About the Creators
Rie Sinclair
Emmy-Nominated Songwriter, Music Producer & Creator of The Wonder Club.
Rie had 2 imaginary friends as a child & would take them to an imaginary library to sing songs.
Originally from the US, she now resides in Liverpool, England.
Lucy Irving
Creator of the images for The Wonder Club, which encourage puzzle-solving and exploration of negative space. Lucy is an artist, illustrator and author living on the sunny southeast coast of the UK.Frequently Asked Questions
What is the science behind Nursery Rhymes?
While in development, I’d discovered multiple articles written in Defence of Nursery Rhymes. In 2017, Ofsted inspector Amanda Spielman spoke on their value, saying children who can sing a song and know a story by heart are better prepared for school.
Nursery Rhymes are a crucial tool for language development, motor skills and awareness. They emphasise the power of imagination as an integral part of our ecosystem, connecting children through songs and shared experience about their world. Sunday Times journalist India Knight wrote on how they help children make sense of the world and build a moral framework, with poetics which allow children to explore concepts and emotions freely. Author and teacher Sue Crowley finds they also develop coordination and increased knowledge about the world, fostering and a sense of community. However, many have outdated or problematic content. BBC published 10 of the Darkest rhymes in history (SPOILERS: not for the faint of heart)!
The Wonder Club is a set of new musical rhymes to fit our time in history, offering a unique blend of counting, critical thinking, and immersive child-to-parent play. Songs which might inspire children toward science and maths, while still incorporating social or human sciences. “One” underscores the synchronicity of team-work through dance, “Eleven” a reminder to pause and engage our senses. While “Five” is nod to the more recent invention of Cinema, with the 1968 prediction that “in the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes” – a philosophical notion once attributed to Andy Warhol, currently up for debate if he merely popularised the quote.
How can this project help my child's development?
The Wonder Club project is driven by a distinct aspiration to make a significant difference in the development of children. If classic nursery rhymes laid the foundation for emotional intelligence, The Wonder Club aims to also foster inquisitiveness and reasoning without the fear of value judgment when social conditioning might attempt hinder analytical thought.
By fusing of Art and Science, we create this “wonder”, a meaningful exploration, and seeds of philosophical inquiry. Professor Dacher Keltner (scientific consultant for the Pixar films Inside Out), has explored the profound impact of wonder in his work on the “Science of Awe”, as a transformative force, summoning a powerful emotion in relation to things beyond our understanding.
In a world where STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) might not always appeal to children, advocating for a STEAM approach, and integrating the Arts, creates accessibility through inquiry, wonder, and innovation. We are naturally better learners when connected to our learning experiences.
Artistic expression is key to bridging the gap between education and entertainment, as educational expert, Dr. Ger Graus advocates for, making a distinction between schooling and education, as the latter encompasses a lifelong process of learning, growth and development. Herbert Spencer, who helped bring education out of the Victorian Era, believed interest-lead education was crucial.
What is the function of Negative Space
The Wonder Club as a Sing-a-Long Picture Book: Early exposure to positive and negative space composition aids in the growth of imagination and intelligence.
A wider concept of Negative Space is often at the heart of Philosophical inquiry. It can help us Reflect and be more Open, keys to empathy and overcoming bias as evidenced by Bertrand Russell. It can also help us think about how things relate, as philosopher Gilles Deleuze and Psychoanalyst Felix Guattari often reinforced in their work, “Everything is in A Relation With”. These concepts of dynamic fluidity and interconnectedness support pattern recognition and critical reasoning.
Negative Space can allow us to explore boundaries, enjoy mystery and embrace the unknown. Absence can provide a different perspective to what is present, improve clarity and organisation of thought.
Our analytical reasoning is not only fundamental to how we learn, but a key to facilitating inclusivity and bridging communication differences. A study from 2023, reinforces the vital importance of critical thinking in elementary education for self awareness, self – directed study and even as a skillset “harnessed in response to threats to democracy”.
Isn’t critical thinking too advanced for Early Learners?
