The storylines, characters, dialogue, and humor are written specifically for preschoolers.Finding the Extraordinary in the Ordinary Can Spark Our Preschoolers’ Passion
As overzealous parents living in New York City, Greg and I couldn’t wait to share the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade with our daughter Hope when she was three years old. This was doubly special for me, as I was bringing my daughter for the first time to see the giant balloon of our favorite puppy, Blue. It was beyond a lifelong dream come true. We bundled her up to protect her from the chilly November breeze and maneuvered our way to the front of the huge mass of people who came, as they do every year, to watch the balloons and floats slowly make their way down Broadway. We were so excited to have front-row “seats” as we sat on the cold ground with Hope in our laps. I’m honestly not sure who was more excited—me, my husband, or our little girl—as we clapped and swayed to the music. I got misty-eyed when Blue floated by as a huge balloon, and I pointed and cheered to make sure Hope felt like she was a part of our excitement.
When the parade was over, we asked Hope what she liked best about the parade. Seeing all the balloons? The floats? The marching? Blue as a balloon? So, what did my daughter tell me she liked best? In classic form, embracing the literalness that is a preschooler, Hope responded, “The cold!”
What?! My three-year-old was most excited about being out in the cold? She smiled and continued, “And when I was cold, you would hold me tight-tight-tight and I would get warm!” To Hope, it wasn’t about the parade, it was about the ordinary, everyday idea that we were together.
Another time was when we were leaving for our very first family vacation with both Hope, then five, and Ella, three. We woke them up at five in the morning to head to the airport in the comfy clothes they had slept in (exciting in its own right—sleeping in your clothes?!). We carried them to the car and gently placed them in the backseat, where we’d already set up a cozy blanket and a yummy early-morning snack. It was still dark out as my three-year-old, snuggling up to me in the backseat (Mom in the backseat? Exciting, too!), said with a huge smile on her face, “This is the best vacation EVER!” We hadn’t even pulled out of the driveway yet.
The world is anything but ordinary to preschoolers. That fallen leaf we just walked by? Extraordinary! That annoying orange light flashing on the dashboard? Amazing! The sound of Velcro being ripped apart we didn’t even notice? Incredible! The truth is, preschoolers don’t need a big Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or a fancy vacation. They are happy to just be hugged by you to “stay warm” or even just to sit comfy cozy in the backseat of the car. What’s mundane to an adult is anything but to a preschooler.
So what is it about the ordinary that makes it so extraordinary to our preschoolers? The simple answer is that the world is one enormous set of “firsts” to our preschoolers. Just as babies learn by touching, feeling, and putting everything in their mouths, preschoolers need to explore, touch, play, and ask questions in order to fully absorb and learn. Amy Dombro, friend and author of The Ordinary Is Extraordinary, compares this to watching a new baby discover he has hands for the first time. Because, come on . . . hands are fascinating! Babies spend an exorbitant amount of time exploring with their hands—looking at them, turning them into little fists, sucking on them, and then ultimately discovering, through trial and error, that they can soothe themselves by sucking on their fists. The ordinary of little hands is extraordinary to babies discovering them for the first time.
Though they’ve learned a lot about their bodies and the world in their first two years of life, preschoolers are still very much little explorers. And while they learned through the trial and error of discovery as babies, they now have their minds set on learning by doing. Preschoolers learn best through active play and meaningful experiences during which they have the time and space for hands-on explorations and the opportunity to ask questions of us.
What makes up a meaningful experience? Dombro states that “everyday life” is the most valued time with the best opportunities for learning. That means that the small things, the routines, and the mundane tasks, are actually the ones filled with the most learning opportunities. (And by the way, this type of learning doesn’t end in preschool!) Things we do every day—things we do mindlessly as part of a routine and things we simply take for granted—are new for preschoolers and give them important information about how to act and be a part of the world outside of themselves. This means that everyday activities such as going to the store, answering the phone, writing, working from home, doing the laundry, and cleaning up around the house, are all chock-full of educational opportunities. As Dombro says, “The mundane is new, unclassified territory and it’s magical.”1
Making the most of every day is the cornerstone of a child-centered, “ordinary is extraordinary” preschool philosophy. What’s interesting to me is that we see this in the plethora of popular YouTube videos. Think about it—many of the most popular videos found online are also the most mundane. For example, “un-boxing” videos (watching someone take apart the box of a new toy or game), how-to videos on applying makeup or hairstyling or cooking, gaming videos showing someone play a video game, and even videos where people show what’s inside their beach bag or give a tour of the products they use in the shower. Even as we age, we are still explorers at heart, wanting to get a glimpse inside other people’s everyday lives—and it’s still a valuable learning experience.
