are, then I'd like to hear that too.
I guess my stumbling block is that if I wanted to do this to someone my own age I'd email them some links or buy them some books - maybe a few DVDs, I am finding it a little hard to interpret what level they can handle at this age I suppose. I've kept details a little vague here in order to garner a range of thoughts. Thanks to anyone offering any ideas in advance - you guys are great at this!
One of the things I think I missed out on as a child of that age was an understanding of the size and potential, and wonder, of the world around me. I'd like to play a part in opening them up to that somehow. Also I'd like to fire the broad interests they are beginning to develop from going to school. I was thinking giving them a few books, any suggestions on those lines would be good. I have toyed with the idea of a tablet or technology, wall charts and reference objects like a globe. Museum visits, films or activity suggestions would be great too. Also if anyone thinks it can be too much at that age, or I'd be better to solely focus on what their own specific interests are, then I'd like to hear that too.
I guess my stumbling block is that if I wanted to do this to someone my own age I'd email them some links or buy them some books - maybe a few DVDs, I am finding it a little hard to interpret what level they can handle at this age I suppose. I've kept details a little vague here in order to garner a range of thoughts. Thanks to anyone offering any ideas in advance - you guys are great at this!
Best answer: Oh, man, I loved my globe at that age, and for years after. Just spinning it and seeing where my finger landed ...
I get my kids books that I call bait -- strange books, with weird and wonderful pictures (several recommended by metafilter). An anatomy textbook, Fantasy Worlds, art and architecture books, a book of super-magnified bug pictures, Art Forms in Nature, a biiiiiig atlas, books on the solar system. I loved to browse through books like that as a child, on my parents' shelves and in the library, just looking at pictures and wondering what they meant, before I was even old enough to read. I keep these on a shelf that's eye-height to a preschooler and, sure enough, they eventually find their way over to the shelves and start browsing through dragons in art history or anatomy of the eyeball or roads of rural Indiana or whatever. (Actually Barnes & Noble bargain books are a good source for cheap, weird, not-really-reference books with lots of pictures that are highly peruseable.) BRAIN BAIT.
We also got my tactile-inclined son a World Discovery Box, which is spendy, but MUCH ADORED.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
I get my kids books that I call bait -- strange books, with weird and wonderful pictures (several recommended by metafilter). An anatomy textbook, Fantasy Worlds, art and architecture books, a book of super-magnified bug pictures, Art Forms in Nature, a biiiiiig atlas, books on the solar system. I loved to browse through books like that as a child, on my parents' shelves and in the library, just looking at pictures and wondering what they meant, before I was even old enough to read. I keep these on a shelf that's eye-height to a preschooler and, sure enough, they eventually find their way over to the shelves and start browsing through dragons in art history or anatomy of the eyeball or roads of rural Indiana or whatever. (Actually Barnes & Noble bargain books are a good source for cheap, weird, not-really-reference books with lots of pictures that are highly peruseable.) BRAIN BAIT.
We also got my tactile-inclined son a World Discovery Box, which is spendy, but MUCH ADORED.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Ask your younger relative to write you stories, with pictures. Then you can find themes in those stories and expand with information and activities in kind.
posted by xingcat at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by xingcat at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I hate to say this, but the less "THIS IS A THING I AM TEACHING YOU AND EXPOSING YOU TO", the better. Kids pick up on the fact that a grownup is trying to teach them something damned quickly, and for a lot of kids there is no faster way to have them lose interest. Just play games that HAPPEN to be more creative. When they ask questions, prompt for them to try to think up their own explanations for why things might be the way they are. I try to say "Gee, I don't know! let me think!" in response to some of his questions so that he learns that, yeah, it is okay to not know everything. Offer some possible explanations yourself, some serious some silly. (My silly ones usually involve either poop, penises, bums, farts, boogers, or dinosaurs since those are the things my six year old finds the funniest.)
For example,
kid - "Why do old people have white hair?"
me - "Hmm, I don't know. Do you have any guesses why that might be?"
[they either will or they won't. the more you do this, the more easily they will come up with possible explanations]
me - "yeah, that could be it! My guess is because they got really scared thinking about dinosaurs while they were pooping. They got so scared they pooped all the colour out of their hair. Or maybe as people get older their body just gets too lazy to keep making hair be a colour!"
