Early Futures
Narrative Collection
Project Description: A continually growing body of narratives, poems and interviews by young children (ages 4-10) detailing conceptual development and inner psychology.
Focus Areas: Futures, Life Cycles (birth, growth, death), Lifestyles, Spirituality, Alternatives, Universe, Ecology, Peace & War, Love & Hate, People, Animals and Dreams.
Books on Children’s Narratives
Not sure how much one can learn from children? Consider reading a few of these works documenting children’s stories of their experience. The books are a diverse mixture filled with inspiring, surprising accounts of a range of children’s experiences, inner, outer and otherwise.
The Spiritual Life of Children
Robert Coles
Robert Coles is a solid, long-standing figure [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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.
Life, Death and Reincarnation Essay
Warner’s Life, Death and Reincarnation Essay
Ok so first is the birth of the body (the spirit is already born)
Then you are a baby
Next, you are a kid and your right mind comes to you
Then you are a pre-teen and you become social
Then you are a teen and become super social
Next, you are a grown-up and [...]
Narratives with choices
Storytelling is the play and art of children. Children use playful stories and daily narratives to provide insight into their life, psyche, trauma, hopes, fears as well as possibilities. Within that, we have an obligation to help them create narratives that include choices and options, to share with us their ideas! The concept of narratives [...]
What We Know About Being Here
We’ve finally put together a full version of the stories told and illustrated by a class of 4-and 5-year-olds at Bolton Hill Nursery School. Early Futures has promoted those stories in earlier posts, but now we present them for the first time all together as a single .pdf.
What We Know About Being Here
Stories [...]
More Philosophies from Children
The Earth Needs People
By Riva, age 5
I don’t believe that people can make their dreams come true.
We’re not fairies. The fairies can, but not us.
We have to die and turn into a fairy to get our dreams to come true. The point of being alive is to be shot and killed. That’s the way you [...]
Year Million Collaborations
Today’s question posed to my small friends was, “What do you think humans will be/look like in the future, really really really far away from now?” The first four drawings and responses were wonderfully reminiscent of the book Year Million: Science at the Far Edge of Knowledge. In Year Million, a range of possible futures [...]
You Can Talk in the Universe / By Allie
You Can Talk in the Universe / By Allie, age 4 (her twin brother is Nick who wrote “The Universe is Flat”)
“I talk without using my mouth.
I just say it and Nickie, my brother understands me. I send a word when I hum, Nick hears it. It’s a hum in my mind. It sounds like [...]
The Real Future / By Abigail
The Real Future / By Abigail, age 4
“I know something that is going to happen in the future.
It is the Sun gobbling up the Earth.
The only number I can remember about it is that it’s 1000 million months in the future. Maybe I know this because it happened to some other planet and a person [...]
Philosophies of Children
In the past few weeks I’ve been focusing on obtaining orally told stories/philosophies from the children on their ideas of the world, not just specifically on “futures”, but on everything. Their voices are quite profound, as are their drawings from their ideas. Since there are more then one this time, they are being posted all [...]
The Love of Hearts When the Dinosaurs Were Made / By Sylvie
The Love of Hearts When the Dinosaurs Were Made
By Sylvie, age 4
“When there was love here we were happy.
It was the time of the dinosaurs where there was love. The love looked like the future. The love got swallowed by a huge dinosaur, he went off and carried the love to Africa and Africa [...]
The World’s Story / By Alexandra
The World’s Story / By Alexandra, age 4
“The universe is made of tiny round cells and the magic is how our cells join together. There is nothing in the space between the cells. Then they bump together and get stuck together and it continues until
they are tiny animals like jellyfish and plants.
The first people on [...]
I. The Earth is Bright II.Then the Earth Died / By Edward
I. The Earth is Bright / By Edward, age 5
“The smashers of darkness came. The power of darkness tore the people into 7 stone. They were tiny pieces and they broke their brains. More agents came and dived into the brains.
Then A. got knocked.
Lucky Stocking.
The marker came and destroyed the darkness. Because YOU destroyed everything. [...]
I Forgot the Future / By Adrienne
I Forgot the Future / By Adrienne, age 4
“The future was destroyed by all the lies. The lies are straight lines. You have to make a straight line to get to the Earth. Because aliens came down they destroyed the Earth all themselves without even using the power of them. It felt like they were [...]
How Did the Future Get People / By Riva
How Did the Future Get People / By Riva, age 4
“Once upon a future the future was wiggling. The future was sad because the future didn’t have any people inside of it. It didn’t have people inside of it because the people were not grown up yet. They grew up in the nightmare time. There [...]
An Image of a Future World / Interview with Johns
Direction, Decisions and Design all by Johns, age 5 / Computer Mouse Maneuvering by Heidi, age 25
A brief description of this picture /
You are looking at a future world. The purple gradient is the plane of the world. The object on the left is a lamp attached to a rope that hangs in mid air. [...]
The Future of Space / By Fiona
The Future of Space / By Fiona, Age 5
“They built a new future because the future broke down. In January it broke down. The future broke because it was on fire. The big guy made it catch on fire. The construction people built the new future. It was one big building that people walked in. [...]
The Mouth of the Actual / By Neema
The Mouth of the Actual / By Neema, Age 5
“Once upon a time there was a princess and she lived in a magical world. This magical world was in the future. The world is flat and tired, because some war world bad guys shooted some of the Earth down.
The princess moved to a new [...]
The Land of Wonderous Future / By Sophia
The Land of Wonderous Future / By Sophia, Age 5
“One time a future exploded. After the future exploded, they built another in the future. In the past time when there was dead body of the rocky people on the shore pirates came. When the pirates came they turned to deadly skeleton. They fierced and scared [...]
The Future Eats the City World / By Grace
The Future Eats the City World
By Grace, Age 5
“The future begins; there was no people yet and then there were.
They were born before they opened up their eyes. When they opened up their eyes they saw where they were. It was dark and rainy. They said, “Are we on Earth?” The people behind the wall [...]
A Future Story / By Lia
By Lia G. Age 5.
“We should love the trees and plants. If we don’t they’ll all die. Then we would die. The animals will die too.
The book is not for me and my sister, it is for mommies and daddies. I want them to read the book so they know about the future because I’m [...]