Middle Leader News
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
Firstly, Happy Catholic Education Week! Below are some ideas about collaboration, creativity, STEM, and how I came to realise how easily the design thinking process can be incorporated into any project, even for children under 6!
How creating a fairy garden became an ‘at home’ design thinking project!
- Ideate: On a blusteringly cold morning in my sister’s backyard, my nieces and I had an idea. We wanted to create a fairy garden to encourage the magical creatures to their backyard. First, we had to collaborate and agree on an idea. This proved to be the biggest obstacle of the whole task – with the children needing to learn to compromise and work together for a common goal. After both girls pitched their suggestions and justifyied their design ideas, we agreed on a plan of attack and got to work.
- Create: Next, we cleared a corner of the backyard and thought about what materials we needed. The ideas flowed freely from the girls and pretty soon I was just there to help them expand their thoughts and sort the occasional argument! They started to think much more creatively and with each new idea, they grew more confident to share their ideas and talk about how things would work. The biggest question I found myself asking was ‘What do the Fairies need?’ – which helped the girls learn to empathize with their user. They created a water station, a slide for the fairies to enter in on, as well as houses made from firewood with leaves for the roof.
- Reflection (Polly, 4 years old): Do you think the fairies will like the garden? Yes, because of the sparkles we added and their houses. If you could change something about the garden what would you change? The plant, oh no, I’ll change the powerlines and make them more beautiful.
The following article has some more ideas to get your creativity flowing! https://medium.com/@NitashaM/how-design-thinking-can-transform-your-child-s-creativity-46700b3ee70c
I hope you can enjoy some creative time with your children over the weekend!
Warm Regards
Nicki Prentice