In a really general way, playing Minecraft has helped my six year old son to be a lot more creative, think outside the box. I wanted to make a giant sculpture of a man sitting on a toilet in the middle of the air in our world we were playing in together, so I did. He thought it was hilarious, but it also made him be more free with making random things, not just square rooms and farms and stuff.
Lego too. A big bin of lego, NOT a kit that has to be made a specific way. Just loose lego. Like in minecraft, I had to sort of teach by example, creating really bizarre things with the lego. The more I did it, the crazier I made things, the more 'comfortable' (for lack of a better word) he was going outside the box and making something weird and wonderful himself.
I also garden with him. Every spring he and I go to the garden center and he picks out the flowers he wants. We plant them together and spend the summer watching it grow, tending to it, seeing how different plants change over the season, etc.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
For example,
kid - "Why do old people have white hair?"
me - "Hmm, I don't know. Do you have any guesses why that might be?"
[they either will or they won't. the more you do this, the more easily they will come up with possible explanations]
me - "yeah, that could be it! My guess is because they got really scared thinking about dinosaurs while they were pooping. They got so scared they pooped all the colour out of their hair. Or maybe as people get older their body just gets too lazy to keep making hair be a colour!"
In a really general way, playing Minecraft has helped my six year old son to be a lot more creative, think outside the box. I wanted to make a giant sculpture of a man sitting on a toilet in the middle of the air in our world we were playing in together, so I did. He thought it was hilarious, but it also made him be more free with making random things, not just square rooms and farms and stuff.
Lego too. A big bin of lego, NOT a kit that has to be made a specific way. Just loose lego. Like in minecraft, I had to sort of teach by example, creating really bizarre things with the lego. The more I did it, the crazier I made things, the more 'comfortable' (for lack of a better word) he was going outside the box and making something weird and wonderful himself.
I also garden with him. Every spring he and I go to the garden center and he picks out the flowers he wants. We plant them together and spend the summer watching it grow, tending to it, seeing how different plants change over the season, etc.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 11:51 AM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: "I don't know. Let's find out!"
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:54 AM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by BitterOldPunk at 11:54 AM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]
Best answer: Extended time in the outside! Not just the backyard, but easy rated hikes, preferably not just the boardwalk trails around a nature center. Just being different places without formal guidance can reveal areas of interest - I was never an insect person but I loved rocks and trees and specifically ferns, for instance. But there was also learning how to see a trail and cross streams and so on.
Second, cultural festivals can be great, but avoiding the over commercialized ones in favor of the more traditional seems harder now than in the past.
posted by cobaltnine at 12:03 PM on October 30, 2013
Second, cultural festivals can be great, but avoiding the over commercialized ones in favor of the more traditional seems harder now than in the past.
posted by cobaltnine at 12:03 PM on October 30, 2013
Best answer: 0 answers: "Museum visits, films or activity suggestions would be great too. Also if anyone thinks it can be too much at that age, or I'd be better to solely focus on what their own specific interests are, then I'd like to hear that too."
Oh, I missed this part of the question. Three-part answer.
1) Yes, typical cultural events are good -- Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas, summer movies in the park, museum visits.
2) When child expresses an interest in something, like dinosaurs, ask around if any of your friends are amateur rock hounds. Arrange a (low-key, not-too-long) rock hunting outing with your rock hound friend and look for fossils. People LOVE to share their nerdery and for a kid, getting to go on that sort of outing is AMAZING. Don't expect too much ... kids don't learn in a terribly organized, linear fashion, but being able to go and experience those things sticks in their mind. We prevail upon our friends' enthusiasms ALL THE TIME so our kids can go hiking or visit skyscrapers or meet firemen or whatever.
3) Share YOUR interests with the child. It's awesome to share and support a child's interests, but you should also share what fascinates YOU about the world. That's really formative; maybe the child won't grow up to love what you love, but they WILL have the model of someone who's really engaged in the world and sharing it with others. My dad sort-of geeks out about architecture, and while I do have now-fond memories of at-the-time tedious childhood trips to see buildings, what really impressed upon me was how much he just enjoyed looking at architecture and learning about it, even though it had nothing to do with his job, or anything he'd studied, or really anything at all except that he liked looking at buildings and learning things about them. And that was really pretty cool, and a good role model for interacting with the world. We spend a lot of effort getting to know our kids, but I think we sometimes don't let them get to know us enough. So invite this child to share in YOUR interests and hobbies -- in short, small, age-appropriate ways, of course. But give of your own curiosity.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:04 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh, I missed this part of the question. Three-part answer.
