It takes a village to raise a child

The phrase it takes a village to raise a child.’  originates,  it’s believed from Africa.    

Hilary Clinton used it as the title of her 1996 book  ‘It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach.’ and it is often mentioned when talking about how societies help families to bring up children.  Instead of talking about it we thought it would be great fun to see what that village could look like.  We posed the questions: What type of house would you like to live in?  Is it an eco house, made from interesting materials, is it a conventional size and shape?  What services would you like in the village?  A pub, a library, a museum, a shop, a community centre, hospital, police station allotments, a nature reserve, a community tree house, an observatory, a café.

Families at Nythe rose to the challenge and as you can see from the film they knew exactly what they wanted in their village.  This amazing piece of art took 3 hours to create.  Children and adults became totally absorbed in talking about, designing and creating their village.  Conversations ranged from what the pitch of the roof should be to building a house on stilts to ensure it would not be flooded if the rains came.  Children designed museums to house dinosaurs and shops to stock cheese.  They built cafes and churches and wagons for travelling families.

 We made a video of the village as it grew

This workshop truly did illustrate family learning at its best.

If you would like to learn more about creating a learning community please email sue@learning-tree.org.uk or click here to contact us.

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