Help Kids See Differently

Add a little mystery to their day.

How did it go thinking about surprise as a force for good? In our series on the four forces of enchantment (surprise, mystery, risk, adventure), it’s time to look at the second force, which is “mystery.”

Mystery provokes:

• depth,

• awe,

• closer scrutiny,

• a shift in perspective.

It’s the force of “unknowing”—the heart of any deep dive in learning.

One of the ways I suggest promoting mystery is to help kids SEE differently using all kinds of tools:

• microscope

• binoculars

• magnifying glasses

• jeweler’s loupe

When I visited the Getty Center a while ago, I noticed these BIG magnifying glasses hanging on the wall. They were provided to examine Leonardo da Vinci sketches. People flocked to them. You had to wait for one to come free and then they were immediately snapped up again.

Holding the glass and looking carefully through it meant every person spent more time examining the artwork in that room than any other room I had been in. All because having something to do that gave us a different perspective felt like an invitation to depth and participation.

When I looked at one of the drawings, I noticed that it had been composed of deft hashmarks, layered—sometimes close together, sometimes far apart. I could even see the way the ink traced off or made solid rich lines. Made me wish I had a magnifying glass for every painting, not just the Da Vincis!

A shift in how you SEE leads to awareness—there are more ways to see than how I habitually look at things.

There is always more to see/know when we shift perception, when we find aids to help us move away from the familiar to discover more.

My book Raising Critical Thinkers is all about how to foster those shifts in perception.

Increase the mystery and increase your child’s ability to perceive more.

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