1) Yes, typical cultural events are good -- Nutcracker Ballet at Christmas, summer movies in the park, museum visits.
2) When child expresses an interest in something, like dinosaurs, ask around if any of your friends are amateur rock hounds. Arrange a (low-key, not-too-long) rock hunting outing with your rock hound friend and look for fossils. People LOVE to share their nerdery and for a kid, getting to go on that sort of outing is AMAZING. Don't expect too much ... kids don't learn in a terribly organized, linear fashion, but being able to go and experience those things sticks in their mind. We prevail upon our friends' enthusiasms ALL THE TIME so our kids can go hiking or visit skyscrapers or meet firemen or whatever.
3) Share YOUR interests with the child. It's awesome to share and support a child's interests, but you should also share what fascinates YOU about the world. That's really formative; maybe the child won't grow up to love what you love, but they WILL have the model of someone who's really engaged in the world and sharing it with others. My dad sort-of geeks out about architecture, and while I do have now-fond memories of at-the-time tedious childhood trips to see buildings, what really impressed upon me was how much he just enjoyed looking at architecture and learning about it, even though it had nothing to do with his job, or anything he'd studied, or really anything at all except that he liked looking at buildings and learning things about them. And that was really pretty cool, and a good role model for interacting with the world. We spend a lot of effort getting to know our kids, but I think we sometimes don't let them get to know us enough. So invite this child to share in YOUR interests and hobbies -- in short, small, age-appropriate ways, of course. But give of your own curiosity.
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 12:04 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: My 6-year-old son desperately wants to take a class/attend a camp where they teach him and a bunch of other kids how to cook. He says specifically not where they cook up pretend, silly things, but where they actually cook real, delicious food that we can eat. (We cook at home a lot; he wants to cook with other big kids and someone who is not his parent.)
He also wants to play with legos all the time. Bins full of legos as @PuppetMcSockerson said, and he also likes Ninjago lego kits that make specific dragons and machines.
posted by hush at 12:05 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
He also wants to play with legos all the time. Bins full of legos as @PuppetMcSockerson said, and he also likes Ninjago lego kits that make specific dragons and machines.
posted by hush at 12:05 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Also, just wanted to say that dude, I get it. I so get it. I get what you mean about not really grasping how huge and amazing and surprising the world could be, both my immediate world as well as the world as a whole. It drives me fairly bonkers that so much of things geared towards kids nowadays is very "You do have to do it this way". Like the LEGO kits. WTF. We never had KITS growing up. We had a huge tupperware bin full of random LEGO pieces and we made our own thing. I think there is also a lot of "The world is a scary place out to get you" messages being thrown at kids these days, much more so than when I was young, and because of that I think a lot of kids are growing up not wanting to know more about other places in the world because, obviously, those places are dangerous and will kill them. Every plant, person, animal, game, situation, etc. is out to get them if they believe all the media and what so many of the grownups are telling them.
So kudos to you to try to expose this kid to the awesomeness of the world around them.
On preview, hush has a great point about cooking. My six year old LOVES cooking with me. He has his own apron that he wears when we cook. We do everything together, and while we're doing it I ask him questions, what he think each ingredient does, let him smell and taste everything (even stuff that I know will taste gross like baker's chocolate), talk about how the different ingredients interract, what does he think would happen if we added more milk/eggs/butter/sugar/cooked it longer/cooked it less time/kept mixing it/etc. Again, it is just learning to THINK, which is key to all this. I also hear him drawing comparisons to other things to our cooking, like when he was making a sand castle. The water in our cakebatter helped everything stick together, same way the water keeps the sand sticking together. So then we look for other things that we can make stick together with water... etc. So make things relateable.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 12:06 PM on October 30, 2013
So kudos to you to try to expose this kid to the awesomeness of the world around them.
