After Monday, the weather had a change of heart and decided it was still winter. Fine. Thanks to snow suits, the children were not fazed and still seemed comfortable for their standard outside playtime. They still wanted to eat lunch outdoors (though we found a sunny spot since our picnic table is shaded) and carried on as usual. Unfortunately, our hoped for snow this week did not occur, but in lieu we had some "snow dough" play in the mornings. "Snow dough" is like moon dough but far less expensive. It is simple: a 5 lb bag of all purpose flour and 2 cups of oil. I used 1c of baby oil and 1c of vegetable oil. The result is a crumbly concoction that is mold-able and a wonderful sensory experience for the child. 

We've been enjoying a bit of green popping up in the form of an Amaryllis gracing our table. Our candle which we light each snack time is nestled in nearby. It's a fitting visual to a part of our morning verse that the children especially love that goes "Good morning dear stones, and flowers every one". The children start the verse with their hands in fists on the floor and slowly "grow" their hands up until they are stretched to the sky. Outside, we're enjoying the lack of green (as in poison ivy and weeds) in the deep woods and have found viney forts to play in and climb over and through!

It's a wonderful thing to watch how hard these children work outside. To move in so much clothing requires extra strength and they are generally hungry a little earlier. It reminds me a bit of our story we've been telling (generally outside in the sun), about a snowy day when a donkey finds two carrots. He nibbles one, but then thinking of his friend Duck, who must surely be hungry, he walks "trot, trot, trot through ice and snow" to his friend Duck's home. Duck is not home, so he leaves it by her door. Duck is out looking for food and finds a fish, but returns home to find the carrot. She thinks of her friend Sheep...and so on. The children all give a satisfied smile at the end of the story. They can certainly relate to the trot, trot, trot through the cold, but they also take a special interest in one another and think about eachother when one is absent. There is still a bit of a "mini party" when each one arrives. There's a slow unwinding to the day that allows them to develop their play together, but also allows for the time to work difficulties through. It's no wonder they are exhausted at the end of the day. Working with one another is hard, but satisfying work!

This week was warmer, but with rain each evening and the sun coming out during the day. The "mud kitchen" received a little "kitchen renovation" and with the surplus of mud, interest in this part of our play yard was rekindled. The children also enjoyed washing all the dishes and shelves by hauling over more water in watering cans, which meant...more mud!

Another addition to our play yard this week was a mini see-saw or balancing board. It is wonderful for children to walk across the board, feeling it tip under their weight when they reach a certain point. They also like to just stand in the middle and try to keep it even and level. This is good exercise for their gross motor skills. We also added in some big, sturdy dump trucks which were rolled and hauled all over the yard. With so many puddles, car washes became a renewed interest, with brushes and watering cans pulled out to do cleaning duty. 

Inside this week, we worked on a new batch of playdough. The children helped mix the ingredients and took turns stirring it on the stove. We added in some pine essential oil for winter scent and yellow and blue drops of food coloring. After kneading the warm dough, a new color appeared! Building tunnels and ramps with the blocks was a favorite this week, and always train play. I told the story of "The Magic Porridge Pot" using hand puppets. It is a fun story of a porridge pot that boils sweet porridge whenever you want it, but only stops if you say "Stop, little pot, stop". The mother in the story though, forgets these words when her daughter goes to visit a friend, and the porridge runs all over town and the whole village must come to eat it up after the daughter stops the pot with her words. Hopefully, kids just brush over the forgetfulness of the mother in this story (because that's just bad pr for moms!), and what sticks with them is the handiness of "magic words". They loved seeing the silk cloth "bubbling" out of the porridge pot and "flowing" through the village. 

We had some record cold and then surprisingly warm days. The children played in both and enjoyed the novelty of ice, while it lasted. With the chillier weather, we've been spending more time hiking around to keep warm. For the first time, we went into the deep woods, which is inaccessible in the summer. There is a dry creek bed there which had a little ice for crunching in with boots on. We also found some decaying logs for pulling apart and climbing around. Many new, exciting challenges were in the forest and the children came to lunch with hungry tummies from all that climbing over brambles and logs, up hills and down again. 

Each morning this week, we spent a little time making some bird feeders and then hanging them on the former Christmas tree outside. We spread peanut butter on toilet paper rolls and then sprinkled/rolled them with bird seed. Another day we spread pinecones with peanut butter and then rolled them in seeds. The children enjoyed hanging them up on the tree. Also, to make the first week back a bit cozier after 2 weeks of home time, the children each rolled and cut out a gingerbread man cookie each day to enjoy with snack. So of course, our story this week was that of "The Gingerbread Boy".