“The best education does not happen at a desk, but rather engaged in everyday living – hands on, exploring, in active relationship with life.”
Vince Gowmon
In the afternoon, three children gather around, using pebbles and placing them into a crack in a tree trunk. I quietly sat beside them to observe with my curiosity. After a while, I asked what they were doing.
Me: What are you doing?
Gordon: We are fixing the hole. (He said this with a firm tone.)
Me: Oh! Let me help you!
As we worked together, I noticed how hard they tried to prevent the pebbles from slipping out of the cracks. They carefully filled the gap and used their small hand to prevent it from falling, but the pebbles just kept dropping out. Despite their efforts, the crack could not be filled, and after a few minutes, Jenny realized this and stopped her movement. Gordon also seemed to notice this, but instead of becoming discouraged, he quickly picked up a nearby cup and said with excitement, “It’s a candy machine now!”
The mood shifted instantly. What began as a problem to solve became an imaginative game. The children transformed the crack into a “candy machine,” happily finding bowls and containers to catch the falling pebbles, which they now called “candies.”
Gordon: Candy machine~ (He filled his cup with the falling pebbles.)
Jenny: Here’s your ice cream! (She passed a cup to me with a smile.)
Penny: Do you want some lollipops?
Me: Sure!
Gordon: Two dollars!
Reflect
They quickly adapted to the situation, turning what might have been a frustrating problem into an opportunity for creativity and play. Instead of being frustrated by being unable to fix the crack, they adopted the change and redirected their goal, creating another possibility in the process and collaboration together.
Reflecting on this incident, I realized that in the children’s world, challenges are not viewed as impossible problems but as opportunities for discovery and play. This perspective also aligns with Lenz Taguchi’s (2014) concept of”becomings-with,” which suggests that children and materials co-constitute each other in a relational and interactive process. The pebbles, the crack, and the children’s imaginations acted as vendors, enabling new possibilities for them (Taguchi, 2014).
The children’s quick shift from problem-solving to imaginative play highlights their natural ability to adapt and redefine their environment. As Taguchi(2014) emphasizes, traditional pedagogies often center on human agency and fixed outcomes, overlooking the two-way interaction between children and materials. However, when materials are “granted agency,” they become active participants in the learning process, fostering children’s creativity and ability to engage.
This moment also reminded me that, from the children’s perspective, what adults assume is a “problem” may not be a problem at all. For them, challenges sometimes are simply invitations to explore new possibilities. They demonstrate an incredible capacity to adapt and redefine situations, showing resilience and flexibility in their thinking. This adaptability also relates to the BC ELF, which emphasizes that learning is non-linear. It involves inquiry and experimentation instead of seeking “already known outcomes”(Atkinson, 2019). The children’s quick shift from “fixing” to imagining a candy machine perfectly embodies this idea, showing that they approach the world with curiosity and openness.
References
- Pacini-Ketchabaw, V. (2014). Postcolonial and anti-racist approaches to understanding play. In SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781473907850.n8
- Atkinson, K. (2019). British Columbia Early Learning Framework.