The Creative Basket
of Joy
The Creative Basket of Joy resides on a classroom shelf,
framed by a sunlit window. Neighboring plants surround it. Outside there’s a
grassy slope where children play.
At first glance, the Basket is a standard woven one. It’s
the kind of basket that might accompany a family on a picnic or play the
essential role of holding Little Red Riding Hood’s goodies bound for Grandma. The
ordinary appearance and stillness on its perch belies the positive energy the
Basket effuses throughout the room. Inside, it contains ordinary discards like
toilet paper tubes, wooden blocks, flower catalog pages, remnants of laminate
and packaging otherwise bound for a recycle bin.
Filled with deposits of once-used items, the Basket waits
for hands — ones that, propelled by imagination, reach in and grab. Larger
hands deposit materials one by one and smaller ones choose from the assortment.
The adult facilitates future activity that will be realized by the child’s
potential and the basket is a holding place for connection between the two.
The Basket holds more than concrete objects anticipating
transformation. Abstract possibilities are infused throughout. Possibilities
for artistic expression, practical life, problem solving, aha moments,
collaboration, what-ifs, independence, motivation and time management fill the
negative space; and all are within the child’s grasp.
A child who arrives at school looking forward to social
opportunities and who finds academic learning manageable or even easy, my see
the Basket as a distraction or fun for a break. The student who struggles daily
with these skills to meet the demands of grade-level expectations, may yearn
for the opportunity it affords to show what he or she knows. Either way,
creative activity inspired by The Basket offers respite from the academic
demands of the school day and entrance into the domain of emotional and
spiritual work.
The Basket is witness to a host of interactions between its
contents and an array of classroom of learners. And it’s not the only one: it’s
the Montessori teacher’s job to observe. He or she knows that every child’s
experience in class is at the same time unique and interconnected. The observant teacher gains an understanding
of each student’s habits of mind and affinities. These insights propel the teacher to create
custom projects or learning opportunities that will facilitate further
connections and deeper understanding for each child.
