Strewing is the very fine art of placing items in seemingly random locations. It provides the opportunity for creativity by allowing a child to stumble upon materials in a natural way, thereby encouraging their exploration, without the child feeling watched, expected to perform, or otherwise pressured. On their own timetable, at their own pace, in a completely unstructured kind of way.
Summertime is a wonderfully natural time of year for parents to practice the art of strewing. With the weather, shall we say, cooperating, your creativity canvas instantly widens and everyone’s natural curiosities and unique ways of learning begin to show themselves in extraordinary ways.
High Traffic
The important thing to remember about strewing is that it is vital to place items in high traffic areas for your children to discover without you ever saying a word. This means tables near chairs they often sit in, in cracks of the couch, or even near the toilet. Outdoors in the summer that could also mean on your patio table, on porch steps they might linger on, under a shady tree, or near the front door where they might be waiting for others to get ready to go.
Interesting Items
Outdoors in the summer, there is great opportunity to place new and interesting items for kids to stumble upon. Try placing seed packets, buckets, shovels, magnifying glasses, muffin tins, binoculars, chopsticks, bird books, plastic crates, harvested corn, collapsible telescopes, nets, baskets of sticks, recycled containers, small brushes, chalk, pieces of wire, boxes, a globe, and forgotten toys that can handle outdoor use. If you have a patio table or some other workable space, try laying out art supplies, paper and staplers (always a favorite around here), a nice set of watercolor or sketching pencils, and even a few coffee table books that might spark some imagination. Place a set of binoculars next to your collection of strewn items and see what happens.
Rotation, Rotation, Rotation
There is nothing like movement to cause little eyes to take notice, become interested again, or perhaps discover it for the first time. As the summer progresses, don’t forget to rotate your strewn items around the yard or throughout the house. And with each rotation, add a few new items and take a few things away. You’ll soon find that a little bit of outdoor strewing can go a long way.
Enjoy those summertime discoveries!
10 comments:
I have lovely bits of strewing all over my yard, and if it would only stop raining, I could go out and play! This post makes me want to do that even in the rain. ;)
Discovery and surprise sound like a delightful way to expand a child's mind. I love the sound of "strewing." How could anyone not want to do it? The word in in of itself is terrific. Thank you for sharing such a wonderful way to build curiosity and creativity!
Kind of like the Montesori way of learning?
I have no children or grandchildren, but I've been known to emplooy some of these methods with my dog, Rascal, especially when I want her to follow in a certain direction. (g)
Morgan Mandel
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I have never heard of "strewing" before but it sounds wonderful! What a great way to make everyday an adventure for children. Thank you for this creative idea. I will definitely pass this on!
My kids love to learn about anything outside. We're signing them up for week long day camps this summer to learn about marine life and stuff.
This is a terrific way for children to learn. I am always amazed at the Farmers' Markets to see young children exploring and asking questions about items that are new to them. Such a great way to learn.
I have visions of my wife spreading cool electronic gadgets around our house and watching as I find all of them... Yeah, wouldn't that be a funny YouTube video?
I will consciously suspend my straightening reflex and instead surrender to strewing. I'll look forward to seeing what the pickles do. Thanks for introducing the technique and for the specific suggestions, Ginger!
Love it! We still have so much to learn with children and their own way of doing things and exploring, I remember when I was little practicing strewing, although back then there was not such a word for it, and I still do it now days...but there's another element which isn't physically "strewing" but involves instead taking the children out and about with the idea of their seeing (hearing, tasting, smelling, touching) things they might not have come upon otherwise and that you can't lay casually about the house. Sometimes it's just as simple as driving another route to the same old place, or going to a different grocery store than usual. Great way to learn!
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