Plant the seed, and get creative!
- Nov 11, 2016
- 3 min read
I love kids! I love watching them grow and helping them learn. I love being a part of their lives as they work hard and eventually master whatever they put their hearts into. I've been teaching children for a long time. I've seen a lot of teaching methods: many that I like, and many that I try to improve upon. I started the preschool to eventually help me be able to open up an indoor playhouse for children. Children are my life, and I want to be able to help them learn, grow, and have fun in the best way possible.
Aunt Niki's Preschool is the first time I've done a preschool business on my own, but I've had about 12 years experience with teaching young children. I'm also the mother of a wonderful, smart, and very precocious 2 year old girl named Zipporah. She was getting to the point that she wanted more organized learning and more social time than I was providing, so I organized the preschool. She loves it, and it has been wonderful for me to be a part of her educational life. I love helping her and her friends learn in the ways that are best for them. That is part of why I chose to make up my own curriculum rather than buy one or find one online. It's a bit more work, but it allows me to specifically tailor and create activities to help the children learn better. Part of why I wanted to start this blog was so I could help others realize that this sort of thing is not as hard or impossible as it may seem. It also doesn't have to cost a ton of money or require fancy software. Most of my games, activities, and toys I make with craft felt, craft foam, a little glue and Microsoft Word. I want people to realize that anyone can do this!
I've had a few people ask me where my ideas and games come from. Well, I could pompously say, "They just come to me," as though I'm somehow entitled to higher inspiration than common folk, but that wouldn't be true. I truly believe that any good idea grows from a basic elemental seed that we plant in our minds and lives and then cultivate and work through. Creative ideas don't just happen; they sprout from seeds we have planted in our minds, whether intentionally or not. Growing up, I never though of myself as creative. I definitely never though of myself as an artist. After I received my first handwriting grade in 3rd grade (a "C") I always seemed to think, "I can't even draw letters, so there is absolutely no way I could draw anything else." So I never even touched anything that had an artsy feel, and hid behind the excuse of "I'm just bad at it." Well, I'm happy to report that I have pretty much overcome that feeling now, and I truly believe that everyone can be creative. It's just like anything else in life; it takes practice.
Basically what I want to do in this blog is to share some of the creative "seeds" I have and the journeys I've gone through to develop them. I want to share some of the tricks and methods I've developed to help these seeds grow into more effective ideas. I hope that you will take these ideas and cultivate them in your own way. Tweak them. Work with them. Personalize them to you and the children you teach (whether they are your own or others') so that they can learn in a way that is specifically designed for them. Whether you are a preschool teacher, a daycare provider, or a mother to these precious little ones, I hope these ideas will be of some use to you. I hope you will realize how creative you really are.
My preschool is set up with quite a few different sections, and I will post each idea under the section title first and then a more descriptive title afterward. I hope you will be able to find what you want easily. I'm so excited to start! I hope you will join me on this journey. So let's plant the seed and get creative!
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