As adults we may take much of what we see and experience in our daily lives for granted. The philosophy of “the ordinary is extraordinary” and a child-centered approach sees the value of observing our preschoolers and being in tune with who they are, so we can be a better support and guide. Similar to attachment parenting and a child-centered approach to a preschool classroom, this “ordinary is extraordinary” philosophy places an importance on understanding the individual nature of each child.
Child development theory gives us the foundation for understanding preschoolers at this stage of development. We know the universal aspects of the way preschoolers think, the way they learn, and the lens through which they see the world. Yet observing our preschoolers opens the door to understanding their individual differences that will shape, color, and determine who they will become and how they will make their mark on the world.
Understanding that the preschool years form the foundation of human development, our child-centered approach is focused on understanding the main tenets of our child-centered preschool philosophy:
• Understanding the way preschoolers think: literally, concretely, and actively.
• Understanding the way preschoolers learn: through play and meaningful experiences.
• Seeing what makes preschoolers excited: with awe, wonder, and curiosity.
When adults and caregivers remember that preschoolers think differently than we do, and when we respect the fact that they are always thinking, we can better understand what makes them tick and why certain aspects of logic don’t work on them.
Understanding how incredibly literal preschoolers are made the challenge of figuring out what to name our characters on Blue’s Clues much simpler. Rooted in this idea, we named our mailbox Mailbox. And the side table drawer? She was named Side Table Drawer. We had a clock named Tickety Tock, salt and pepper shakers named Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, a bar of soap named Slippery Soap, a shovel and pail named . . . you guessed it. And of course, there was Blue, a blue puppy. Let’s just say that preschoolers knew the names of our characters after just one viewing.
The literalness of preschoolers has its obvious drawbacks. Preschoolers may sometimes come across as stubborn, but there’s a reason for that. Many times, it’s because they are still working out the cognitive connections between what we’re saying, what they need to do, and how to articulate it. It’s hard and active work.
Since much of what we say is both literal and figurative, preschoolers just learning language tend to focus on the true, literal meaning of words and have a hard time seeing this second layer of meaning. For instance, the first time we suggest to our preschooler that they “hop in the bathtub” or “jump into their PJs,” many will stop in their tracks to think about it. Yes, they know how to “hop,” so do we actually want them to “hop” in the tub? To make matters worse, if they did hop in the tub, we’d be upset and worried about their safety. Of course, once they know what these figurative statements mean, they will definitely want to be in on the joke—having them attempt to actually “jump” into their PJs or even “hop” in the tub will be so funny. Understanding their concrete view of the world helps us ensure that the words and vocabulary we use are direct, specific, and comprehensible by preschoolers.
Misinterpreted Phrases, Said to Kids |
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Let’s carpool! |
→ |
Pool in a car? |
Potty training |
→ |
Is it a potty train? |
The band is coming to play! |
→ |
With my toys? |
Jump to it. |
→ |
Jump? |
Hop on in. |
→ |
Hop? |
Making me crazy |
→ |
Crazy? |
Patience is draining. |
→ |
Draining how? |
Sounds ordinary, right? But this idea of keeping kids young for as long as possible is extraordinary, since fully embracing and experiencing this once-in-a-lifetime moment reveals what intrinsically motivates our preschoolers as they hop and skip from one play to another. As preschoolers, they innately take in information they’re hungry for, and we can recognize their level of comprehension and their thirst for more information in the way they play. But when we push for our preschoolers to be older than they are—emotionally or cognitively—we’re taking away this critical period of self-exploration. Instead, we can savor this time by staying cognizant of the media we offer so we can keep them in play mode and not thrust them into a harsher reality. A silly analogy, but one I’ve definitely used on numerous occasions with my own girls: just because they can fit their feet into my shoes doesn’t mean they should be wearing them. Four-inch heels at thirteen years old!
