We've been bringing plenty of water into our play outside lately. The favorite sensory experience is pouring lots of water into the sandbox and making a "beach". It feels great to squelch feet and toes into the squishy wet sand. The children have also discovered how much more fun chalk is when it's used on a wet surface. The color is much more bold and satisfying and makes swirls of color when additional water is poured on top. 

This week we had trains of all sorts heading to many destinations. In the forest, the yellow slide became a Waffle House train, which brought people to the Waffle House, better known as the climbing structure. In our play yard, the blocks were a train that took people to a rubber duckie habitat, where children could crawl in a little bush hideout with some rubber ducks. And the stairs by the picnic table became an additional train for anywhere you might need to go. 

We'll be celebrating this guy's 3rd birthday next week! We are all looking forward to celebrating with his family, and then celebrating the close of the year on Thursday. The children have been learning some fun ring songs to sing to celebrate the friendships they've made this year. Among them is one that is often sung at the end of the year in Waldorf preschools, "Make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold. A circle's round, but has no end, that's how long I want to be your friend. Over land, and over sea, friends forever, you and me". 

The past two weeks have seen the children playing games all together as a group. Inside, the popular game lately is "Van ride" where they create a large "van" from playstands, load it with pillows, pretend food, and anything else they may need, and drive it to the beach or the zoo. Generally, the trip includes a stop to the gas station for re-fueling, snacks, and even a new toy or two. This van also gets rather dirty on it's expedition, so a "car wash" is needed, using our crocheted "sleepy snails" as hoses. Often the car needs an oil change or tire change, and inevitably, it catches fire and has to be put out by fire fighters. Then the trip continues happily. 

With the weather becoming warmer, we've been having granola with almond or cow milk in lieu of our usual porridge snack on Tuesdays. We make it first thing in the morning and toast it in the oven. It fills the nursery with a delicious smell, and has been a bigger hit than the porridge. Also last week, we celebrated our lovely mothers by painting some paper for a frame and making thumbprint pendants. I love using the children's watercolor paintings as backgrounds for photos or cards. They always look good. 

There's been some digging going on outside in the garden and all around. Sometimes a rock is rolled over in the play yard, revealing a worm jack pot, which the children then help to move to our raised beds. I've had help this week planting some bush beans and watering our potatoes. The hot weather has also made a little pool time necessary as well, so rubber duckies, funnels, and watering cans have been popular for that. Pirate ships, fire trucks, and wagon rides still reign for outside pretend play, but one of the bushes in the play yard has been converted into a nifty hideout where the rubber duckies go to nest. 

The weather cleared up just long enough for us to have a little May Day celebration with some May Pole meandering followed by a strawberry short cake picnic. The children each helped to make their crowns last week and were able to finally don them for our celebration this week. It's been a wet, soggy, and stormy week, but we've still been able to enjoy our time outside. 

We have started a new circle this week in which we sing about a caterpillar who "creeps and crawls on leaves and stems and old stone walls". As a caterpillar often does, we spin a cocoon and emerge as butterflies to fly around with our brand new wings. The children enjoy telling what color their wings are. Our new fingerplay goes along with our activities in the garden and we say it nice and slow because some of the finger movements are pretty tricky for little hands. See if they can show you: "Five little peas in a pea pod pressed. One grew, two grew, then all the rest. They grew and they grew and they would not stop til the five little peas in the pod went POP!!" The children love to do it at least 3 times through. We also have some sweet potato slips starting in some water by the window. I had no idea how much the kids would love these! They have arranged toy animals around the sweet potatoes, and frequently during our inside time, the kids check them out. There's a few thin roots that have started, but it may be awhile before some sprouts form. 

Inside we've been enjoying watching our Easter Garden sprout, and we've even needed to do some "mowing". Outside, we have broken out some brand new chalk, and it's been fun to experiment with misting the chalk drawings with water, or brushing them with a wet paint brush. The children are still playing at "firefighters" and enjoy being able to fill up the basin with water and turn it off all by themselves. "Firefighters" is a great game for children who love to find a stick, point it at something, and make noise. It offers many possibilities for play. Firehouses can be built, fires can be put out all over the play ground, water buckets have to be filled...