Time is an essential ingredient in enabling young children, including babies, to investigate new materials at their own pace. Open-ended materials such as sand, water, clay and blocks have particular value because they offer many possible ways for children to explore. Continuous provision can encourage extended periods of time with blocks, for example, where children’s imaginative play can flourish. A jigsaw puzzle, on the other hand, is only intended to be assembled in one way. Slow practices with materials, however, can lead to many different solutions and surprising discoveries for both children and adults. Froebel (1782-1852) included working with malleable materials such as sand and clay, sewing and block play as ‘occupations’ in the first kindergartens, and these continue to enrich early years practice today.
Playing with such materials can enable children to experience what Harriet Cuffaro refers to as ‘stretched time’ – being immersed in the moment and not being hurried along to the next ‘thing’.
Allowing children to experience periods of ‘stretched time’ values the opportunities children and adults create to ‘dive deep’ together. Slow practices with materials can happen indoors, outdoors or in the wider local community. Enabling children to have easy access to materials is important, as is combining materials in different ways.
WHAT TYPE OF MATERIAL?
Materials can ‘hold time’ in different ways. Clay forms in the ground slowly over time from rocks which are in contact with water, air, or steam. Children can discover it has many properties, including being able to be manipulated when soft and can harden when fired.
Wood presents many opportunities for thinking about time, including counting the age of a fallen tree from the rings on its trunk. Woodwork requires patience. The rewards can be great when children gradually see more of their complex ideas come to life.
Sewing can begin with the youngest children having access to a rich assortment of textiles and ribbons to explore, with guidance. This can be the beginning of manipulating materials to tell their own stories (see Case study).
WHO WITH?
Taking time to explore materials is linked to having the support of adults, including practitioners and parents who are comfortable themselves with engaging with the medium. It may be that a member of staff has a particular gift for sewing or woodwork, or there is a parent (not necessarily the most vocal parent) or grandparent who has skills to share.
Visiting a local artist studio or museum maker space, or inviting artists to visit a setting, can show children what it is possible to create.
What is slow pedagogy?
Slow pedagogy is an unhurried approach that aims to be more conscious of the relationship with time and its impact on both young children and practitioners. It is about valuing the present moment and being attentive to children’s pace, rhythm and interests. A slow pedagogy enables children to revisit theirideas and creations, places and stories and creates opportunities for children to go deeper in their learning. Support is given for time for observation, listening, reflection and documentation.
Case study: sewing together
Linda Love, senior early years officer in Falkirk: ‘We established a dedicated sewing area in the centre. A booklet was created to support staff with understanding the stages of sewing and the importance of allowing children time and opportunities to develop their sewing skills at their own pace. For some staff it is an opportunity to bring something they love doing into the setting, whereas for others it’s about building up new skills and the confidence to work with young children in this way. “Stay and sew” sessions have also been introduced to invite parents to join in sewing with their children.
‘One parent said “L” was very keen to share his skills with his family and mum was invited along to spend time in the setting. She was very interested to learn about the slow approach to sewing.L decided he wanted to make a star decoration and was so pleased with what he achieved.
‘We as a team feel it is important for the children to be accessing the sewing not only indoors but outside as well. We provided a variety of natural resources along with strings, sticks, paper plates and pasta. Some of the children spent long periods of time weaving, and others created necklaces and bracelets using the pasta. After introducing the sewing outdoors, the children collected leaves and petals and sewed them together.’
Many thanks to Linda Love at Inchlair ELC Centre, Falkirk and Donna Green at Falkirk Council, and to educators in Orkney and Shetland, for conversations about slow practices.