As an educational media advocate, I feel strongly that preschoolers should stay preschoolers, especially with the media they consume. Certain television shows, movies, books, games, and background television featuring news and adult-oriented shows will only confuse and emotionally upset our little ones. In following a child-centered philosophy, we want to open up the world to our kids a little bit at a time and ensure that they’re emotionally, physically, and cognitively ready for everything we’re exposing them to. And by the way, this is a philosophy well worth sticking with all the way up through adulthood. For instance, when my daughter Hope was ten years old, there was a lot of pressure among her friends to read The Hunger Games. I personally devoured the book and knew Hope had the ability to read it, but I also knew that emotionally she wasn’t ready for the dark subject matter. So, we held off for a few years.
Of course, no parent would be lulling their preschooler to sleep with Katniss Everdeen bedtime stories, but this example speaks to a bigger issue: the idea that pushing more mature subject matter on our kids at younger and younger ages has somehow become in vogue and is treated as if it’s a signifier of just how smart a child is. Interestingly, I’ve even noticed an uptick in this type of pressure from teachers and other parents, which I find peculiar considering the fact a child’s future success isn’t determined by their intelligence, but rather how robust their level of grit and passion.
During the preschool years, one of our more important jobs is building a foundation of “ordinary” behaviors—such as sleeping, eating, and play—that have a profound impact on our child’s development. For example, preschoolers need between eleven and thirteen hours of sleep each night. Although an ordinary activity, its importance is extraordinary. Getting enough sleep is critical for optimal brain growth and a child’s healthy mental and physical development, while lack of sleep may contribute to behavioral issues. The research on healthy eating shows a similarly important role in a child’s optimal growth and development.
To help preschoolers discover the extraordinary aspect of this ordinary part of life, Ellyn Satter, in her book How to Get Your Kid to Eat: But Not Too Much, suggests stocking the refrigerator and snack drawer with only “yes” foods so preschoolers can tap into their innate sense of exploration by trying different foods and making their own choices.2 We can apply the same approach to clothes by filling drawers and closets only with “yes” clothes options, and fill our DVRs with only “yes” programs so our preschoolers can explore their own tastes and styles, independently.
When considering the most intelligent thinkers in history, many people conjure up an image of Albert Einstein. And while, yes, Einstein was known for his high intellect, what drove him to be the influential scientist he was wasn’t actually his IQ—it was his passion. In fact, as a child and student, Einstein didn’t appear to be remarkable at all; his teachers reportedly said he was “mentally slow” and always “lost in thought.” A 1985 study entitled “On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert Einstein” described how a dissection of Einstein’s brain showed he was essentially the same as any other person. But what differentiated his brain from others was a higher than usual number of glial cells, which are the cells that form synaptic connections. These connections resulted from meaningful experiences that were grounded in his passion for learning and his out-of-the-box thinking.3 What’s so fascinating about these results is the knowledge that we too can strengthen our brain development through hard work and intrinsic motivation fueled by passion.
And so can our children. In fact, the preschool years are the best time to incite, foster, and nourish a passion. For these impressionable children, the high level of development and focus on play, sets the stage. And for many of us, personal experience would confirm this. How many of us had passion experiences or “a-ha!” moments as young children only to continue exploring that passion today? As parents, we need to be on the lookout for these “a-ha” moments and then be there to affirm, nurture, and support by providing ample time to play, materials, and experiences that can deepen the learning.
Research on the long-lasting effects of interests and passions cultivated in childhood points to the possibility that such experiences, especially when fostered by others, may in fact affect a child’s decisions for life.4 One of the key factors is the presence of an “anchor relationship,” which is defined as a person who affirms and supports a child’s passion. These anchor relationships are an important and influential contributor to helping a child foster that desirable trait—intrinsic motivation.5
One of the most powerful and simplest ways to encourage our preschool children’s exploration of their passion is to allow for adequate amounts of free play. Play is the work of the child, not to mention a fantastic tool for us as parents and caregivers. Giving our preschoolers time to play and ourselves time to observe them in their play helps us understand what makes them tick, what problems they’re grappling with, what vocabulary they have, what they’re interested in, and their level of creativity. It can also give us fantastic clues as to areas where they are sparked. When our preschoolers are highly engaged in an area of play, we can use scaffolding to fully awaken their sense of passion and build their intrinsic motivation. To do this, we take what our preschoolers love and provide more and more levels of play through providing materials and additional resources to continue fueling the fire.
