Futurist Tool

An Early Futures affiliate project, MIXTUM, is releasing it’s first futurist tool (for children and adults alike).The open-ended tool is a circular mandala of symbols, organized in concentric rings, which allows a player to spin for a random arrangement of three symbols. The game is designed to create very surrealistic outcomes, focusing on the combining [...]

Future Sketches from a preschooler

Drawings of some things in the future according to Gregory, age four:
Reaching into Space >>

Some principles of things >>

(Will we be) Riding on Air? >>

Mandala Practices with Children

“The mandala (Sanskrit “circle”) is a basic form which can be found in nature, in the elements of matter, in the plant and animal worlds, as well as in objects and images created by man and his psyche. It portrays a system of order which superimposes itself, so to speak, on the psychic chaos in [...]

Berkeley Adventure Playground

Time to return to the always inspirational adventure playground. We already described the essence of what adventure playgrounds are in other articles, we now turn to the reality and details of a specific adventure playground: the Berkeley adventure playground. How does it work? What does it look like? How does one maintain an adventure playground?
The [...]

Presentations by Children

Finally, here are the highlight clips from children who were giving guided reviews of their work to their peers in the Children’s Think Tank. The videos show the range and diverse set of topics and insight, as well as presentation styles, of the children who were involved.
First is two short clips from five-year-old Abigail. She [...]

Overimitation in Learning

Alison Gopnik’s research lab at UC Berkeley recently posted a new article describing their research on how young children respond to direct instruction vs. naive demonstration.
You can read the .pdf of the article “Children’s Imitation of Causal Action Sequences” by Buchsbaum, Gopnik, Griffiths & Shafto or the summarized article in Slate: “Why Preschools Shouldn’t [...]

Tarot Stories

One of the more fascinating tasks of being with children is learning how to obtain (let alone understand) the narratives and inner stories from young children who can find it difficult to express their complex feelings in simple language. Symbols and myths have long been a part of teaching and encouraging expression with young children, from retelling ancient fairy tales to labeling all things in a childhood classroom with words and pictures. Children learn (and are educated) through symbols.

You Think Just Because You’re Big You’re Right

By Albert Cullum.
You may know of Albert Cullum from his more popular book, “The Geranium On The Windowsill Just Died But Teacher You Went Right On” a book of poems ironically reflecting on teaching and education from a child’s perspective.
His later book, “You Think Just Because You’re Big You’re Right,” is a darker, more [...]