Thoughts for the Week:

Being curious about the world around us is an important part of learning. When children show an interest in wanting to find out about how things work and when they ask why things happen, it shows that they are developing skills they will need for later school learning. We can encourage this interest in learning by talking with children about the things they wonder about and explaining things that may seem quite familiar to us, but are a source of curiosity for children -- like what happens to water that goes down the drain.

There are some things that young children may not be ready to understand. When children's curiosity leads them into places we don't feel they're ready for, we need to trust our intuition about that. Curiosity can still flourish if we give children a sense that they'll understand more about such things as they grow.

Summary of the Week:

Mister Rogers encourages curiosity by helping children get to know people far beyond their own neighborhood, who are creating and doing wondrous and wonderful things.

Visiting with violinist Hillary Hahn, he helps children hear the rewards that come when we work at the things that interest us.  During the week, he piques viewer's curiosity on visits to the Edible Schoolyard in California where children grow and prepare their own food, and when he joins neighbors from "Music for Homemade Instruments" who invent curious sounds with boxes, rubber bands and cans.

In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe story, King Friday XIII, unhappy about a little joke played on him by his curious neighbors, commands that all curiosity be canceled.  But his neighbors can't stop being curious, and the King comes to realize that curiosity is a healthy part of life.