Mixing it Up

First of all, when you look at the photos, notice how fall colors make every single photo gorgeous. Everywhere I look, there are colors so beautiful I have to pause and take it in. I found myself wondering if the critters moving around busily as winter approaches also note the fall colors with wonderment. Do they pause and take it in as well? What do you think?

This week Forest School held some burgeoning magic on Monday with the mixed-age crew (the homeschool class along with the preschoolers). Our programs overlap for about 90 minutes each week. During play, some of the littles are drawn to the older children, and the leadership displayed in most of these moments makes our educator hearts happy. Biggers teaching littles to find y-sticks in order to build a strong tiny home, littles asking "will you play with me?" and the response being "sure, what do you want to play?". A lot of adolescents and teens don't get much experience with preschool-aged children, and forget how to connect and play with that age group. But the benefits to getting practice with being in mixed-age groups are immense.

This well-written article has loads of good info on this topic, but here's a quick excerpt from it:

"Research across different cultures shows that older children who have more contact with younger children tend to be kinder. And they are not just kinder to younger children but kinder to others overall.

When children play together in mixed age groups, they are constantly adjusting their behavior to meet the needs of the various ages in the group.

When this happens children change how they speak, how they act, and what they expect from others.

Little ones who would often have a hard time regulating their emotions might see the older kids dealing with similar disappointments and mimic how they are handling the situation.

Older kids, who might normally exhibit behaviors inappropriate for younger kids, will step up because they understand the importance of being a role model."

We the teachers weren’t sure how it would go, but for now we’ll keep holding the space for littles and biggers to play together, if they choose to.