Question:

Hi Sylvia,

This is L. once again, and I am reviewing your information about topics on your web site. I am wanting to study the topic, "Monsters" with my 3 year olds, because much of their dramatic play has been centering around that subject. Are there any suggestions you could give me as to how you would approach this subject. We begin to look at Monsters today, and I am planning a short discussion to web what the children have to say about monsters. One child in particular has seen the movie Godzilla quite a few times, and is usually role playing that particular monster. Do you think this would be a good topic to explore? Or is it too abstract for this age group? There seems to be lots of literature around the subject of Monsters. Any info. would be appreciated. Thank you so much. L.

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Answer:

Dear L., Thanks for your important questions. I would not do a project on monsters. Just because children play at monsters or wonder about them or want to have books read or stories told about them does not make them a good topic for a project. A project, by definition (our definition (Katz and Chard) anyway), must involve opportunities for investigation, observation, interviewing experts, representing what you know, learning new information and representing what you learn. Monsters are not real therefore there is no real world investigation possible. Feelings and thoughts surrounding belief in or fear of monsters are too abstract to be the subject of study for 3 year olds, in my view. When even very young children explore reality and observe complexity in their environment they learn about cause and effect relations and about what can be relied on and predictable in their everyday world. They learn about what people can have control over in their lives. In so doing they increase their sense of security and are less likely to be prey to the predations of monsters real or otherwise. I hope this helps...

Cheers, Sylvia