Inner Realm

This includes the imagination and the neurological wiring of the brain through cognition and imagination. This accounts for the ability of the stones to stimulate an internal narrative. This creates great stories to a child who knows best when he is the initiator and doing purposeful play. As adults we need to pay attention and not assume we always know what a child is thinking and doing.

My Best Friend Bunny by Julie

This is my best friend bunny. I made my bunny out of rocks. The rocks have different shapes: circle, oval, triangle. Some rocks are very shiny. There are black rocks, yellow rocks, grey rocks, and white rocks. There are even gold rocks. (The Discovery Museum)

Robot

The child initially made a rainbow like structure with the stones and then he got stuck and told Alice Vogler, the Art Program Manager, he couldn’t go on to make his robot out of stones. She suggested to make a blueprint. He did and then proceeded to make his robot out of stones. (Boston Children’s Museum)

Dinosaur  

The rocks go around. It is a big dinosaur.

This is a little boy's dinosaur, his favorite animal. In the photo, this animal is standing on his two strong white legs shown in the right hand lower corner of the photo. We can probably agree on that. But what is the long extension of stones?   Is it a tail? Yes it must be a tail.  No! Both the father and I thought wrong.  Look closely.  After his legs, comes his shoulders, made of tinier stones and what follows is the amazing long neck and little head that reached across the floor to the door a couple stones at a time. I happened to try a structure and this little boy had his neck go around the rocks as he shared his story. With the father’s camera I took a photo of the astonished father, as he lay down next to the dinosaur, his child’s favorite animal, to show just how long the dinosaur’s neck was. (The Discovery Museum)