Tuesday morning found our housekeeping area transformed into a campsite! The children were excited to see a tent where the little kitchen once stood, a small basket of play food and utensils waited outside the tent, along with an old dutch oven to use for our play cooking. At Gathering, we sang songs about things we might see or experience while camping: Gray Squirrel, My Lady Wind, Little Birdies; and then we talked a little about some of the creatures we might see camping out in the woods: snakes, squirrels, birds, scorpions, and other interesting critters. Right after our Gathering ended, their open-ended play began. V commented that there was 'no fire' under the dutch oven, so we got right to work, making 'logs' from cut-up paper bags, rolled into tubes and taped tight to prevent unrolling. The children worked with the sticky, tricky masking tape to make a 'woodpile' of logs, which were then placed under the old cast iron pot. I cut out a red paper "flame" which V added to the logs, and a fire was lit for cooking.
"We need marshmallows!" noticed T, so some old take-out chopsticks were offered with a cotton ball stuck on one end for them to roast around the fire. The tent was the place to be today, and many activities took place inside: our baby dolls were cuddled and fed by V and B; T and V cozied in to read books; little goings-in and out happened throughout the day. Later, V remembered a book which showed a series of pictures of a snake eating an egg significantly larger than itself, and the conversation began to focus on creepy-crawlies. We looked through our Audubon book to see if T could identify the 'gardener snake' he said he'd seen at his grandmother's house, then took a look at scorpions, ticks (arachnid family here), birds and other creatures,and perused a big book with pictures of snakes. Spur of the moment, I cut out paper snakes for them to color and apply stickers too. We had some pretty fancy snakes around here!
Birdfeeders were our bigger project-du-jour for Tuesday, and this was a multi-step task. First, we each juiced half of a delicious orange with the electric juicer. Big fun for the kiddos! After drinking the juice at snacktime, we warmed some suet and took turns mashing hulled sunflower seeds and birdseed into the mix. V and T liked the sunflower seeds we had for tasting; B was less impressed. Then, we scooped the mixture into our orange-halves, attached a pipe cleaner hanger and voila! The birds in your backyard will be so grateful to have food this time of year, and be sure to hang the feeder near a window your child can see out of. (Mine's near my own kitchen window; a fine view for when I wash dishes!)
Our ice sculptures were brought back out, and the children used watering cans and a spray bottle to assist in the melting process. Tuesday afternoon, the sculptures were still intact, and I asked the children to make predictions as to whether they would be melted the next day, or still there. Wednesday, T took what was left of his ice and dashed it to the ground for fun. V also decided to 'break' her ice; she told us all to stand out of the way and then hurled it at the round, where it made a dull 'thunk' before breaking in two. B's ice is still melting, giving off the beads and trinkets hidden inside. The children have been enjoying examining them. We also have been noticing the little green shoots of the crocuses and hyacinth the children have planted in their pansy pots; the greens of the ground-planted bulbs are emerging as well, and we've been protecting them with crossed chopsticks or grapevine crossed over the shoots, so as to prevent their being stepped upon.
Wednesday brought us time for scissors work and large picture painting at the easel. I've begun offering paints with brushes as well as materials for printing. It's been interesting to see how the children use those items--and if they choose to at all. Thursday, we sat together, working on stamps and ink pads, and when T wanted his stamped dog to say something, I introduced the "speech bubble" most often found in comics. This was a fun development for them, and shows diaologue in whole new way. Thursday found us with playdough; when I used popsicle sticks stuck in the dough to make a sea urchin, V had loads of questions. After checking a couple indexes in books, we found some great photos, and then read "A House for Hermit Crab" and "How to Hide an Octopus", a book which invites the children to find camoflagued sea creatures.
Our time outdoor on Thursday was quite a delight: we took a 'trail walk' through the neighborhood, marking our path with chalk x's and then following them back to the school. They delighted in finding them again on our return trip, and are interested in doing this activity again.
Sometimes, the most unexpected fun comes along. Spontaneously, V began to play 'school' on the big rug, singing the other children in to Gathering as the teacher, passing out instruments, and leading her little group in our Hello Everybody song before teaching them the words to "Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar?".
Some other moments:
B working with the small pegboard to create an a/b/a/b pattern around the perimeter of the board, which was quite a task. Very proud, she was, to show us her work!
Conversation in the tent: (V and T are reading "Dinosaur Bones")
V-What are these?
T-Those are the ribs.
V-I didn't know dinosaurs have ribs. It says "we look for bones".
T- I like bones.
At our Thursday gathering, we used the foam octagonal connecting pieces to make a couple cooperative creations, each of us taking turns to add pieces. What was our creation?
V-A caterpillar.
B-An airplane.
T-A stroller, with three babies. (all the children like this idea)
V- And it got 3 wheels.
B- It got 2 wheels.
V-(beginning to count specific parts) It got 5 wheels.
T-(point-and-counting the same parts) It has 2 wheels. And here's where the babies sit. (points to spaces in between pieces.) Wow! Our thing looks cool! I like it.
Conversations about camping:
Question: What animals would you like to see at camping?
V- Nice bears talking.
B-Tigers talking.
T- I wish I could see a giraffe and an elephant.
Question: What if we camped in a forest near here? What would you see?
V- A nice snake.
T- A plain bear with me.
B- A giraffe and a elephant.
Question: What is special about camping?
V- Tent. After dinner, we could have maybe marshmallows.
T- When you go camping and when you have dinner when you're camping, you roast hot dogs.
B- I did a sleeping bag!
B and T playing bristle blocks together, 'flying' a woman and a man figure on an "airplane", while I gave V a tour of some of the artwork in our home. We had an interesting conversation about it.
Overall, another great week. See you next Tuesday!
