Ceci n'est pas un Octopus

I don't need to rally against typical preschool crafts, many  writers and satirists and educators have taken up that cry for me. I try to take a balanced view- what are we trying to teach? And what are the children learning? A search for "octopus craft preschool" turns up many results like these:


(credit to iheartcraftythings.com)

Many are billed as "fine motor practice", "letter O recognition", and "numeracy" either on the initial webpage or in the notes of Pinterest pinners. And these are worthwhile goals! But what do the children learn about octopuses? What did they do to get roped in here? They're cute and all...
but they don't really have much in common with this fella;


I would like to present you all with a wonderful gift I received recently. A hand made octopus that exercised fine motor skills, required understanding of numeracy, and involved some processing of what exactly an octopus IS:

Okay, this doesn't look much like the real guy either. But a self-motivated child took scissors and ribbon and paper, and folded the paper to look like the head of a squid from a book she'd read. With this not-quite-octopus, I had a jumping off point to connect with the child, to assess her knowledge of sea creatures, and to find out what else she wanted to know.

Lisa Murphy says "The children are the curriculum".  A child's boundless enthusiasm for anything they find interesting is so valuable for its own sake- not to mention how important curiosity and love of learning are in this nebulous concept of *school readiness*. Don't be afraid to follow the child, even if neither of you know exactly where you'll end up!

Take a breath. Put down the pin board.


P.S. Another difference from the top octopus crafts? I didn't spend an entire night punching even holes in paper cups, or cutting circles and adding eyes. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that parents really don't want MY crafts hanging on their refrigerators.