Philosophy House publishes philosophy books for kids

DUBAI / GULF TIME

Why do we use philosophy with kids?
The number of countries that started using philosophy with kids reached around 80 countries. The usage of philosophy with kids is based on a subject (be it games, a video, a paragraph, a children’s story, a question or an issue at hand etc.), and this subject is full of ideas or what we call philosophical matters. And it is also based on the P4C curriculum which is related to the philosophical thinking. (“The teaching of philosophical thinking P4C started in the 60s with the beginnings of professor Mathew Libman’s work with Montclair American University where he saw that there is a need for philosophical knowledge at a young age instead of delaying it for college years”)
P4C is a teaching curriculum discovers the big ideas that occur in all of the fields of teaching and lively experiences.
The P4C program is applied the philosophical dialogue and questioning to help learners to think, speak, listen, learn and live together in a more practical way.
The P4C program is practiced in kindergarten with children starting from 3 years old, and extends to all the primary and secondary school grades.

But, is using philosophy with kids is only limited to P4C?
Of course not, the usage of philosophy with kids depends on the Socratic Method, which means the ways of conversing in asking the questions and picking the answers in order to empower the critical thinking, and also Scamper’s method, which is a method that helps children come up with new or alternative ideas, and to ask the questions that require critical thinking.
In Reality, Philosophy is, among other methods, a way of building the future.
Because if we taught children how to think for themselves without the need for anyone to think for them, and if we knew how we can aim directly at their intelligence. We would be preparing a mature cultured generation that has the safe critical thinking techniques alongside logical and critical abilities in a matter of a couple of years.

But, what is the way to prepare a generation with the said qualities?
We, indeed, intended as a first step to prepare for a project to translate the 20 most important French philosophy books that are made for the youth. And we are done with translating seven books: Nature and pollution, good and evil, Machines and humans, life and death, Man and animal, Success and failure, Me and the Others. Those books are based on questions that encourages the children’s minds, and excite their sense of questioning, since it covers philosophical activities, and questions that are able to empower a big part of the goals that are set by the House of Philosophy in for that matter.

Is the house of philosophies project that is mentioned only limited to translating philosophical books?
of course not, The House of Philosophy intended with the collaboration of vision agency (“Ideas Vision” agency that specializes in educational consultations in Saudi Arabia) to prepare a steam by signing up for base levels courses in philosophical education for children, and an intermediate levels, and it is safe to say that the house of philosophy team has achieved the certificate for the base level and dual acquire the certificate for the intermediate level soon.
With the belief of the House of philosophy that getting cultured is a must, and that its cognitive edifice is a home for global knowledge, it enrolled its team in a course for teaching philosophy for kids that do not speak the Arabic language with Dialogue Works Agency which is the Strategic partner for Vision in the Arabic world with its manager Roger Sutcliffe
Therefore, in order to further achieve the goals that are mentioned, the house of philosophy relied and keeps relaying on conducting workshops for children based on translated books, in order to make the child involved visually, physically, manually and actively in all of the book’s content, so it is not limited to reading only.
The house of philosophy arranged multiple workshops starting from translated books and the strategies that are acquired from the methods of teaching philosophy for kids.
And just like that, the House of philosophy arranged its first workshop about sustainability (along with the direction that the UAE has taken to make this year a year of continuity in the 14th of March 2023) and was named “Us and nature”, presented by Dr. Basel Alzain, and Mrs. Roua Alkhateeb, in which the children discussed with the importance of preserving the nature, protecting it from pollution and taking care of the cleanliness of the house, the streets, the seas and the rivers. Furthermore, they were able at the end of the workshop to get to know the concept of sustainability and to provide examples about it.
Additionally, Dr. Basel Alzain and Mrs. Roua Alkhateeb also arranged six workshops under the titles of: A World Filled with Machines, Humans and People, Our Eyes.

That Observe Us, How to Get a Hold of Ourselves, Us and The Nature, and What Is Pollution?
Those workshops had a really active interaction with the participating students.

Mrs. Hya Alkasem also arranged a workshop under the title: After Dusk talking about the benefits of fasting and it’s encouragement to believers to behave in good morals.