Switching Off & Tuning In with Mia

This piece is written by our wonderful kindergarten teaching assistant, Mia.

~Switching off to tune in~ imagine a screen-free world ~ where our minds are free to wonder, dream and create ~to be truly curious in a moment. Where sandpits turn into cake-making factories, swamps, lava lands and early human villages. Where fabric becomes oceans, rivers and faraway lands and wooden toys come to life. Where chairs become boats for catching giant snappers in and spades become weed-wackers.

These are just some of the many wonderful moments I have observed during free play time with the children. Most places we turn these days we seem to be confronted and consumed by screens and images of all types, but not here at Fossil Bay. We have the luxury of being free from the distraction of the ‘screen’. We are surrounded instead by nature, soft colours and the building materials for creative and imaginative play that is completely self-directed.

Learning through their own willingness is encouraged by giving the children space ~in all senses of the word~ to create, learn and play. This, along with a screen-free environment allows the children the possibility and freedom of a ‘quality sensory experience’. One where they are free to create their own world, join another child’s or just simply daydream. This sort of self-directed free play and storytelling is important within the philosophies of Rudolf Steiner because the themes and ideas that emerge during this time are glimpses into the child's sense of ‘self and innermost being’. The fruits of this approach are revealed and transformed later in life between the ages of 20 and 30 years old; as freedom of play is connected to freedom of thought. It is a powerful tool for understanding the individual’s soul and spirit.

This freedom of thought and imagination are intertwined in children's stories and play. These stories can often involve long and ongoing narratives ~ whether this is inside using materials and toys or acted out in the playground. The storylines are often nuanced and meandering and are reflective of a certain kind of ‘noticing and processing’ that informs a pace of life and a type of social behaviour that acknowledges the complexities of the world and the learning environments of Rudolf Steiner. Free and meandering are important concepts; they mean to follow a winding course, to follow thought and sight as it unfolds in front of you. It is to walk, play and think sometimes without direction, but by feeling instead. Screen-free learning promotes the qualities of carefulness and mindfulness; it works towards recognising the importance of process and experience over purpose and resolution. It is unrushed learning and playing. These stories don't often have clear beginnings or endings, they are part of an ongoing encounter and learning experience that is open to ebbs and flow of change and development.

Fossil Bays’ screen-free approach benefits the children's attention span as well. It encourages them to slow down and spend time with the task at hand or the environment they are in, helping to foster a deeper connection to time and place. On a recent hikoi to Owhanake Bay, the children spent the whole morning looking under rocks for crabs and in rockpools for sea and plant life. They were completely absorbed and engaged with the natural environment and all the subtleties that come with spending an extended amount of time in one place; the changing tides, rocks, landformations, sky and life. This aligns with a kind of mindfulness and attention that is of great importance in the world we live in today with constant change. Going screen-free for long periods offers us the opportunity to challenge the way we engage with learning, nature and life, it is to observe, listen, act and love.