Pretend Play and Magical Thinking

Art word of the week: Design or Composition
"Design or composition is the overall mark of success, the standard of achievement, and the frosting on the cake." (Schirrmacher & Fox, 2009)

Here in this royal chair lies Sir Hops-a-lot. He is the kingdom's magic frog and was taken to the palace when he was only a young tadpole. You see, Sir Hops-a-lot was special, even as a young tadpole. A fortune teller had said that he would be born with a magic pearl attached to him. And the fortune teller was right. This magic pearl that he was born with was supposed to cure the kingdom of all it's illnesses, and so little Hops-a-lot was taken from his pond, and forced to stay seated on the royal lily-pad chair that preserved the magic of his pearl. The main priority for the king and the queen, was that their youngest daughter Princess Peepkintot would be cured from a strange illness that she was born with. You see, Princess Peepkintot was always a very weak little girl. As a baby, she was often sick, and even growing up she had very few opportunities to leave the palace because of her illness. Her parents were afraid that her illness would eventually lead to her death, and so they searched all over the kingdom for a solution that might cure her. This was how the king and queen found the fortune teller, which lead them to believing that little hops-a-lot's pearl was the answer to all their problems. Once they captured little hops-a-lot from his pond, a witch was hired, who eventually placed a magical spell on him to bind him to the royal lily-pad chair. For as long as he lived in the chair, Princess Peepkintot would be well, and with this they bound the little frog there for 10 years. In the 10 years that little Hops-a-lot lived in the chair, he had grown to be a humble frog which dedicated his life to duty. Although he was a noble frog, he did not feel fulfilled. In the 10 years that had past in the kingdom, he had become best friends with Princess Peepkintot, and because she was no longer ill, he saw her very little as she was well and could travel the country. All he wanted was to travel back to his pond, and be able to swim again. He missed his family and eventually became very depressed. He was constantly drained of energy as he stayed seated on the lily-pad chair, preserving the magic of the pearl.
The next time that Princess Peepkintot had returned, he was exhausted and began to lose his colour. Princess Peepkintot was concerned for her friend, and sent out a quest all over the kingdom to find someone that could save her friend. And after months of searching and waiting, the same witch who had casted the spell to bind Sir Hops-a-Lot to her chair had approached the kingdom gate.
You see, in all the years that Princess Peepkintot had lived in the palace, her parents had kept the secret of her health away from her. She did not know that her health had been obtained by sacrificing the freedom of her frog friend. Once the witch had told her the truth, she was furious, and confronted her parents. She insisted that they needed to un-do the spell so that her friend would be able to return to his pond, and be relieved from his duty of preserving the power of the pearl. Her parents refused, at the thought of their beautiful daughter falling ill again. Princess Peepkintot sobbed as she watched her little frog friend laying on the lily-pad that he was bound to for 10 years with the most exhausted and painful expression on his face. Suddenly, the pearl on his belly glowed, and rays of light had filled the palace halls. And in the blink of an eye, the pearl had disappeared. And there, lied Sir-Hops-a-lot, reverted back to his original colour, with the most peaceful expression on his face. He woke, and he was no longer bounded to the chair. Everyone gazed in amazement, but then looked to the Princess, for the pearl was what nursed her to health. The Princess was fine, and everyone looked at one another in awe and confusion. The witch transformed into a beautiful fairy queen, smiled at the confused faces, turned around, and vanished. All was well in the Kingdom, and Princess Peepkintot and Sir Hops-a-lot began the first of their many journeys together, as they walked towards Sir-Hops-a-Lot's pond.

This is a tale of true friendship, inspired by a simple trinket that my mom had given be as a birthday gift a few years ago.

Insights to Early Childhood Education
Imagination can bring anything to life, and it is this creativity that drives children's play and take them on their many adventures. As an early childhood educator, it is important to be imaginative when working with young minds so that we can accompany them on their explorations and enhance their learning experiences. This way we recognize that there is no one way of doing things, and acknowledge children for all forms of expressing creativity. Children are still very much open-minded, and therefore adults who work with these children need to be open-minded as well, otherwise an opportunity for learning may be missed.
In this blog, I have imagined a story based on an inanimate object that was meaningful to me. Story-telling is a great way to engage children in imaginative thinking, and also helps early childhood educators to practice their creativity when doing the activity in the process. Because story-telling is an activity of such interest to children, it is important as early childhood educators to learn to be original and enthusiastic in the way that they tell their stories.

Reference:

            Schirrmacher,R., & Fox, J.E. (2009). Art and creative development for young children (6^th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Delmar.