Wednesday, January 18, 2012

The budding architect

Every great architect is - necessarily - a great poet. He must be a great original interpreter of his time, his day, his age.
Frank Lloyd Wright

Following up on forts from yesterday, have you ever thought about the concept of architecture through a child's eyes?  The concept of designing, building, and going inside a "real" building is pretty astounding, even for adults.  So pointing out the architecture around us can be pretty impressive to the preschool set.   A few field trips to consider:

Is your neighborhood growing?  Cruising construction sites, repeatedly during the building process, teaches kids that buildings don't just grow out of the ground.  This is  a good opportunity to teach the names of different types of workers and vehicles on-site, too.  Want to be wowed? The convention center going up in downtown Nashville is downright enormous, and looks like an anthill covered with workers most of the time.

Too cold for outdoor exploration?  Take time to point out the features of the grander buildings on your daily errands.  Schools, malls, groceries, churches, and libraries tend to have interesting features.   Even Target is noteworthy for size and scale.  Estimate how many houses like yours would fit inside.

On your way somewhere, ask the kids to decide what the most interesting building is on the route, and to tell you why they think so.

And you can take it on home--build another fort if you are going for life-size, or bring it down.  Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Tinkertoys all have a place in the playroom.  Likewise, milk cartons, egg cartons, and boxes from pantry staples such as cereal, crackers, mixes and pastas can make great roadside architecture for the streets driven by Matchbox cars.

No comments:

Post a Comment

We welcome your comments!