Like A Bos

Make An Impression (Like A Bos)

Children are learning machines. They absorb every experience like sponges, except they never reach a saturation point. Every single thing that they see & hear makes an impression on them. If you want that impression to last, however, children need to be more than passive observers. If every single thing that they see & hear makes an impression, can you imagine how many impressions that is in a single day? It adds up fast. Children benefit from having as many different hands-on activities as they can get to help them engage with & process everything. In fact, everyone does. Even you!

If it hasn’t been in the hand… it can’t be in the brain. -Bev Bos

Inspire Others (Like A Bos)

In my experience, you are either inspired by Bev Bos or you’ve never heard of Bev Bos. She was a teacher – ostensibly for preschoolers, but really for everyone – as well as a program director at Roseville Community Preschool. The way she talked about her students showed her deep respect for them & her dedication to them. Bos also taught thousands of seminars for teachers & wrote many books on the subject, some of which I have listed below. Although she passed away in 2016, her work lives on in countless schools around the world.

...always trust yourself & also trust children, they know what they need to do. -Bev Bos

Keep It Basic (Like A Bos)

Bos identified three basics for human beings: Wonder, Discovery, & Experience. Keeping Wonder alive, especially as you get older, can be quite hard. Paying attention & staying curious about the things you experience is as exhausting as it is encouraging. Once you are curious, you can move rather easily to the second basic: Discovery. Having an environment where you feel secure enough to explore & discover new things is liberating, no matter your age or understanding. A lot of time adults shy away from the idea of ‘play’, but everyone needs play. Playing with music or art or cooking (etc) gives you open-ended Experiences that allow you to learn more about yourself & how you think, feel, & operate as a person.

Bos often followed talking about the three basics with adding one more – Reflection. Taking the time to reflect on your Wonder, Discovery, & Experience allows you to process what you’ve learned about yourself & what you’ve been creating on a deeper level.

Keep It Open (Like A Bos)

Art activities are some of my favorite ones to plan for preschoolers, as well as myself & other adults. A blank piece of paper is a truly open-ended opportunity. Will you paint it? Fold it? Crumple it? Tear it into little pieces? Don’t get me wrong, I like a good session with some building blocks, but it’s art that keeps me coming back again & again because the options are practically infinite.

Make Some Art (Like A Bos)

Simple art exercises can be liberating, relaxing, & eye opening. You don’t need fancy art supplies, though they certainly can be fun. Find something to write with & some scrap paper & let yourself go! You may draw a pattern, or a doodle, or write a poem. You may forgo the writing tool altogether & fold some origami, you may forget about the paper & create something on your computer… There are so many options, there is a type (or many, many types) of art out there just waiting for your discovery!

Experience is not the best teacher, it is the only teacher. -Bev Bos

Read A Book (By Bev Bos)

What type of art project or genre inspires you to Wonder, Discover, & Experience more? I’d love to hear about it on Ko-Fi or mastodon.art

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