The holidays are over, school is beginning again, and we ask the children what they enjoyed during the break. Some will have gone to visit family, some on exotic travels, some to farms, some to cities, some to the seaside. Many will have brought back treasures, many are at the age when the fascination of collecting begins.
Children have always loved to collect things: stamps, pebbles, feathers, coins, toys, autographs, etc. Some of the things they collect, such as birds' eggs or shells, are better not collected. We live in a time when the balance between nature's abundance and humanity's numbers is tipping in the favour of the latter. What in the past may have been a reasonably harmless collecting interest is today at risk of being destructive to the environment. Collecting eggs from nests is now a crime, for it has contributed to the reduction of species of birds. Collecting seashells not only can involve the killing of the animal living in the shell but has even been linked to the further damaging of coral reefs.
Yet, the desire to collect is an important stage in the development of a child's intellectual curiosity. Collecting leads to study, to classifying , to noting differences, and learning to compare. To ban collecting is not really in a child's best interests. Neither is it a good idea to replace an interest in collecting something from nature to collecting something artificial, such as plastic figurines.
How, then, to be supportive of a child's interest and desire to collect without leading to a destructive activity? Instead of encouraging the covetous and/or competitive aspects to collecting, teach children to collect impressions.
Take shells, for example:
- if the animal is living, observe it and make notes about it. Create a book that is a collection of these observations of many shells.
- photograph shells on the beach and create a collection of these photographs.
- draw the shell and frame the drawing. Fill a wall with a collection of artistic representations of the shells the child has found.
- make a sculpture resembling the shell. Display a collection of sculptures the child has made.
- make up a poem, song or story about each shell discovered.
In all cases, try to identify the shell or other object, finding its Latin name. Most importantly, by writing ordrawing or sculpting, you are staying, observing, and experiencing the moment of discovery. So often, children will run about excitedly grabbing for their collection. By teaching them to take time to preserve their impressions, you are giving them the gift of the time to experience them and of the lesson to preserve and collect them.
©2009 Anne Morddel
Seasons South and North
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