On preview, hush has a great point about cooking. My six year old LOVES cooking with me. He has his own apron that he wears when we cook. We do everything together, and while we're doing it I ask him questions, what he think each ingredient does, let him smell and taste everything (even stuff that I know will taste gross like baker's chocolate), talk about how the different ingredients interract, what does he think would happen if we added more milk/eggs/butter/sugar/cooked it longer/cooked it less time/kept mixing it/etc. Again, it is just learning to THINK, which is key to all this. I also hear him drawing comparisons to other things to our cooking, like when he was making a sand castle. The water in our cakebatter helped everything stick together, same way the water keeps the sand sticking together. So then we look for other things that we can make stick together with water... etc. So make things relateable.
posted by PuppetMcSockerson at 12:06 PM on October 30, 2013
Best answer: Kids that age are still pretty concrete and physical in their learning, so (paradoxically) your best gateway to getting them to appreciate the wonder of the wide world might be helping them to see the wonder that's right in the immediate vicinity. If you spend regular time with them, make a point of exploring a new place in your city every time. Or go on nature walks/exploration sessions, as gray17 suggests. Kitchen experiments. Baking. Buy a cheap microscope/magnifier and look at household objects. Visit a local ethnic market and sample different foods. Write a storybook together and make collage illustrations. Etc.
I think it's easy to want to give children the kinds of knowledge and learning that we ourselves would desire (big-picture, relatively abstract, media-centered stuff), but with young kids there's something to be said for the kind of deep knowledge that comes with leisurely, unhurried exploration and concrete experience, vs. purely theoretical book-larnin' in the absence of any wider frame of reference.
posted by Bardolph at 12:06 PM on October 30, 2013
I think it's easy to want to give children the kinds of knowledge and learning that we ourselves would desire (big-picture, relatively abstract, media-centered stuff), but with young kids there's something to be said for the kind of deep knowledge that comes with leisurely, unhurried exploration and concrete experience, vs. purely theoretical book-larnin' in the absence of any wider frame of reference.
posted by Bardolph at 12:06 PM on October 30, 2013
Best answer: Go do amazing and interesting things, or to see other people do amazing and interesting things...and bring them with you, so they can see what's possible.
posted by davejay at 12:57 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by davejay at 12:57 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: By keeping them away from the constant media and tv screens placed everywhere. Letting him/her learn how not to be entertained all the time. Also keeping all that extra stuff away that you mention is the best way to inspire imagination.
posted by Blitz at 1:05 PM on October 30, 2013
posted by Blitz at 1:05 PM on October 30, 2013
Best answer: Your time is enormously valuable. I have a 6yo. We have received some cool gifts that were meant to inspire an interest in XYZ. It's not that easy when the parent does not already have XYZ as a hobby -- if the whatnot does not come backed up with in-person instruction, it's not that easy for me to find the time to figure out how to explain it and make it appeal. Family life is tragically busy and parents are bogged down with the bread and butter of everyday life, like, um, literal bread and butter. But as a relative you are privileged; you don't need to do the grocery shopping and sandwich prep. Time is really the greatest thing you can offer here.
When I asked a question about the most inspiring and memorable non-fiction for kids several answerers booted me to the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness books. We have a huge collection now and there is no subject around that those books do not make more interesting and worthy of a bit more inquiry. But grown-up involvement is still key at six.
Stuff from abroad is easily fetishized; if you can get a whatever that is really obviously not something that came from a Western Walmart-type store, this can really pique interest in the larger world. Coins and stamps are obvious but food is more fun. We have a friend in Colombia who sent us a book about Biblioburro, and who has given us some excellent cooking advice for dishes we have never seen prepared in Canada, and it's really nice to have "Colombia" not be an abstraction on the globe but an actual place we have things from. It does not take much at all for that sort of cultural exchange at six -- just a trip to an Ethiopian restaurant where you eat with your hands is a thrill and a window on another world.
We go to a lot of plays and concerts and I bumped the budget for that up a bit this year when I was specifically asked for more theatre opportunities -- right now, tomorrow's the opera, next week the orchestra, next month the ballet, and the only person who is overwhelmed and thinking it is too much is me, but I think that is definitely a 'your 6yo may vary' thing; some are less than thrilled at the prospect of sitting quietly for an hour-plus. But it is not always out of the question to take a 6yo to live theatre whatnot. If you are in or near a large enough city there are probably child-oriented arts things going on; check local arts-oriented newspapers and whatever "Yourtown PARENTS!" throwaway newspaper designed to sell ads for private schools and birthday party venues; they'll have listings/ads. The stuff we go to that isn't kiddie-targeted is sometimes more exciting because the requirements to dress up, be on your best behaviour, etc, generate a different experience than sitting on the floor in the special kiddie district in the front rows and singing along does.
