Philosophy for children

 Philosophy isn't just for old, grey bearded men from centuries past.

At Worser Bay School we explore philosophical ideas through philosophy for children. 

In this blog I'll detail how we build the skills for staging a discussion, highlight some of the resources we use and show some of the results of discussions that have happened so far this year.

The level of thinking and ideas that can come from even the youngest children never ceases to amaze me and philosophy for children is designed around the premise that everyone has something to say.

A typical P4C session will start with a reflection on our goals for the session. Recently we have been working on the goal that only one person is speaking at a time.

This means that we can hear that persons thoughts and practise our own listening skills. Their idea might start us thinking and building on to our own thoughts and ideas.

Then we move on to a story or big question for the group. Some good examples of picture books we use are:

After reading the story, children are invited to share some questions or thoughts they have about the story. Taking the Cat in the Hat for example, a child might ask whether the Cat should have been allowed to break the rules. This might lead into a discussion around rules where the children can define what rules are and how important they are to the world around them.

The teachers role in this is to facilitate discussion but not to lead it. The ideas all come from the children and are recorded by the teacher. Here is an example of this:

P4C encourages critical thinking and skills for positive communication. It is a part of the week I always am looking forward to as the ideas and respect that grow from it are tremendous. 

So next time you are reading a book at home have your own philosophical conversation and see if you and your Whanau can tackle some of the worlds big questions. Remember that there might be more than one answer for everything.