I love the boy’s school.? It isn’t your super expensive crunchy granola hippy school.? There are no “manipulatives.”? There is no overt Jesus teaching.? It is your run of the mill Lutheran Church preschool.? I said that there was no overt Jesus teaching.? There’s still some “Jesus love you” stuff thrown in.? The best part of the school is that the director has a son with Sensory Processing Disorder.? So she totally gets it.? Not that the boy has SPD, but he exhibits some of the same things that a child with SPD does do.? He is overly sensitive about sound and textures, but not to the point where it is interfering with daily life.? Although, the sound issues are becoming more and more cumbersome.
I’m not here to solicit assvice on what I should be doing about my child and his hearing problems.? I’m here today to discuss preschool field trips.
Our preschool doesn’t have a bus so that usually means most parents go along on field trips.? Of course from what I gather this is fairly standard for many little preschools.? For the most part our school does a great job of planning the fall trip.? Pumpkin Patch… duh.? The spring trip is always to a different place.? Last year we went to the Children’s Museum, which was neat, but I was sooo fricken bored I wanted to poke myself in the eye with a piece of plastic corn.? Just for some excitement.? The boy wasn’t really engaged in what was going on, we were there with the pre-K class and there was only one other little girl from his class there and she didn’t want to play with him.? That meant mommy had to sit there and play food for 2 hours straight.? I could do that at home.
This year the school decided that we’d get a little more highbrow than the Children’s Museum.? This year we went to the Museum of Glass.? Of the katrillion museums we have in Tacoma this is my least and most favorite.? I could sit in the hotshop all day long and watch them blow glass.? Well, that and it’s warm in there.? But you would think that by looking at the outside the inside would be much larger.? The museum consists of one largish gallery space that they split up, the hotshop (where they blow the glass) and the Theater.? That’s it.? On a normal day it is $10 for adults to get in (we got a discount for the group deal).? It seems like a large amount to pay for such a minimal museum.
Back to the preschool thing.
I’ve been looking forward to and dreading the trip all week long.? I know the boy is going to freak out because of the sounds in the hotshop.? I just know it.? And without fail, when I tried to tell my kid that it wasn’t loud he started yelling at me.? So my child spent most of the time with his ears covered (unable to hear the lady talking about what they were doing and unable to hear when the teacher said it was time to move on).? They proceeded to a circle time where they talked about same and different since that was the theme of one of the exhibits.? Then it was time to tour the exhibits.
Imagine if you will a group of 10 3-4 year old children (mostly boys) in a room full of near priceless GLASS art.? All glass.? Throw in one very curious just turned 3 year old.? I spent an entire 20 minutes with my breath held.? I so badly wanted to look at the art, but if my child wasn’t with 2 feet of my I started to panic.? I did not want to be the parent responsible for the destruction of such beautiful things.? In all honesty, my child was the least of my concerns.? He followed the tour guide holding hands with his little girlfriend listening intently and thankful to be away from the “loud” hotshop.
We toured Contrasts exhibit and moved onto the White Light exhibit.? All I could imagine this exhibit was through the eyes of a 3 year old.? Ohh! Look at that tunnel, or that swing or I’d like to hang on that.? It was the single most stressful moment on a preschool field trip I’ve ever had.
We did get the pleasure of seeing the Chihuly Laguna Murano Chandelier and I must say it is spectacular.? I only wish they would have let me take photos.? Sadly, MOG is quite snooty and no photos are allowed in the gallery ever.
In the end there was no broken glass (by any child), the kids did a little art project and we had a small snack before heading home.? Surprisingly, the staff at the MOG did a fantastic job.? They kept the kids engaged.? I think the boy actually learned something and the parents go to see some pretty art (a Frank Lloyd Wright window), even if it was only for a brief flash.
I have to say, picking a glass museum as a field trip for preschoolers sounds a bit ambitious, to say the least. I would have been a nervous wreck in there with my 5th graders (who are very much like toddlers, only bigger), let alone a bunch of 3-4 year olds! Glad the works of art all survived and that the field trip was successful.
Our preschool also did the MOG field trip … and my eldest is addicted to the glass museum because of it. Four years later, she’s been several times and still begs to go back for more. I’ve come to love it as well. Hope you can go back sometime and enjoy a quieter trip … 🙂