"Share YOUR interests with the child" is excellent advice. If you haven't gone to the theatre in a decade but are season ticket holders for the local hockey team -- ignore the previous paragraph and take this kid to watch hockey with you.
posted by kmennie at 1:20 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
When I asked a question about the most inspiring and memorable non-fiction for kids several answerers booted me to the Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness books. We have a huge collection now and there is no subject around that those books do not make more interesting and worthy of a bit more inquiry. But grown-up involvement is still key at six.
Stuff from abroad is easily fetishized; if you can get a whatever that is really obviously not something that came from a Western Walmart-type store, this can really pique interest in the larger world. Coins and stamps are obvious but food is more fun. We have a friend in Colombia who sent us a book about Biblioburro, and who has given us some excellent cooking advice for dishes we have never seen prepared in Canada, and it's really nice to have "Colombia" not be an abstraction on the globe but an actual place we have things from. It does not take much at all for that sort of cultural exchange at six -- just a trip to an Ethiopian restaurant where you eat with your hands is a thrill and a window on another world.
We go to a lot of plays and concerts and I bumped the budget for that up a bit this year when I was specifically asked for more theatre opportunities -- right now, tomorrow's the opera, next week the orchestra, next month the ballet, and the only person who is overwhelmed and thinking it is too much is me, but I think that is definitely a 'your 6yo may vary' thing; some are less than thrilled at the prospect of sitting quietly for an hour-plus. But it is not always out of the question to take a 6yo to live theatre whatnot. If you are in or near a large enough city there are probably child-oriented arts things going on; check local arts-oriented newspapers and whatever "Yourtown PARENTS!" throwaway newspaper designed to sell ads for private schools and birthday party venues; they'll have listings/ads. The stuff we go to that isn't kiddie-targeted is sometimes more exciting because the requirements to dress up, be on your best behaviour, etc, generate a different experience than sitting on the floor in the special kiddie district in the front rows and singing along does.
"Share YOUR interests with the child" is excellent advice. If you haven't gone to the theatre in a decade but are season ticket holders for the local hockey team -- ignore the previous paragraph and take this kid to watch hockey with you.
posted by kmennie at 1:20 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Best answer: If you're looking for not-too-expensive gifts, a couple of items that really worked for me were:
(a) a nice (tiny) microscope kit - not serious kit but better than a toy. Using it to stare at skin cells and leaves scraped just so and feather spines was pretty amazing.
(b) a small telescope or good pair of binoculars, and a good beginner's introduction to the night sky. These days the lack of dark skies and the availability of mobile computing and apps like Celestia have cut into actual stargazing, but for evoking a real sense of wonder, it's hard to beat.
(Ok, I'm totally biased.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:45 PM on October 30, 2013
(a) a nice (tiny) microscope kit - not serious kit but better than a toy. Using it to stare at skin cells and leaves scraped just so and feather spines was pretty amazing.
(b) a small telescope or good pair of binoculars, and a good beginner's introduction to the night sky. These days the lack of dark skies and the availability of mobile computing and apps like Celestia have cut into actual stargazing, but for evoking a real sense of wonder, it's hard to beat.
(Ok, I'm totally biased.)
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:45 PM on October 30, 2013
Best answer: When I was 7, my mom called the local university's entomology and veterinary pathology departments to ask if any of the professors would be willing to give me a tour because I was into bugs, animals, and science. Two of them did, and I had a BLAST. The head of the entomology department let a giant millipede crawl up my arm and gave me a tank full of Madagascar hissing cockroaches to take home. The pathologist showed me cats preserved in formaldehyde and helped me take apart a sheep's eyeball. It was basically the coolest.
posted by easy, lucky, free at 8:18 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by easy, lucky, free at 8:18 PM on October 30, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks everyone for some great answers, really got me thinking and helped. Going to wrap this up.
posted by 0 answers at 9:24 AM on October 31, 2013
posted by 0 answers at 9:24 AM on October 31, 2013
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by gray17 at 11:44 AM on October 30, 2013 [2 favorites]