The last few weeks of winter

The last few weeks have been quirky, between sickness or snowy weather, we have generally not had our whole group together. But we have had chances to play outside in the ice and snow, long stretches of time with the fun brought by mud, and at last some warm days to really enjoy fully. With the spring weather, there has been a renewed energy in our play both outside and in. Outside, the children have been experimenting with "hide and seek", which takes considerable self control for both the hider and the seeker. For the seeker, they have to really cover their eyes and count slowly, no matter how excited they may be. For the hider, they have to resist the urge to yell "here I am!" as soon as they hear the seeker say "ready or not, here I come!" 

---

Inside, I've also noticed more advanced styles of cooperative playing. The children are truly working together to create a story line out of their own imaginations, and then through trial and error, carrying the story out. Today, they carried over all of the play stands, laid them out in a specific way, carried in chairs from the hallway, and made a "rocket ship". They used the "sleepy snails" as their seat belts and took off. Frequently, their rocket ship needed repairs and had to be brought in to the shop. It was a bit of a clunker. It crash landed in the arctic among polar bears and had to be cracked out of the ice in order to take off again. As you can see, this is a very complex story line, but each "player" contributed something to it. I was able to just sit back and watch their story unfold. This kind of give and take can only come when children are given time to freely play, and of course they have to first work through each others differences, which also takes time. 

In the mornings when everyone is still just warming up to the day, we've been listening to the sound of the birds outside of our nursery window. This inspired our little puppet show story in which two birds decide to build a nest and a dog, a cow, and a bunny each contribute some of their fur to help make the nest warm. As the birds are building their nest we sing "With a peck and a pull their beaks were full, they were doing their best to build a nest". Along with that, we have a couple of new fingerplays that perhaps the children can show you:
Down in the barnyard, early in the morn
A little chick has just been born
Soft and new, and hungry too! 
His little head goes up and down, pecking on the springtime ground
His little head goes up and down, pecking on the springtime ground
But when he's full, it's time to rest. In his mother's feather nest. 


And also:
Deep inside an egg so white
A little chick is tucked in tight
Tap, tap, tap, he cracks his shell
Cheep, cheep, cheep, he peeps so well!


It's so nice to finally be doing these springtime verses and songs together. Our circle is full of movement and life as we imitate all kinds of different animals waking up to Spring. The children love singing, "Where are the froggies when the North wind blows? We do not see them in the ice and snow. Deep, deep, down in the ground they lie, little froggies with tight closed eyes.......(snore)...When the springtime sun comes out, froggies wake and jump about, oh how happy they will be a springtime world, they will see!"  We do bears, turtles, fish, and even snakes; crawling, bear-walking, slithering and other exercises. And we are familiar with that same enthusiasm shown by the animals when they wake to see a springtime world!