Boys in early childhood - The everlasting love for Transformers

The boys at kindergarten have been making Transformers with the Mobilo blocks. They took the initiatives and asked the teachers to bring out Mobilo on the day when we put them away. The flexibilty and varied combination of the blocks enabled the Transformers they made are able to 'transform', such as twist and turn, bend and stretch. The boys also incorporated Transformers into their pretend play, as they chased each other, they claimed that they were Transformers, which they thought have given them the license to 'scare' their friends! It's amusing to see them wearing sandpit spades on their arms, pretending to be the armor of the Transformers autobots.

However, the boys sometimes crossed the boundaries and displayed aggression. a couple of 'victims' were not able to deal with the situation and cried in shock, while some children went to the teachers for help.  I have been thinking how to extend their interests in Transformers?

One teacher brought in Transformers figurines and hung them down the ceiling for children to observe and draw. It worked for a day or so, but the temptation to pull the figurines down was too great that we decided to pack the Transformers away. Anyway, the interest to draw was not big, probably these boys are active and kinesthetic learners, so they interacted with 'the Transformers' in a physical way.

I talked with my teenage son who still keeps his Transformers in a safe place. He simply said, 'who doesn't like robots? Everyone likes robots!' I suggested that  fairies to girls was just like robots to boys, and my son agreed. Well, then it's fantasy play in the domain of boys?

Back to extending the boys' play relating to Transformers, what should/can I do next? The teachers in my kindergarten think of buying more Mobilo blocks. I am thinking about recording their knowledge and ideas about Transformers and then documenting and displaying them on the wall. This is a way to show that teachers value the interests of children. Through the documentation process, children are learning to express themselves, extending their verbal language to describe and explain. Also, the teachers will be demonstrating how to make ideas visible in writing and pictures.

Maggie Haggerty shared her observations of how a young child "interweave, talking, writing and reading" during his drawing of superheroes. Really inspiring!

What else could you think of?