When I Was Little, Reflections of 4 Year Olds

bookshop.org/books/the-language-of-art-inquiry-based-studio-practices-in-early-childhood-settings/9781605544571?aid=24607&listref=project-day-booksJust about every week, we invite our neighborhood friends over for some exploration on our back porch, aka our Outdoor Classroom. The two four year olds and the seven year old have a mini "school" time with journaling, read-alounds, and, best of all, art and sensory experiences. We usually spend the last half hour on a "story walk," meandering through the farm and telling stories about Elmer the Gnome and Finneas the Dragon. Many of art experiences are drawn from Ann Pelo's amazing book, The Language of Art. The sensory experiences are inspired by The Ooey Gooey Lady Lisa Murphy.

"That's what I liked to do when I was little--play in a box."

A recent birthday and growing bodies have brought up a topic near and dear to the hearts of 4 years olds. "I'm bigger than you!" one says to the other. "Nah-ah! See!" and so the comparisons begin... who is taller, older, faster, jumps higher. And so for Project Day, I asked the question, "What did you like to do when you were little?"
​I asked the children to start by drawing in their journals. Each kiddos carefully thought about this question and readily set to work.

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One said, "That's me! I'm a baby! I'm playing in a box." Another said, "My mom says that I like to listen to music when I was little, so that is music and that's me." A third worked carefully, drawing a bed, a fruit, and "the Northern Lights cuz that's what I loved when I was little." I was delighted with the thoughtfulness that the children brought to this activity. Journals are a part of every Project Day, but sometimes they are a hurried affair, with the oldest child especially, drawing some swirls and declaring themselves finished. Next we read Jamie Lee Curtis's book When I Was Little, A Four-Year Old's Memoir of Her Youth. The silly illustrations had them in stitches.

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Finally we transitioned to the BIG ART activity, tracing each others bodies on big paper ("I promise I won't tickle you!") and painting the interior. The tracings gave the children an objective view to compare each other--"Look! You are taller than him!" and "My body is so big I don't think it will fit on the wall!"
I appreciated the children's ability to reflect on their experiences, drawing comparisons between when they were younger and their present, mighty size. While seen as just little kids by many, these are truly wonderous humans!