Conflict / Resolution Skills are fundamental to survival for negotiating and adapting within our environment. As babies, we are reasoning and problem – solving prior to our development of language. And this development depends on this natural inclination toward observation and exploration. Given a nurturing environment, we can better interpret and synthesise knowledge.
The UK’s Early Education has designed a resource for Creative and Critical Thinking in early learners, published on behalf of the Early Years Coalition. And this amazing study by OCED (Organisation for economic Co-operation and Development) brought together 10 countries to examine a fostering of creativity and critical thinking in schools. Journalist Rosie Kinchen added a report to her article in the Sunday Times in 2021 by the UCL’s Institute of Education, proposing lessons in logic and critical thinking for children as matter of growth for society. We live at a time in history where critical thinking is vital, if not just for countering misinformation prevalent online.
The Wonder Club desires to see future generations become adaptable problem-solvers rather than passive consumers of information by cultivating a deeper cognitive experience through immersive-imaginary play. Not dissimilar to the Montessori philosophy or Ian McGilchrist’s “four pathways to understanding”, as science, reason, intuition, and imagination are foundational to allow children to flourish.
My child listens to these songs on REPEAT. Should I be worried?
As children, we utilise repetitive play like little data scientists, to engage the imagination through sense perception, our tools for calculating the world.
Eventually repetition is reframed in socially approved ways throughout life: rituals or daily tasks, familiarity, habits or formal discipline (to sharpen a skill). Method acting was known for this. We see the result of repetition when it enhances wellbeing in meditative practice, in hand – foraged objects such as heritage crafts or when it produces a commanding performance at the ballet or orchestra.
When experiencing a loss of resonance with (others, our world), repetition can be crucial. Flow state can be achieved in a repetition, often associated with higher reasoning. This can be through free play with any aesthetic, such as sound, colour, geometry or kinetic – infused – movement. Repetition can be a grounding mechanism, a rich soil to bloom from or find a centring, a stability when the world is a bit too chaotic. Repetition can be immersive, it is embodied in Rhythm and all around us! The orbits of celestial bodies, the seasons, tides, sleep cycles, circadian rhythm.
Can you explain the importance of Maths?
Both Negative Space visuals and Counting are abstract concepts.
In a TED presentation, Masha Gershman explains counting is a human tool we’re using from early on. But goes on to say we really want our children to be able “to think, and think powerfully” Maths can be “a tool for mental empowerment” so that they can approach challenges of their life with a calm ‘let me think’”.
Karen Wilding is a specialist in helping promote a better method key to counting, which understanding the Composition of a number is part of how we might excel at maths early on. This involves Perceptual Subitising or, an “ability to see and recognise an amount as a whole”. “…number sense is being communicated without spoken language. It’s happening all the time all around you.”
While numbers are abstracted into our reasoning, and can become quite complex for PhD students, there is still something fundamental and unchangeable to basic numbers. Metaphysics (a branch of philosophy) is the study of unchangeable phenomena as British Academy’s Prof. Timothy Williamson writes, “without understanding the metaphysics of numbers, we cannot properly understand the role of mathematics in science.”
Math or Myth? Humans have 12 cranial nerves in the body, there are 12 months in a western calendar year, and in many systems of belief, 12 correlates with a lifetime, or a completeness. A song about 12 might appear excluded, but is actually the refrain of the whole. Now, Zero is an exciting number! Reinforcing Negative Space, and the starting point for natural numbers. In fact, someone wrote a fantastic book on Zero as a dangerous idea, an “unexpected bridge between mathematical theory and real life”.
Can you share more on the impact of Music?
Music is integral to our being!
We can find a great deal of evidence on how music impacts the growth and development of our brain from birth. Music is a language itself, and a powerful means to transmit a thought, idea or message. A football chant can be a “binding agent”, and music fans such as Swifties, have even talked about a spiritual experience or altered state of consciousness, as it can build community through emotional empathy.
Music & Cognitive Development: Music is said to activate our full brain, and play a dynamic role in neuroplasticity, sleep quality, human connexion and overall health. This study explores the transformative power of music through neuroplasticity and language processing, enhancing memory, focus and learning. Music we enjoy can grant easier access to certain brain functions.
