Serena Stomach

 Adventures of AGnat’n’Me is a program rooted in the latest scientific research. According to Mary S. Rivkin Ph.D., “[t]eaching children about their bodies, and how to respect and care for them, should be a top priority for early childhood teachers.”   A young child is naturally very curious, and even before a child is born, begins using their body and senses to learn about the world around them. As parents, we start teaching our children body parts: nose, eyes, ears, mouth etc., for some, as early as the first weeks of life. Children’s natural affinities and inquisitiveness for this subject matter is all that is needed to provide the foundation necessary for higher learning to take place. Furthermore, a project conducted by researcher, Michiko Hishinuma, called Knowing Our Body, “showed that teaching children about the physical mechanism of the human body is important for people to lead healthy lives and it was also concluded that ideal subjects are kindergarten children and older children in nursery schools…”

  With this understanding, why is it then that very few, if any, early childhood programs incorporate these concepts and skills as part of their coursework? According to the May 2008 issue of Anatomical Sciences Education, researchers noted that young “students are interested in learning the structure and function of the human body. However, their teachers are not trained in this content.”  It is this educational gap that Adventures of AGnat’N’Me endeavors to fill. And we’ve even taken it a step further.

  As one of the key programs offered by Creating Conscious Kids LLC, adhering to our holistic educational approach is also a main focus of the program. Today’s children are progressing at a rapid rate as they demonstrate vast intelligence, keen intuition, and an overall greater capacity for learning and understanding than in previous generations. Schools often lack the time and resources necessary to meet these challenges, and struggle to develop innovative lessons or obtain the diverse materials needed for use by these curious minds. Furthermore, schools’ primary focus is on teaching children the skills they will need to progress academically from grade to grade, which often times leaves them little or no time to incorporate the subjects that nourish the child as a whole. By making this holistic approach foundational in our program, Adventures of AGnat’N’Me nourishes the many complexities of the developing child, providing them with fundamental skills that can benefit them for a lifetime.