It’s a bird ... it’s a plane ... it’s Super Gan hero!

This summer, we’ve been discussing heroes and powers. Some of the questions we’ve asked are, What makes a hero? What is the difference between a hero and a superhero? What powers would you like to have?What powers do you already have?

These discussions have stimulated the children’s imaginations. They are moving away from taking on the identity of media-familiar superheroes and creating their own. To support this, we offered the children an enlarged copy of a photograph of themselves and encouraged them to transform the photograph into their own version of a superhero. In addition, the teachers looked for opportunities for the children to recognize their own powers in helping others, learning new tasks, etc. 

One may wonder what types of play and behaviors may occur when children are introduced to this type of curriculum. Would it lead to aggressive play? Would we be encouraging violence to solve problems? Would we be reinforcing media? What has transpired has been quite enlightening. Here are some of the things we have noticed:

Children are more confident in their physical abilities. For example, a child tries to move tires from one end of the yard to another. This child is not able to and asks a teacher for help. Another child hears this and says: “I’ll help you move those tires; my powers are strong” (while flexing muscles!).

Children are developing critical thinking skills. For example, two children notice the hoop attached to the monkey bars is stuck on top instead of hanging down. A teacher inquires as to whether they need help. One child states: "No, I can do it, ‘cause I'm the Tumbler.” Another child chimes in and says, “Yah, the painter will help!” After several attempts and discussions among themselves, they ask the teacher for a “long stick with hands.” So, the teacher hands them a stick, a rake and some tape. They attach the rake to the stick with tape and are able to bring the hoop down on their own. Success!

Children have developed the ability to be more aware and supportive of their peers. As they have played with blocks of ice in the water table, built ramps for cars in the block area and played in the yard in their homemade construction zone, we hear language like: “Good job solving that!” “How can we melt this?” “Maybe water will melt it?” and “You need to be safe and work together with us.”   

Hearing this language shows us that perhaps the superhero exploration has helped the children see themselves as capable superhero mensches! 

The new construction area in the yard. 

Water (and ice) table play.