Children's embodied voices
pp. 163-176
in: Norm Friesen, Carina Henriksson, Tone Saevi (eds), Hermeneutic phenomenology in education, Berlin, Springer, 2012Abstract
We constantly experience and express ourselves through our bodies, and children use their bodies to communicate even before they develop a verbal language. The body is central in our efforts to create meaning and make sense of our experiences. For example, when children develop concepts of wet and dry, wet means wetter than my body (Egan, 1997, p. 40). It is through our bodies that we translate our perceptions to actions and vice versa – actions also colour our perceptions. According to Kieran Egan (1997), curriculum should involve the somatic1 dimension to a much higher degree and ensure that this dimension is a continuous part of children's education and development.