Art as a path to wonder

A blog contribution from Carlene O’Brien, Christchurch:

During the conference Kindness, Strength, Love – Seeds for a Healthy Unfolding, I attended the workshop Art as a Path to Wonder, facilitated by Luciana Betti and Silvia Jensen.

What stayed with me most was a deeper experience of wonder and a renewed awareness of the role our senses play in how we meet the world. 

We explored the concept that our eyes can be a thief. Sight is often our dominant sense and can overshadow the rich information offered by our other senses. 

Through a blindfolded exercise outdoors, we were invited to experience the world differently. Guided by a partner, we explored textures, temperatures, sounds, smells, movement, and space without relying on sight. As my visual sense fell away, my awareness of everything else seemed to expand.

Removing our sense of sight also gave me a deeper appreciation for the other senses that are often so alive in childhood. As adults, we tend to rely heavily on what we can see, but young children experience the world much more broadly. Their hearing, touch, movement, balance, and awareness of their surroundings are often incredibly acute.

In my own practice, I regularly notice children hearing things long before I do — a distant dog barking, an aeroplane overhead, birds calling, or a vehicle several streets away. They are constantly receiving impressions from the world around them. The blindfold exercise helped me experience, even briefly, what it might be like to meet the world with that heightened sensory awareness.

Throughout the conference, I became increasingly aware of my own senses. The beauty of the Goetheanum, the music that greeted us each morning, singing together with educators from around the world, the scent of coffee and fresh spring air, delicious food, meaningful conversations, and the extraordinary surroundings all contributed to a feeling of openness and wonder. We were blessed with beautiful warm spring days and, for a few days, I felt almost childlike in my experience of the world.

Without our usual responsibilities and distractions, there was space to observe, listen, connect, and simply experience what was unfolding around me. Surrounded by beauty, art, music, nature, and people gathered with a shared intention to learn and grow, my senses felt awake in a way that is rare in everyday life.

This experience deepened my understanding of the importance of wonder in early childhood. Wonder is not something we teach. It is something we protect and nurture. It lives in beauty, meaningful work, relationships, nature, art, music, and in the quality of our own presence.

We also explored how wonder can be supported through the story scenes we create for children. Rather than appealing only to sight, we considered how all of the senses can be invited into the experience. Colours, textures, sounds, movement, gesture, light and shadow all contribute to the atmosphere of a story. A bell might suggest a distant sound, wooden blocks might become the clip-clop of horses' hooves, and different fabrics can evoke rough bark, soft moss, or the darkness of a cave. Height, direction, contrast, colour, and movement all help bring a story to life.

I was reminded that children experience stories with their whole being. They respond not only to the words, but to the atmosphere that surrounds them. 

As educators, we have the opportunity to create environments rich in sensory experiences that invite children to slow down, notice, imagine, and form a living relationship with the world around them.

I left with a renewed appreciation for the importance of cultivating wonder within myself. As educators, the atmosphere we create is shaped not only by what we provide for children, but by how we ourselves experience life. When we remain open, curious, attentive, and grateful, we help create an environment where wonder can continue to live and grow.

Let us create the conditions in which wonder can flourish. By slowing down, paying attention, and bringing beauty and intention to everyday moments, we create spaces where children can experience the world with curiosity, imagination, and a sense of awe.