"Wow! How did you make that whole family?" Maura asks her friend, Maya, as she joins her at the clay table. Maya giggles. "I started off with one person in a boat, but then I just kept adding to it. Sometimes the heads were too heavy and I had to make the bodies thicker, so […]

“Will you read this first?” Rowan pleads as she moves The Most Magnificent Maker's A to Z to the top of the pile of books that the children have chosen for their morning story time session. "It's my favorite." I love that book," agrees Josephine. "Her dog always helps her." “She reminds me of us,” […]

"Can I slide to the bottom of the hill instead of walking down the steps?" asks four-year-old Micah, who is bundled up in winter gear from head to toe. It’s a late Thursday afternoon, and I'm already feeling the weight of the day. My body and brain are on autopilot. There’s no good reason for […]

It's just another day in our preschool engineering center, with blocks scattered across the floor and children busy building their latest creations. I notice Ayden sitting by herself, engrossed in one of the engineering books I keep in the center to inspire our young builders. “What are you reading, Ayden?” I ask, sitting down next […]

"I think we need another cylinder on this side," Rowan says to Parker. "Can you put one on for me? I will keep it balanced."   Rowan and Parker are deeply engrossed in block play. Their investigations into balance, gravity, force, and cause and effect have led these four-year-old friends deep into the STEM zone. […]

"Get ready . . . there's a big crash coming! I know this voice. It’s coming from four-year-old James, and it's the voice of an early engineering explorer about to attempt something slightly risky and, most likely, destructive. "Come on, James, DO it!" commands Nora, giggling with excitement and anticipation.  "Ready . . .? " […]

"Look at my foil people!" six-year-old Mariah exclaims as she happily scrunches sheets of aluminum foil into a foil family with a giant dad, a mid-sized mom, and a tiny child. "That's cool! says five-year-old Ali. "How'd you do that?" "It's so easy!" Mariah declares, her eyes sparkling. "Let me show you." Children are natural-born […]

”If the squirrel comes down from the tree this way, we can trap him under here!" exclaims six-year-old Elliott. The playground equipment sits empty as Elliott, Harper, and their fellow "squirrel trappers" gather at the base of a towering oak tree in our neighborhood park.  The children have long been captivated by this venerable old […]

It all began with a concert ticket. More specifically, a ticket to a concert on the Ben Folds Paper Airplane Request Tour 2024. During these concerts, Ben Folds—an Emmy-nominated singer-songwriter-composer—encourages fans in the audience to send their song requests to the stage via paper airplanes. To ensure that the planes carrying my song requests would […]

“If you wiggle your hands like this, you can make lots and lots of bubbles!" exclaims Hudson. "Watch!” Piper and Hudson are elbow deep in a tub of water, splashing about happily as they investigate cause and effect in a moment of playful learning.  Science begins with curiosity, which leads to discovery and exploration. Learning science […]