Interestingly, many adults who discovered their passion early on report they weren’t very good at it initially, but because of how much they loved it, they continued to work at it and develop their skills. As parents, we want to provide support but be careful not to cross the line and turn the passion into “work”—with extrinsic consequences and extrinsic motivation. An extreme example of this would be a child who loves dramatic play and acting being pushed into work as a child actor; or a child who shows real passion and talent for sports pressured to be the best and become highly competitive. No surprise here: responses like these are often a fast-track pass to blowing out the spark of the passion.
On the other hand, support and guidance without pressure can yield a much better result. Take Eric Carle for example, world-renowned writer and illustrator (The Very Hungry Caterpillar and many others), who found his passion in kindergarten. Carle’s teacher was so impressed by his talent that she displayed his signed artwork all around the classroom. When he was just five years old, she encouraged him to keep drawing and asked his mother to nurture and respect his interest and talent. In interviews, Carle has said that his parents provided him with art materials, encouraged him, and “showed off” his work whenever possible, support he considers to be the most important “door” that opened for his future career as one of the most influential and successful children’s book authors and illustrators.6
Perhaps my favorite story of passion sparked young is about Gillian Lynne, one of the most accomplished choreographers of our time, choreographing Cats and Phantom of the Opera. When Gillian was eight years old in the 1930s, her teachers contacted her mother because they were concerned about her inability to turn in homework on time, her poor test scores, and her constant fidgeting and need to move. Her teachers believed she had a learning disability, so her mother brought her to a psychologist for testing. The psychologist asked a lot of questions of Gillian’s mother and then simply observed the young girl.
The psychologist had a hunch as to what was going on, so he let Gillian know he needed to speak to her mother privately outside the room. Before he stepped out, he turned on the radio. As soon as they were in the hallway, the psychologist asked Gillian’s mother to watch her daughter. Almost immediately, Gillian began moving around the room to the music, an expression of pure pleasure on her face. The doctor turned to the mother, saying, “Gillian isn’t sick. She’s a dancer. Take her to dance school.” Once there, Gillian was thrilled to be around people like her, people who had to move to think. Eventually, Gillian went to the Royal Ballet School in London before going on to collaborate with Andrew Lloyd Webber on some of the most successful musical theater shows of all time. As an eight-year-old girl, Gillian may not have realized that dancing was her passion, but someone took the time to look into her eyes and read the signs.
Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time with twenty-eight medals, has ADHD and hyperactivity. His mother, Debbie Phelps, has been a strong advocate of her son’s educational nurturing, supporting, and affirming his needs and passions. She says, “ADHD kids have great passion—it just needs to be funneled.” Smartly, she saw the signs and made a conscious decision to harness her child’s passion in the pool. When Michael didn’t like getting his face wet, she turned him over and showed him the backstroke, and his swimming career took off. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Staying true to the interactive nature of how preschoolers learn through play, we want to extend the learning by offering materials and media that interests them. Our goal is to spark our kids, but how?
Conversations centered on our preschooler’s interests continue their exploration as they grow and, as such, their interests widen and deepen. For instance, if our preschooler is collecting leaves, we can help ignite a spark by affirming their interest, asking questions about them, showing an interest ourselves, and brainstorming ideas with them for extending the learning with leaves. Igniting the spark of their interests will lead to more conversations, more learning, and will ignite a passion, perhaps in this example, for environmental science.
Taking note of how interesting preschoolers find the world, we can turn ordinary everyday outings into meaningful excursions. A walk around the block or a hike through the woods could be a nature walk; a trip to the local farm could evolve into a rich conversation about how food gets onto our plates; a trip to the bakery could spark a conversation about how bread is made; a trip to the post office could incite curiosity about how mail gets sent. We can take our musically inclined child to a recital or performance or our outer-space-obsessed child to peek through a neighbor’s telescope to spark them.
When we go somewhere . . . anywhere, really . . . with a preschooler, it’s always more about the journey itself than the destination. Making the most of even the simplest experiences by being present, asking (and answering!) questions, and initiating conversations with our preschoolers creates valuable learning time and grows their brains, hearts, and feelings of self-respect. Think of it as the new recipe for happiness. As Steve Jobs said: “The journey is the reward.”
