pinwheels...

Today my 7th, 8th and 9th grade students helped me with a project. We are having a Wisdom of the Hands fundraising reception during the weekend of the annual Clear Spring School board meeting. I wanted to use student-made pinwheels in place of flowers as a table decoration, and visualized the guests leaving each with a pinwheel in hand. What better way can there be to engage a child-like delight? I learned that one or two of my students had never even played with one before. Fortunately, all got into making them as you can see in the photo above. The pinwheel design is from Ednah Anne Rich's Paper Sloyd (1905), a book for lower elementary school teachers to use to prepare their students for woodworking Sloyd. CNN has an article today about our nation's failure to allow children to play outside. Nearly half of pre-schoolers not playing outside

"There's a big room for improvement in how parents prioritize their time and what they're doing in the time they're spending with their pre-school children," said lead study author Dr. Pooja Tandon of Seattle Children's Research Institute.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children play outside as much as possible, for at least 60 minutes a day. Physical activity is not only good for weight control and preventing childhood obesity; previous research also suggests playing outside improves motor development, vision and vitamin D levels.

"There is evidence that play - just sort of the act of playing - is important for children's development of their social skills and their peer interactions," Tandon said. "Being outdoors affords children an opportunity to play in ways that they may not get to when they're indoors."

Too many parents are missing the boat.

Make, fix and create...