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References

•       Geres Acting for Climate Solidarity. (2022, September 30). Case study: in Cambodia, a sustainable charcoal value chain to combat deforestation. https://www.geres.eu/en/news/project-news/cambodia-sustainable-charcoal-value-chain-combat-deforestation/

•       MacKay H., S. (2016, March 15). Thinking With Charcoal - Opal School. Opal School. https://opalschool.org/thinking-with-charcoal/

•       Nitram Fine Art Charcoal. (2014, January 6). The History of Charcoal. Nitram Art Inc. https://nitramcharcoal.com/blogs/blog/history-charcoal

•       Orbach, N. (2023, March 5). Therapeutic and Spiritual significance of Charcoal by Nona       Orbach. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypVibiFeZBY

•       Pacini-Ketchabaw, V., Kind, S., & Kocher, L. L. M. (2016). Thinking with materials. Encounters with materials in early childhood education (pp. 1–21). Routledge.https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/vu/reader.action?docID=4649662&ppg=14

•       Teaenz. (2017, January 4). Charcoal & Tea: Role of Charcoal in Traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony. https://www.teasenz.com/chinese-tea/charcoal-tea.html

•       The Sanctuary Cornwall. (2022). Charcoal Making - a green craft?. https://thesanctuarycornwall.co.uk/news/charcoal-making-a-green-craft/

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Atkinson (2011, as cited in Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, 2016) states that “Allowing oneself to become undone is a crucial condition for learning” (p.40). To illustrate this, when we think about the process of fire encountering wood, which results in cracks on the charcoal. The fire’s intense heat gives new life to the wood, transforming it into charcoal. Similar to learning, which requires us to open up to new experiences. I try to use charcoal to act as filter for dirty water. However, I need more elements to act as my filter, such as sand, rocks, and pebbles. This experiment forced me to research how to create an effective filter and open myself to new experiences.

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Document play and experiment with charcoal.

On a spiritual side, charcoal came from wood, which was once alive, carrying memories of its paste life (Orban, 2023). Now, in this new life, charcoal enters my life as an energy source bridging the past and present. Pacini-Ketchabaw et al (2016) states that “To respond is to find ways to play along”. Growing up in Cambodia, a developing country, there were not many toys to play with. Therefore, I played along with what available, with natural materials around me such as sand, mud, clay, bricks. My friends and I created scenarios and rules to enrich our childhood, despite the limitation, I had fun growing up using the resources we had.

I was sitting in Language of Children class, where I am exploring charcoal. My Lecturer, Kelly, told the story about the charcoal that she bought today, she made the charcoal herself from the wood around her home. The forest around her house needed some controlled burning before summer arrived. There were different sizes of charcoal, smaller and bigger, and how thoroughly burned the charcoal is. I settled a white paper on the table before grabbing a few pieces of charcoal to explore. An encounter with charcoal has certain expectation, to draw with it (Pacini-Ketchabaw et al, 2016). Once I hold a charcoal, I used it as a tool to draw, moving with slow rhythmic, I draw out different shades of blackness. However, it is hard to control the outcome of the darkness I desired, created frustration which is an important emotion to process during creative expression.

Conversations moved around the table about how some charcoal pieces were able to draw out different shades of black, some even had a hint of earthy colour from an unfinished charcoal piece. Pacini-Ketchabaw et al (2016) suggest that “to touch charcoal is to be touched, to be affected, to be moved” (p. 36). When I reach my hands to grab the charcoal, it left blacks mark on my palms. In this scenario, my body and the charcoal both have a response with possibilities of what the interactions might become; it might be a drawing with different shades of charcoal or cooking to sustains families. Noticing how charcoal left imprints on my palm, on my paper, and in my surrounding area, I got excited and started to crush the charcoal into fine ashes. With each touch, I felt immersed with the charcoal image, texture, and scent. The flexibility to be able to blur line and start over with charcoal drawing and the unpredictable nature of charcoal, which gives out different results of smudge and blurring, made me feel freeing rather than limiting.

Growing up, I watched my mom and grandmother use charcoal for cooking. I am familiar with charcoal and understand the fundamental idea how charcoal came around. I did play with charcoal growing up, but not much exploration or creativity went into that, I mainly used it to draw on a concrete ground. Holding it, crushing it, drawing with it, and using it to imprint my fingerprints was a great deep exploration. It made me curious, what is charcoal capable of? How many more shades can I find? The possibility of discoveries is endless (MacKay, 2016).

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Charcoal is a material that holds life, history and stories. Main charcoal created from wood, in Cambodia it came from the fauna and flora forest (Geres Acting for Climate Solidarity, 2022). Scientist facts I learned about charcoal are charcoal is created by putting wood inside charcoal kiln where it is heated until it became complete black. This process releases all the CO2 the wood absorbed during its life. Additionally, when using charcoal for burning, it burns hotter, longer, and creates less smoke (The Sanctuary Cornwall, 2022).

Charcoal has been used in different cultures for various purposes, from cooking, heating, ceremony - Chinese tea ceremony (Teasenz, 2017), and art medium. Historically, charcoal played an important role in the development of weapons, history goes back as far as the cave era, where it was used as a fuel energy to forge weapons and tools (Nitram Fine Art Charcoal, 2014). It plays an important role in history, connecting human to survival, innovation and craftmanship.

From political and geographical contexts, the production of charcoal linked to deforestation, particularly in developing countries, raising concerns about the environmental impact in the area (Geres Acting for Climate Solidarity, 2022) and government often find it hard to restricted deforestation as it remained vital energy resource for many communities. These concerns lead to conversations about benefits and harms of charcoal. Charcoal benefits the art field, artists has been using charcoal as a tool to express their expression for a very long time (Nitram Fine Art Charcoal, 2014), and it is also the only energy resource available in the developing country (Geres Acting for Climate Solidarity, 2022). On the other hand, being the only available energy resources has led to significant deforestation. This highlighted the complexity of balance between basic needs and environmental sustainability.

How has charcoal become important in the early childhood classroom? Charcoal is an important value toward early childhood classroom as it encourages creativity and exploration. Additionally, it also encourages children to interact with nature stimulate fine motor skills such as drawing, smudging, smashing, and experiment with shades. Making it a perfect material for open-ended play. Playing with charcoal can create art and mess, this can make children embrace the imperfection in the process. There are many uses to charcoal, such as: drawing, sensory play, storytelling, science experiment. I relate to charcoal through its natural nature, its cycle of life, from wood to fire and to charcoal.

There are some rules that children need to be aware before handle charcoal:

-       If they would like to draw with charcoal, they should not grip it hard as it can break.

-       Playing with charcoal is messy, therefore, cleaning after yourself is important.

-       The important is to wash their hands after they finished playing with charcoal.

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