You have probably heard people talk about how childhood has changed over the years. Many children today are spending significantly less time outdoors than previous generations. They are also spending an increasing amount of time tied to electronics and uninterrupted, unstructured free play has become a rare commodity.  Children (actually, all people) need hands-on, sensory experiences to engage with the natural world to make meaningful, long-term connections in their construction of knowledge. 

At Pinnacle, these encounters often begin with a material. 

We believe that materials offer immense potential in allowing children to experiment with their ideas, express their unique perspectives, and cultivate meaningful relationships with one another. Materials can be playful- inciting movement, singing, dancing, and laughter. They can also be calming, holding space for our sadness, worry, or fears. Materials offer meeting places for children to develop relationships with themselves, each other, and the world around them. 

Materials leave their trace on us, and children will often come home with the memory of these experiences on them, literally. Clay under their fingernails. Charcoal up their arms. Paint drops on their shirt. Soap and water or a rinse in the washer (for clothes, not kids!) will easily wash away the physical traces… but the connections they’ve cultivated within us stay. 

The joy that washes over as the first streak of color makes its way across the paper. The determination discovered when things don’t work as initially planned. The friendship strengthened when differing ideas come together. These are the moments that reveal who we are and where we are going. This is the foundation that quality early childhood education can offer. 

As a parent of a preschooler, I know the struggle of stains and clothes. In our house, we talk about the difference between “school clothes” and “special clothes” – basically, which clothes she can wear without worry at the painting easel and which ones are set aside to stay in good condition for a family photo or gathering. As an educator, I see an increasing number of children concerned about getting messy and stopping themselves from exploring a material before they have even really begun. 

“Materials live in the world in multiple ways. They can evoke memories, narrate stories, invite action, and communicate meanings. Materials and objects create meeting places. In early childhood education, we gather around these things to investigate, negotiate, converse, and share. Materials – a block of clay, pots of paint, a brush, a colorful wire, a translucent sheet of paper, a rectangle block- beckon and draw us in. Materials are not immutable, passive, or lifeless until the moment we do something with them; they participate in our early childhood projects. They live, speak, gesture, and call to us.” -Sylvia Kind