Inner Discovery for Kids

Two weeks ago we did a project that I learned about from The Expressive Arts Activity Book by Suzanne Darley and Wende Heath called "Worry Dolls" where you write down a worry on a strip of paper and wrap it around a twig or popsicle stick before covering with fabric and making it into a doll. I modified it somewhat by calling them "Helpers" who could be dolls or action figures. Instead of writing down only worries, I encouraged the students to write down anything that gets in the way of their well being - it could be a fear, a worry, an anger or upset  or difficult situation.  They really got into writing them down, knowing that they would be hidden away from view.  We talked about how the helpers were designed to hold the feelings or upsets so that they didn't have to carry them around.  Some of them gave their figures names and a character for fun - from superheroes to queens.  A few of the girls even added handbags so they could carry even more!   The figures reflected the unique creativity of each child. The meditation further explored the idea of having a place to put upsetting thoughts and feelings - a worry tree that stands outside a secret garden where you can attach any upsetting feelings and it will hold them for you while you are in the garden.

This week we talked about the idea of prayer and using words to calm your mind.  The children enjoyed talking about what prayer is and what or who was being addressed in a prayer.  We talked about how different traditions use beads to say prayers or mantras that help clear the mind and quiet busy thoughts.  They each created a personal prayer grounded in their own sense of life.  Then we made prayer beads and again, there was such variety in what they created.  One boy made a long and colorful string of beads, another girl made a very small strand out of natural objects like seashells and tiny pinecones, still another made a sparkly, dazzling strand of many different beads and a few made anklets and bracelets.  All of them beautiful!

           

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Helper_dolls_and_prayer_beads.zip (2656 KB)

We're into our fifth week of the winter class series at River and it is going very well. We are focusing on methods for quieting the mind for this Inner Discovery class, but as always, there are lots of fun creative projects as well. We started off by learning to think of ourselves as explorers of undiscovered territory, only instead of journeying on foot or by ship or spacecraft, we are using our inner vision. The students made their own inner vision telescopes and followed a meditation into new and amazing places. For our second class we talked about needing a quiet space to begin exploring and the guided meditation led them to a sanctuary of their own imagining. We used clay, sticks, fabric, feathers and leaves to recreate the sanctuaries we envisioned during the meditation. Our third class was all about words, phrases and poetry that brings us back to good feelings of connectedness. Each student made their own accordion book and filled it with images, phrases and words that are meaningful to them. Wonderful creativity in this class!

         

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Inner_Vision_Sanctuaries_and_P.zip (1607 KB)

Our Inner Discovery group has had a terrific semester together at  River Montessori.  Our final class was part party, part winter scene creation and a dash of guided meditation under the stars and falling snow.  It has been a pleasure to watch this group really grow to support each other and explore their creativity and imagination.  They asked me to share their beautiful winter scenes made from collected natural materials.  What a wonderful time we've had!

               

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Seasonal_fun.zip (3373 KB)

The kids represented themselves within the circle

Another camp activity I always feel privileged to witness is the making of sacred altars.  The children choose symbols and shapes that are meaningful to them and create a small altar that they can put in their bedroom or play area as a reminder of their connection to the deeper part of themselves and to the source of life. This year we made them smaller than last year in order to make them more portable in case a child is traveling to a new place where it may be nice to have a touchstone.  It's fun to lay out all kinds of natural objects, shapes, talismans, symbols and decorations and see what each child chooses and hear about why it's special to them.  They always turn out so beautiful.

       

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Sacred_Altars.zip (2026 KB)

This week at Inner Discovery Camp, I followed an exercise described by Lucia Cappachione in her book Living with Feeling where you use red clay as a medium for working with feelings.  The kids submerged their hands in warm water and then held a substantial piece of red clay in their hands and began to work it around.  They could do anything that felt right with it:  punch it, squeeze it, press it, drop it or squish it.  Then I asked them if they could close their eyes and just let their hands and fingers work it into some kind of shape without worrying what it might look like.  Let the clay become the feeling or anything else it wants to become.  I had never used this kind of clay before and I really liked the experience and I think the children did too.  It is very satisfying to work the clay - it can really handle any intensity level.  Look forward to doing this more.  Here is some of what emerged.  

     

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Red_Clay.zip (1370 KB)