Children & Awe
At two and a half, my eldest child was obsessed with garbage trucks. She loved the sounds they made, the way they…
MorePosts tagged: Curiosity
Talking about Natural Disasters with Kids
Since Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, more than 190 people have been confirmed dead and hundreds more remain…
MoreConnecting with A River of Dust
Scientists who study the environment made an amazing discovery in the 1960s: the health of the Amazon forests depend in…
MoreExploring Cicada Symphony with Kids
Every year, cicadas awaken from a long dormant period and dig their way out of the ground. The noisy clicking of the…
MoreHow Nature Journals Increase Kids’ Well-Being
Last week, I saw a young child watching a bumble bee move from flower to flower on a large bush. “Shhh,” she told…
MorePathways to Wonder & Awe
The first time I saw flying fish, I was overcome with amazement. They looked like silvery stars twinkling in the waves…
MoreHow Uncertainty Encourages Wonder
My youngest child really disliked surprises when he was a preschooler. He wanted everything to go as expected. If he…
MoreChildren’s Resistance to Spirituality
Children, like adults, vary in their attraction to spirituality. Some revel in many different kinds of experiences,…
MoreDifferent Kinds of Curiosity
My eldest child likes to figure out how things work. When she was three, she shocked our neighbor by explaining the…
MoreThe Importance of Play
Play is a major part of childhood. Kids run around outside, hiding from one another, racing, or kicking a soccer ball.…
MoreEncouraging Creative Thinking
While hanging out with a babysitter one evening, my children decided to create their own tabletop game. They drew a…
MoreHow Curiosity Enhances Relationships
My daughter and her best friend met in 2nd grade. Their first weeks together were spent asking each other questions:…
MoreConnecting with Nature through Apple and Magnolia
One summer, my kids and I planted a small garden. While our cucumbers and zucchini did well, our tomato plants…
MoreCultivating Intellectual Humility
“Saying something doesn’t make it so.” My grandmother would issue this reminder whenever my siblings or I would…
MoreChild-Led Spiritual Learning
As a child, I often was bored in school even though I loved to learn. I would quickly tune out adult monologues and rip…
MoreA 5E Model of Spiritual Education
One of my eldest child’s favorite memories is a series of 5th grade class sessions where they explored scientific…
MoreUsing Story Circles to Build Empathy
Sorting through a box of old school papers, I found a story one of my children wrote in 2nd grade. Her teacher had…
MoreSpiritual Play with Bluey
My sisters and I often engaged in imaginative play when we were growing up. We came up with various pretend situations,…
MorePlay & Spirituality
Play is a central part of children’s lives and their spiritual journeys. When they use their bodies to explore the…
MoreGender & Toys
“He has a doll?!” my mother exclaimed, disapproval ringing in her words. She couldn’t believe I would let my…
MoreGuided Play
When it comes to educating young children, we’ve all heard that play is an important part of learning. And yet, when…
MoreInward & Outward Spirituality
With many sports, after-school activities, clubs, service projects, and in some cases, in-person school canceled,…
MoreStimulating Spiritual Curiosity
When my children were younger, they regularly asked deep spiritual questions. Preschool drop-off conversations were…
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