In addition to leaning into the magic of simple yet meaningful experiences, we can also proactively embrace the power of the ordinary is extraordinary to help our preschoolers when they’re having a hard day or are emotionally dysregulated. When her son was a feisty, differently wired preschooler grappling with very big and intense emotions, my coauthor Debbie used to regularly take him to spots in nature to play the “senses game.” Together, they’d focus on one sense at a time and see what they could observe (sounds, smells, sights) as a mindful meditation of sorts. By noticing and connecting with what was extraordinary all around them, she also helped her son develop self-calming skills and feel more grounded and less anxious. Plus, it created special bonding moments for the two of them.
When we Pause to let our preschoolers make time for ordinary everyday activities, like coloring, dramatic play, or picking up rocks, we are giving them room to figure things out through trial and error. When our preschoolers are taking part in imaginative play they are, in a sense, visualizing what they want to create. And according to creativity and motivation expert Daniel Pink, visualizing something makes it much more likely that it will be created. By combining play and visualization, creative thoughts and imagination join forces in a vivid way, and the results for our children can be powerful. This is especially because creative pursuits, such as the right brain’s artistry, empathy, inventiveness, and big-picture thinking, are just as important as left brain’s logical, linear abilities. When preschoolers play, they’re naturally engaging both sides of their brain while creating and imagining their way to future success.
Chris and Martin Kratt (a.k.a. the Kratt Brothers), who create the popular PBS Kids shows Kratts Creatures and Wild Kratts, said their favorite activity growing up was exploring animals in nature in their backyard in New Jersey! Now, they’ve made a life of exploring animals all over the world and sharing them with preschoolers through their shows. Their spark turned into a passion and their passion is contagious!
As parents, taking a moment to observe what our preschoolers are seeing through their eyes will give us great insight into their interests, which will, of course, incite their passion in life. We can observe what sparks them, what they’re doing (think of Gillian and her dancing or Michael and his swimming), what words they use, what props they play with (Eric Carle’s drawings), what makes them laugh, and what excites them. We can extend the learning by affirming their interests and providing opportunities to further what excites them—with books, dance classes, paints, dress-up clothes, or even the pool!
On my shows, we’ve modeled each of these areas of extending the learning through the way our characters communicate with each other (and the viewer), have meaningful experiences, make time for playing and exploring, and observe to get more information. By modeling this in different ways, we’re hoping to spark a passion for something new and inspire kids to go out and find their own passions.
On Creative Galaxy, our main character, Arty, is innately empathetic and extremely observant of his friends. For example, in one episode he notices how much his friend Annie loves flowers and his friend Juju loves rainbows, but when Annie finds out that flowers make her sneeze and that Juju keeps missing the rainbows in nature, he wants to help. Arty searches the Creative Galaxy to find out how he can make flowers out of paper that won’t make Annie sneeze and a huge rainbow for hanging in a window that will catch the light and reflect a beautiful myriad of color for Juju. Observing and noticing will help evoke empathy, creatively solve a problem, and incite a passion.
In one Wishenpoof episode, we tackled self-directed learning, one of the seven executive function skills kids need in life. Miss Bridget, Bianca’s teacher, tells the class that she wants them to explore their own “Passion Project”—discover what excites them, research it, and create something to showcase their passion. Armed with this mission, Bianca, who is enamored with space, researches what she could create. She then resorts to play, and using her wish magic, wishes up a rocket that takes her and her sidekick Bob to space to visit the planets. She takes a rocket ship ride, slides down Saturn’s rings, and notices the red dust on Mars, along the way learning why it’s red. Further inspired, Bianca looks up on a tablet how to make a bottle rocket that will blast off using baking soda, and then models asking for guidance from her dad to actually make it. Once she makes her rocket, Bianca proudly shares her passion project with the class, singing her anthem “What’s Your Passion?” while also showcasing the other kids’ passions—ant colonies, volcanoes, and even pickle electricity! Every little detail of this episode was created to show how to delve deeper and learn more about a passion—using books and computers, playing and exploring, asking for help from an adult, and hands-on creating.
