Welcome to Kinesthetic Playground!
Kinesthetic Playground is a resource site for KT/L (Kinesthetic Teaching/Learning).
I formalized my study of KT/L when I had a problem to solve (see the story Just Keep Drilling Her), and it was through kinesthetic learning that I found the solution. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I’d been solving problems by using KT/L for a long time, I just didn’t have a name for what I was doing. In the end, exploring my “burning question” of just what Kinesthetic Teaching/Learning is (and can be) was the focus of my M.A. work at Vermont College’s amazingly wonderful, transformational (but now gone) Thematic Cycle in Creativity M.A. program. The book which resulted is here.
Today, I continue to explore the world and learning through the KT/L lens, and I use my experience with KT/L in nearly everything I do: teaching, facilitating, living and learning. Whether the medium is Music or Math, Martial Arts or Expressive Arts, the philosophy is the same: experiential activities offered in a supportive environment allow learners opportunities for self-discovery, as well as a chance to experience success, unlocking and awakening curiosity and motivation. Dynamic and joyful engagement and the states of flow and play that engender agency, understanding, and repair follow organically.
For more than thirty years I’ve explored the role of the body in learning. Experiences in schools, mental health centers, health & wellness centers, business environments, and respected elder communities have afforded me opportunities to work with learners of all ages, with a variety of physical, cognitive and psychological profiles, and across a broad curriculum. On this site I share what I can of my experiences and understanding, in hopes that things I’ve found to be helpful might save others a bit of time and trouble, or lead to something even better.