Promoting Awe and

Wonder in Children
Prepared by -Dr Brenda Abbey, Childcare by Design

T
he EYLF and the NQS both emphasise the importance of the role educators play in
developing children’s spirituality, particularly the feelings of awe and wonder that
humans experience during what are often referred to as ‘nature’s magical moments.’
Anyone who spends even a short amount of So how can we resurrect our own sense of • In my neighbourhood, the parakeets
time with children would agree that they are wonder? are forever feeding on the blossoms. It’s
born with a sense of wonder and an affinity sheer sensory magic – the mass of bright
for nature. They are naturally curious and primary colours, the every-which-way
interested, with a great imagination and a 1. Revisit your own magic moments movements of the birds among the
special ability to see beauty and good all branches, the surfeit of busy sounds and
Revisit a magic moment from your childhood.
around them. Watch a baby’s face and you will the pervasive perfume of the blossoms.
Remember it as vividly as you can – what you
see this, or listen to a child’s questions:
saw, what you heard, what you felt, smelt or • Go further afield. Try whale watching.
• "Who makes the rain?" tasted. Recall your emotions and thoughts. Seeing such huge creatures breech so
high and with such power and grace is an
• “What does the man in the moon eat?"
inspiring sight that would certainly evoke
Magical moments that friends have told me awe and wonder.
about, and given permission for me to share
However, “if children are to keep this inborn • Or – go to see the turtles hatch. No words
include:
sense of wonder alive, they need the can describe how I felt when I walked
companionship of at least one adult who along the beach and happened upon
can share it, rediscovering with them the joy, several nests with tiny turtles climbing
• Pumping for yabbies with his father. He
excitement and mystery of the world we live out and then skittering to the water’s
described a sea of soldier crabs marching
in” (Rachel Carson, The Sense of Wonder). To edge.
across the sand. He was that young boy
this I add that the adult – the educator – needs
again, and his voice caught as he spoke of • Notice the little things – like dandelions
a sense of awe and wonder. After all, we can’t
his amazement at the sand just covered or lady birds. Look closer and you will see
give away what we don’t have.
with this moving mass. uniqueness.
• Picking vegetables from her
As adults are lives are busy with schedules, grandmother’s prolific garden very early
3. Become a lifelong student of nature
work and responsibilities, and the feelings in the morning. She recalled the smell
we had for the natural world can easily be of the vegetables and the newness of Another suggestion to reawaken your sense
eclipsed by them. We need those feelings of the little tomatoes she ate as she stood of awe and wonder is to become a lifelong
awe and wonder back in our day if we are to in the garden. She can still feel the cool, student of nature. So easy with today’s
purposefully share them with children. By wet roots of the lettuce her grandmother technology where we can bring into our
sharing I mean model, identify, respond to, handed to her; and see the brightly lives through the internet many sights not
preserve, nourish, enrich and sustain moments coloured stems of the bushes and otherwise available to us.
of magic. bushes of rhubarb. She has never liked
eating rhubarb but said her heart jumps
whenever she sees rhubarb in the shops. • A photograph of a double rainbow, or a
majestic iceberg.
• Seeing an osprey’s nest, then watching
the mother return to peeping babies. • video of an amazing waterfall with its
A
sounds and colour.
• A photograph of a double rainbow, or a
2. Spend time in nature
majestic iceberg.
The magic moment we revisited simply
• video of an amazing waterfall with its
A
happened upon us, and we can certainly
sounds and colour.
invoke these memories when fostering awe
and wonder in children. However, we need • nimals who sometimes have attributes
A
something more. We need to spend time in that transcend belief and give them
nature so that we have recent magic moments persona (e.g. father penguins, with their
to enrich our responses to children. young, taking turns to absorb the cold at
the perimeter of the group, and mother
• Perhaps you live near a beach or some
penguins recognising their babies in the
bushland. Take regular walks there and
crowd after months away). Now that is
you will find you will be constantly
awe-inspiring.
amazed.