NO OBVIOUS PASSION? NO PROBLEM
Don’t panic if you haven’t yet “seen the spark” in your preschooler. Sometimes it’s just a small spark. It’s subtle. It’s about what they love to do. It’s noticing how much they love to play with baby dolls or cars or sing or kick a ball or cook with you. Adding props or materials and providing ample time to do what they love will extend the learning and add to the spark.
If everyday experiences are valuable, what exactly can we do to make them meaningful? We can make a “game” out of the ordinary like going to the grocery store and make it extraordinary by giving them a list of three things they need to find (while in the cart with us). Like our interactive games on my shows, we can ask them to point to the milk when they see it, or have them look for more challenging objects like kale or avocadoes. We can even challenge them to match the words for items they may not know visually, encouraging them to carefully “read” and search for the items: olives, pickles, carrots, celery. Other fun learning games you could try at the grocery store include letting them handle the money at the register (math), guessing how much money all the groceries will cost (estimation, understanding about money), or ordering the lunch meat or cheese at the deli counter (vocabulary, public speaking).
We can use this same type of approach with so many everyday activities—going to the bank (estimating how long the wait in line will be, trying to walk only on a certain style of floor tile, asking them to “help” fill in a deposit slip), taking public transport (reading transit maps, counting how many stops, playing I Spy with the advertisements), taking the recyclables out (separating glass, plastic, and paper; sorting or depositing in the right bins; returning bottles to the store in exchange for change or credit; talking about the environment), and so much more. When you think about it, as long as we have things to do and errands to run, the possibilities for maximizing engagement in everyday activities are endless.
Channeling the “ordinary is extraordinary” helps us write successful shows for preschoolers, ensuring that the storylines, characters, dialogue, and humor are specifically written just for them. We write and create to empower and challenge preschoolers to widen their world and see what excites them. As the saying goes, media is a “window into the world”—it is opening the door to different cultures, characters, and storylines. But in media, we’re not only looking to model different curricular areas—we’re also hoping to set a foundation for future learning, mastery, and passion for the budding scientists, innovators, problem solvers, leaders, and future presidents we know are in our audience. For example, by having Daniel Tiger use his imagination in every episode, our goal is to provide examples of a passion for creative thinking, storytelling, and curiosity. When he learns how to ride a bike, we’re showcasing resilience and asking questions with curiosity and passion.
On Super Why, Whyatt transforms into a superhero with the “Power to Read” because of his awe, wonder, and insatiable desire to know “Why.” Arty on Creative Galaxy is passionate about art and shows his excitement by learning from art masters—such as Kandinsky, Seurat, and Van Gogh—and applying that knowledge to creating artworks and “masterpieces!” in his real life that solve problems. We know that passion is contagious, and sparking passion in our preschoolers at home, through our characters, is one of our goals in every show and episode.
Angela’s Clues
There is nothing I love more than seeing a preschooler’s face light up when something sparks them. When they have a question or make an observation, it’s like a window into their minds. Affirming our preschoolers’ thinking and ideas will engage our kids and entice them to explore their passions, preschool-style, and continue to play, try new things, and practice failing and trying again. These abilities are, in the long run, even more important than natural talent.
When it comes to embracing the “ordinary is extraordinary” aspect of childhood as a clue in our handy dandy parenting notebook, our end game is to nurture children to be intrinsically motivated. When our preschoolers find joy in learning, being curious, and feeling connected to their areas of passion, they’ll be fueling their own fulfilling, successful future (and they’ll never stop learning).
• Be Involved to observe your preschooler in everyday situations.
• Ask Questions to find out what they are excited about.
• See the Spark to witness the extraordinary and deepen the learning of what they love.
YOUR MEDIA “YES” LIST
The storylines, characters, dialogue, and humor are written specifically for preschoolers.
The themes and characters regularly offer a “window to the world.”
The show presents a variety of interests, activities, and possibilities.
My child is “sparked” by some aspect of the show.
Clue Takeaways
• There’s tremendous value in letting preschoolers be preschoolers.
• Providing materials and opportunities based on your preschooler’s interests encourages open-ended, imaginative, and hands-on deeper learning and play.
• Talking with our preschoolers about the little things as we go about our day respects their preschool perspective and experience.
• We can parent in a child-centric way by embracing new experiences, modeling curiosity, discovery, novelty, risk taking, and trial and error.
• We can spark our preschoolers’ passion by tapping into his natural excitement that comes through with awe, wonder, and curiosity.