Walter F. Drew, Ed.D.

When I play my mind opens up to new possibilities, I see things differently, rendering moments of reverie and intense art-making that send my spirit soaring,….So it is with children,…refreshing their spirit…..allowing them to feel the flow of inner power,…the capacity to create harmony and order,…..amazing as it seems,…simply fiddling with objects focuses the mind and leads to self-discovery!    

Dr. Drew teaches how Self active play with open-ended materials inspires creative contemplation,…naturally engaging our Hands, Hearts and Minds through invention and Self discovery,….in this way, we awaken our creative potential,….which is the mission of the Institute for Self Active Education (ISAE). Founded in Boston in 1980 by Walter F. Drew his wife Kitty, the Institute imparts knowledge of play and the inner creative spirit through direct hands-on experience.

Author, artist, early childhood educator, Dr. Drew is one of the founders of the Reusable Resources Association (RRA), established in Florida in 1998. He has pioneered the development of reusable resource centers as a sustainable community building strategy that provides materials for creative reuse to promote quality early childhood education and art-making in the lives of children and adults alike.

Since 1982, he has been a member and presenter of the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and working to establish statewide Play, Policy, and Practice Interest Forums within AEYC state affiliates. He is a member of The Association for the Study of Play (TASP)

Dr. Drew’s Discovery Blocks were chosen Best Toy of the Year in 1982 by the Parent’s Choice Foundation and won the Childhood Resources Institute Classic Toy Award in 2007.