Music listening is shown to improve “cognitive functions such as memory, attention span, and behavioural augmentation”, improving our psychological being.
One article in Brain World explores the role of music in emotional regulation and how it’s intrinsic to our being human. In the same journal, Dr. Daniel Levitin explains how music naturally excites pattern – recognition, and when we “listen to music together [our] neurons and brain waves synchronize.” Both listening and playing music can even stimulate the immune system.
A note on lyrical content. As a parent, I’ve also considered how lyrics might create a subliminal imprint, especially if the melody has a potent impact. Not as backmasking or a conspiracy, but when searching for music to better enrich my son’s development when he was young. I personally believe as music-makers, we should be more intentional with sound. I also feel the importance of safeguarding vulnerable ears from the impact certain frequencies can have. Especially in a world becoming increasingly louder.
What's unique about The Wonder Club?
The Wonder Club is designed to be sonically appealing to parents and children by supporting a standard of musical quality.
Non-AI Content: “Music is the expression of Human Experience.” Music can play an influential role on the growth and development of children’s minds. The intentional human-based (non AI) crafting of lyrics and melodies becomes a vital aspect, offering a sonically soothing and culturally relevant experience. And by bridging a gap between education and entertainment, we hope to enrich young minds, adding value to cognitive development.
Analogue production: I wanted to incorporate familiar sounds from everyday life, along with instruments like ukulele, glockenspiel, and a toy piano. This intentional sonic architecture ensures something within reach, including various recognisable noises of our world. The entire endeavour is rooted in the belief that how an idea is created and set in motion, should be as intentional as the message it carries, ensuring a positive and enriching impact on the young minds it seeks to inspire.
Short catchy Melodies: Once a stepping-stone between gibberish and adult-length folklore, nursery rhymes were less overwhelming to young minds than a full 3 and ½ minute song. Though, fair to say, some were quite long! These 12 jingle-length tracks about zero to eleven are designed to resonate with early learners who might be singing a few lines in the chorus of a Disney theme or The Beatles. While an abundance of nearly forgotten rhymes might secretly dust used book stores, short verse and poetry are having a bit of a resurgence. The Literacy Trust promotes Nursery Rhymes for language development and communication. And I’ve been excited to discover amazing new children’s poets at the Poetry Libraries in London, Edinburgh and now Manchester.
Inclusion: Normalising ‘Divergent’ thinkers and Gestalt Learners
Raising awareness of Human Diversity is at the heart of the of the music written and produced for The Wonder Club. To normalise the potential of certain Divergent thinkers and learning styles such as:
- Pattern-seeking (aka Pattern Recognition)
- Gestalt Processing
- Bottom-Up Learning
- Multi-Sensory learning through Hypersensitivity
The Ogden Trust has created resources for developing Pattern-Seeking in young children year 1 – 6. Also know as Pattern Recognition and Inductive Thinking, it’s necessary for scientific discovery.
Autistic Village reexamines misconceptions around Autistic Play as playing to learn, and an inclination toward pattern – recognition skills within the physical (rather than social) milieu. Focusing on the mechanics in the world, and further explaining interruptions can “smash up the patterns we are exploring”, meaning one will have to “to start again, from scratch”. Interruptions are kryptonite.
However, as therapist Jonathan Decker explains while breaking apart the psychology of Pixar’s Inside Out, all children need slow transitions. Autistics may need more time, with a more natural ability to hyper-focus, and engage their ‘slow thinking’ deeper knowledge with a thing. As children, we learn by pretending to ‘adult’ (just like any animal, Dr. Peter Grey often discusses). Autistic play, as an immersive experience, is often dismissed as nonplay, even though it is often the same multi-sensory engagement which produces neatly manicured gardens or the organised structure of museums and shops. We can easily find a rainbow of paint samples at a DIY store, car lots lined up, or the taxonomy of plants and mushrooms. Without these natural inclinations (turning what appears drudgery to some into indulgence with æsthetic and form for others), we wouldn’t have the groundwork of sciences today. One could also say, these are future World Builders rather than Social Story Tellers, who stumble upon the interconnectedness of our (meta)physical world.
