I am a teacher.  And as a teacher, I love introducing my children to new things.  Then, I like to let them be creative with whatever it is I’ve just introduced to them.    But just this weekend, I watched as a five year old discovered a magnet set for the first time.  The set included six round magnets and a bunch of paperclips, nails, and other metal objects.I was amazed to see how quickly she discovered what the magnets could do.  She pulled them all apart, snapped them back together, then began building a paper clip bridge.  The first paper clip was resting on the pile of magnets; the last was balancing precariously off the end of the line, just a little too far to fully benefit from the pull of the magnets.  She created a lot of other fun sculptures with her magnets and I discovered something I had never fully realized: She didn’t need me to introduce her to what magnets could do.  Just giving her the freedom to discover it for herself made it much for fun for her and much more interesting for me to watch.Does she understand the concept of magnetic fields?  Not in words, but she does get it and at five, that is enough.  My new challenge for myself: to stop introducing, then allowing the fun.  Instead, I want to let them start with the fun and discovery and then start the lesson.  

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