14
4. Idle time and watch the world go by looking and I sensed each had times of ‘being tag and release. The educator involved the
in the moment’ – of totally involved. children and their parents in recording: the day
Another way to reawaken our sense of awe
and date; temperature; wind conditions; sex of
and wonder is to be still every now and then – More than a year later, Julianne, the older child,
butterfly; and, the precise time it was released.
to "do nothing" – just watch the world go by. still had the loveheart and the special shell
The children listened intently to her every
on her dressing table. Her little face became
Stress, distractions, and the fast pace of life word and followed her every movement. One
very intent when she said – “Remember, Mami,
have cluttered our minds. Time away from all little boy (four years) told me that this butterfly
when I found this” and then moved close and
of this helps us allay the chaos of today and would fly the distance it takes a big jet plane
whispered “it’s very, very special, you know.”
allows us to wonder at our world. five-and-a-half hours to travel.
Putting it together to facilitate awe and
• Lie under a tree, and just be – aerobics for
wonder in children
the soul.
3. Encourage children to share
1. Responding to children
Listen to a relaxation tape. 5. Create
Ask the children to tell you about the
Creativity is therapy. Communicating through awesome things they see, hear, feel, smell and
art is known as ‘the language of the soul.’ You When we recall our childhood magic touch away from the service. It could be the
might like to: moments and purposefully reawaken our sounds of the beach, the taste of watermelon,
own sense of awe and wonder, we know that or the silkiness of a kitten. They may bring in
magic moments can happen at any time. As a shell or an interesting leaf. Delight in their
• Paint, write, act, dance, play music … or educators, we anticipate these moments in our contributions.
learn pottery or some other craft. work with children. We mentally rehearse our
possible response because it has the potential
• Garden, cook, or beautify your house –
to either deepen the magic for a child with, Conclusion
everyday creative arts that bring the same
say, a dragonfly or a frog, or whisk the magic
result – if your mindset is right. Simply put, as educators, we need to recapture
away. We know that children, just as we did
our innate sense of awe and wonder at what
and should again:
is around us so that we can transfer this gift to
6. Spend time with children • Find wonder in anything and everything. children. After all, “Life is not measured by the
number of breaths we take, but the moments
It may seem strange to suggest to educators • Share their feelings readily and candidly.
that take our breath away” (Anonymous).
who work all day with children that they
• Can be totally involved in the current
should spend time with children. However,
moment (not planning ahead or thinking
if we really think about it, the time we spend
about the past). Brenda Abbey is a Childcare consultant.
with children has many parameters – the
She is the author of Managing compliance
Childcare setting which may or may not • Do not need, and often do not want, lots
in Childcare services: The essential guide
have many natural elements, the number of of information and explanations before
for Queensland practitioners. Brenda has
children, our ever-present sense of vigilance accepting anything new.
also co-produced the DVDs EYLF: Putting it
that comes with the requirement to supervise
• Can spontaneously create something into practice and EYLF: Programming and
and react – are just a few.
extraordinary out of the ordinary (e.g. a documentation made easy, and in addition
Spending time with children in twig can become anything). Terminology Poster Packs for MTOP and the
nature away from the centre EYLF. All products are available on her website
• Can imagine they are someone else,
gives us unfettered www.childcarebydesign.com.au
somewhere else at any time and in any
and unqualified time.
place.
The best way to explain this is that,
2. Share your delights in nature with children
as a grandparent, I allow
authentically
myself to ‘just be’ when I am
with my grandchildren. While in Montreal, I visited a Family Day Care
service. The educator had been very interested
One day I was on the beach with them.
in monarch butterflies for a number of years.
Initially they ran around excitedly. Practically
everything they found was new and exciting She evoked the children’s interest through
– a fairy petal, a polished stone shaped like a hatching a monarch butterfly. When the
loveheart, or a special colour. After a while, the butterfly emerged on a Saturday, she rang
tempo changed, they were drawn into intense each family and invited them to be part of its

CHILDCARE QUEENSLAND NEWS - Summer 2012 15