Gestalt processing is a way of understanding a-thing-in-context, and similar to Continental Philosophy is concerned with applied synthesis of knowledge, including the impact of relationship, a relating – with. Learning through a song, or reciting a rhyme is a form of echolalia, gestalt language processing. What was once deemed as a deficit in 1985 when Schuler and Prizant exhumed Kanner’s 1940’s observations, is now better recognised as an oversight and a perfectly valid, if not normal learning style. In fact, echolalia it is a hack into the effect of mirroring for branding and advertisers.
While a more dated and pathologising medical model has long thought Autistics were too focused on unimportant details and incapable of Gestalt processing – “can’t see the forest for the trees”, the corrected framework recognises what’s actually happening is a loss in translation, contributing to Dr. Damian Milton’s Double Empathy Problem.
Advocate Jorn Bettin suggests Autistic differences of perceiving, understanding and communicating can be understood as an evolutionary advantage under the right circumstances. The ability to “escape” social programming is needed to troubleshoot. calculate and attempt to warn of impending doom. And certain theories such as Monotropism or Lori Hogenkamp’s emerging insight to the Evolutionary Stress Framework (ESF) help explain what links Autism Spectrum differences such as ADHD, Dyslexia and Autism, each often regarded a “Mismatch in Modern Society.” Many young Picture-Thinkers (hyperphantasia), might naturally be wired to make hyper-connexions and detailed recognition of seemingly invisible sequences and codes. Autistic stregnths should not be treated as “deficits, but rather the key to unlocking the potential of Neurodivergent individuals”.
Educators and researchers today are helping bridge the unsettling ‘divide and drift’ of these Monotropic ESF’s (AKA Autism Spectrum) and what’s referred to as NeuroTypical (no one is normal, but some don’t fit the social model), like two differently organised continents of thinking, learning and expressing. Human Diversity is everyone! Dyslexic U and Made by Dyslexia have growing resources for dyslexic advantages as potentials which, like any talent, require nurturing. While ADHD, which should’ve been called Hyper – Active Attention, is being better understood to intake what Deleuze and Guattari refer to as mise – en – scène or everything all at once. What appears as distracted on the surface, is actually intaking everything at hyper speed. And when all potentials are nurtured, not just what is Typical in our Social Models of society, these multitasking problem – solvers capable of heightened empathy, can be the most grounded in chaos.
In my own self – directed study, it’s easy to notice how these differences have always existed throughout history, but are currently subjected to a growing wave of social exclusion since mid to late last century. Jung spelled out these divisions in human traits throughout Volume XI often *lightly laced* with a hint of sadness missing out on the bloom of neuroscience. When examined in context, new insights appear to actually prove Autism might just be a sort of heavy Right – Hemisphere default mode. Abstracting reality, where anything can be anything! And to one degree or another, at the expense of the Left’s social linguistics. Thankfully, we’re told the Right has it’s own access to a sort of utility of vocabulary, more encyclopaedic than the theatrics and exciting symbolism – semiotics exploding in the Left. This one reason top – down learning presents a massive communication barrier: using spoken language completely different.
Growing research is proving these differences are due to a different biological structure, potentially antagonised in our modern world. HSP’s or hyper sensory persons won’t actually possess the same mechanisms to desensitise to lights, sound or even shut down over-excited thought.The body of peer – reviewed research is non – exhaustive, and I’m happy to share more as we go along.
If you’re a parent or carer in the UK and looking for more support, would suggest the NAS, Aucademy, Sunshine Support, and Yellow Ladybirds for girls in Australia, Xx Rie
How can I connect with you?
Please feel free to reach out on any of the platforms via the Linktree button. We’d love to hear from you!
June Update: If you’re excited about the impact we can make and would like to further support this project and future similar ones, let’s connect on Buy Me a Coffee. I’ve recently started this platform as a fun way to discuss new projects, explore early learning thoughts and welcome all feedback on The Wonder Club. x Rie