Last week in Kindergarten, sweet smelling cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg apples filled the room. The aroma was warm, comforting and inviting. Memories of home surrounded not only the children but every other teacher and visitor that walked by. Our senses were engaged and beautifully at work.  

Little hands chopped the apples; little hands mashed the cooked, soft apples into applesauce. We ate and enjoyed. Later, during our day together, little hands worked hard digging in the moist mud outside- creating a castle with a river surrounding it. Hands were hard at work climbing a rock wall or a tree limb as well as tending to our Kindergarten gardens.  

Upon entering our classroom, little hands were once again hard at work: fingers crocheting beautiful chains which would become everything you could imagine- a jump rope, a cape, a head piece, a boundary for a pretend battle.  

As I pondered this day in Kindergarten, while observing little hands so very purposefully working — moving intricately, gracefully, and with strength — I was reminded of the fundamental importance of handwork. Hands are our gift from God to create, work, serve, and receive.  

In Early Childhood (as well as in our whole school), hands are emphasized; we learn through and with our hands. Hands are not to be withheld from learning, hands are how we learn about our world and ourselves. We see this as we move up into lower school, with our fiber arts classes, hand clasps, jump rope, dance, and gardening. Hands are the most essential limb to our learning. 

In workshops for the Early Childhood faculty, we have been studying research and many interesting insights around the topic of handwork. In an article titled, "Supporting the Development of the Human Hand," Ingun Schneider says, “The brain discovers what the fingers explore. The density of nerve endings in our fingertips is enormous. Their discrimination is almost as good as that of our eyes. If we don’t use our fingers, if in childhood and youth we become 'finger-blind,' this rich network of nerves is impoverished, which represents a huge loss to the brain and thwarts the individual's all around development. Such damage may be likened to blindness itself.” 

This term “finger blindness” really stood out to me as I pondered this article. We also know that this "finger blindness" can be caused through use of the hands to manipulate technology not only at home, but in many educational settings. iPads, touch screens, video games and how the human hand engages in these activities not only harm the sensory system, but offset the muscles needed to strengthen in the human hands. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and poor pencil grip are seen much earlier and continue much later because of poor muscle development in our hands. The fingertips are being over-utilized as the main palm muscle is being under-utilized.  

In the Early Childhood program at The Saint Constantine School, our students' hands will continue to be engaged, challenged, and strengthened throughout all our activities as this is foundational for future development and academic success. 

If we take a minute to look at infant development –– which we get a great view of in our infant nursery –– a finger grasp develops into a full grasp. Pushing on the floor evolves into patterning and crawling and finally, pulling up. Hand development yields whole body development and social awareness in infancy. Fascinating! 

Schneider goes on to say, “If we neglect to develop and train our children's fingers and the creative form-building capacity of their hand muscles, then we neglect to develop their understanding of things; we thwart their aesthetic and creative powers.”

How are we using our hands? Our hands are at war, in a sense: we must be intentional to not only use them to touch technology when needed, but to create, touch, give, and receive. Our school is a school of teachers as well as of students. We sew, cook, read real books in front of our students, draw, and play in our adult ways. Modeling handwork is not only for our students: it is truly for us. We must spend time doing things worthy of praise with our God-given hands! We must keep using each and every muscle of the hand so as not to lose part of ourselves and the creative work of our Lord. 

I ask this to myself as I ask this to you: when was the last time you created something or tried something new to do with your hands?  

If Christ used His hands to powerfully change the world, and we are called to be like Him, our hands might also be used to break bread, wash the feet of others, and endure hardship. In this way, we can help change the world. May our hands always be used to foster truth, goodness, and beauty; may we never lose sight of our Lord’s creative work through the use of our hands.