Reflections written by artist Cat Boot
Today Mo appeared in Star class for
a final time, and once again asked the explorers if they wanted to go on an
adventure. I reminded them that I had lost my hat, and showed them a homemade
map with clues that showed where the hat was. The map told us that the
adventure would begin by going on a bus.
During the last session there had
been a strong emphasis on the narrative of the missing hat, that had led to the
development of this session. However, in typical fashion this week the children
simply seemed pleased to see me, and though they were happy to go on an
adventure for the hat it didn’t seem to be a pressing matter for them. Two
weeks is a long time and they had moved on narratively and developmentally.
Unfortunately, due to illness and
other issues, some of the key children with whom I’d been building
relationships with were unable to attend this excursion. Nevertheless, all of
the children were excited to put on their explorer gear and set off on the
mission.
We travelled by bus to the city
centre, with the children taking up residence along the back seat.
We disembarked at the Harbourside
and followed the clues on the map to the M Shed (including seeing the ‘giant
hoovers’ - actually the cranes outside M Shed). When we arrived at M Shed the
children were keen to climb the stairs inside as far as they would take them.
It was a good reminder that when you don’t know the purpose of buildings,
things like stairs are the interesting bits; not necessarily a beautifully
curated museum exhibition. We made space for this exploration and tried to
resist our adult temptations to steer them in the direction of what we knew we
were there to ‘see’.
During our explorations of the M
Shed I planted my hat for the children to ‘discover’. I think the adult theatre
maker in me expected some sort of round of applause on the moment when the
first child spotted the hat, but of course these carefully constructed
narratives have little meaning to a three year old, and the finding of the hat
was less jubilant than I had hoped, though still a lovely moment.
Our trip concluded with lunch
outside watching the world go by, and a reverse journey back to the nursery,
where Mo said a final goodbye to the children, telling them it was time for her
to begin an adventure elsewhere.
Observations
Pointing out the houses in the
distance to the children when we were riding on the bus. They seemed to find
them very difficult to see - circles of attention - they begin with seeing
themselves, then family, gradually expanding out.
The map was tricky for them to be
able to relate the items on it to items in the real world. Understandable - the
map put everything at a similar scale, so it was difficult for the children to
know what to expect. Translation of 2D to 3D is still tricky.
Small objects in the backpack -
magnifying glass and torch seemed important to the children and they used them
throughout. Seemed to help them feel safe? There is something to put between
yourself and an immediate experience that gives you a way to frame it, distance
yourself from it.
Tangible outcomes
Matt, Acting Head at Ilminster
Avenue, is keen to create a legacy of the My Place project. This involves a
year long plan whereby all of the children are taken out of the nursery in
small groups for a walk round the neighbourhood, visiting the homes of those
who live within walking distance. He has already taken steps to change the risk
assessment to ease staffing ratios to allow this in light of the test project.
I have agreed to spend the last of the materials budget purchasing 5 more
explorer backpack kits, to help the nursery frame these outings as
‘explorations’, something Matt has found very useful throughout.
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