Hobbies and Interests

... and animal husbandry

After I walked my kids out to the bus one day this week, I met a small gentleman in the hallway. “Hey,” he said, “Are you a 3rd grade teacher?” I replied that I was actually a 4th grade teacher, but would be moving to 2nd grade next year. “Hey!” he exclaimed, “I’m in 2nd grade NOW!” He then inquired as to whether I wanted to know what he was going to have as a job when he was a grown up — OBVIOUSLY I DID — and he informed me that he was going to be someone who discovered new animals. He explained that he’d have to be a LOT older before he could extract human DNA, but that he already had a hybrid turkey/chicken in his yard. I expressed some surprise over this, and he said, “Yeah, it happens about every 4 years. Sometimes they try to scratch my eyes out. My uncle had to shoot one. They are really aggressive.” At that point we were yelled at by the para at the end of the hall who was waiting with the child’s dad who was there to pick him up. Then I texted my bestie, Charlie:

Me: You know that thing where you get to talking to a 2nd grader about animal husbandry and he is late to get picked up?

Charlie: [Child’s name] is such an interesting one.

Me: HOW DID YOU KNOW

Charlie: Animal husbandry. Who else would it be?

One of my favorite quirks in children is when they become interested in a subject, because it is usually to the exclusion of all else. They also like to share their knowledge. My brother had a shark phase around the 4th grade age and consequently, everyone in the family learned quite a bit about sharks. I decided I would head on over to the Facebook hivemind for more examples of this behavior. I was thoroughly delighted by what I learned.

• Lego is a common fixation among the elementary-aged, though they tend to be split into two types:

  • Assemble the kit per the instructions one time, then break it apart and add the Lego blocks to the general collection in order to build freestyle. (There is a more extreme version of this in which there are numerous buckets of Lego, sorted by size and color in order to find the needed block more efficiently.)

  • Assemble the kit per instructions and display it forever.

• Mechanics are always a big draw. Kids are into cars, airplanes, school buses, and tractors starting early on. There are those who fixate on trains, and those who fixate on Thomas the Train (yes, I understand that he’s actually Thomas the Tank Engine, don’t come at me). These are very different. Now, often kids who like Thomas end up being interested in trains, but not all train connoisseurs enjoy Thomas. Personally, I always struggled with the series because they lived on the isle of Sodor and I always [mis]heard “Mordor” and that’s a whole different vibe.

• There were several book series mentioned — as well as the, “Books, books, and more books” response from those who consumed literature like water growing up (ahem, me) — but the one I hear most is Harry Potter. My stance on HP is that it is a creation that has brought millions of people so much joy, and that can’t be bad… however I will do my damndest to never give JKR another cent of my money. Since I own all the books and movies, I’m not in any danger of that happening (will not consume new content) so I feel free to nerd out with my students, and identify myself as Professor McGonagall. The other book-related love that was mentioned is the Redwall series — I’d not heard of it — but apparently it contains 22 fantasy books for young readers and my friend’s kids reenacted scenes from it with their Beanie Babies.

• Speaking of Beanie Babies… never mind.

• Lots of kids are passionate about history, which I saw firsthand this year as we studied the Middle Ages, and then the Revolutionary War. The kinds of details involved — battles fought and won, lifestyles of people in different times — are fascinating to children this age, I think because they are starting to widen their worldviews beyond their small circle of influence. Friends report interests in Ancient Egypt, World War II (including the Holocaust and Anne Frank), Harriet Tubman, Greek Mythology, and the Titanic.

• Geography is also an area of fascination for young learners. I have reports of preschooler interest in street names and maps, and older kids memorizing names of countries and capitals. One kid learned about license plates: did you know that the word “potato” was the first official license plate slogan?

• Science and the natural world hold so much wonder for young ones, and often these kinds of interests last through adulthood. My friend Janelle’s bird obsession took off in 3rd grade, and she can identify them by song! She also loved (loves) rocks which is a very popular choice. One boy went through a birds of prey phase, with the peregrine falcon — the fastest bird in the world! — being his absolute favorite. And oh, Dear Readers, the bugs: spiders and insects and all kinds of creepy crawlies simply captivate some children. One of my students this year has a pet tarantula, and I have 8 more days to cross my fingers that she won’t ask to bring it in!

• Without a doubt, the hands-down subject that enthralls one and all is… DINOSAURS. Listen, I liked dinosaurs. I had a few books on them, and found the idea of archaeology pretty interesting. But I would say my knowledge of species could be described as The Land Before Time-centered. I knew the brontosaurus, triceratops, stegosaurus, pterodactyl, and the t-rex. I was worlds away from the child I had a few years ago who loved dinos SO MUCH that he literally acted like one for most of his 3rd grade year. By the time he got to me it was drawing and sharing facts, but please take a moment of silence for his teacher from the year before!

• I haven’t covered everything. Kids are so smart and intriguing. Let me give you a quick rundown:

  • voting and our political system

  • putting on “shows”

  • Spiderman and Stan Lee (one kid got his drawing signed by Lee at a comic con!)

  • army men

  • Andre the Giant

  • Pokemon

  • bridges

  • roller coasters

  • electricity

  • natural disasters

  • Duolingo (“first Russian, now Italian” says her mother)

  • mermaids, Atlantis, and “despite my best efforts, princesses”

All of this says to me that, 1) kids are primed to want to learn about things at this age, and we need to take advantage of that by exposing them to as many rich resources as we can, and 2) a lot of us manage to hang on to this enchantment with learning, and we need to help others find it as well.

Thanks for reading.

Love, Susie