Scientists of magic

 After just a short time back to school, several investigations have emerged involving mystery and big wonderings. It is fascinating to see how scientific inquiry and the possibility of magic are so intertwined in the minds of children. 

In the second grade, children are thinking about the guiding question 'who was here before us?' They are devising ways of researching the people who must have lived on the land in colonial times, and what all of the stones and cast iron objects are in the walled garden, but also if any magical creatures may have lived nearby long ago. I can't talk about the experiment they have devised yet, but I will share their conviction that if successful, it will not only answer some of their questions, but also prove that magic is real  (or not).

Meanwhile, kindergartners are trying to figure out more about a tree in the garden that has a brick wall inside of it (it really does). Some of the children think there is a magical doorway there, and so they made keys which might open it. They need to know how tall and how wide the tree is so they'll know if there could be anything big inside it. They are working on ways of testing the tree to see if it is real or an illusion. 

making a small door out of wire along with a magic key

This is what is most interesting to me about both of these investigations- these children have theories that something could be magical, and are observing, measuring and devising real experiments to test those theories. They are scientists of magic.

                                                                                                                                                                            plans and keys