The weather has gotten cooler and it's allowed us to stretch our outdoor playtime a little longer. We've been having a slightly earlier snack and then heading out to enjoy the cool mornings. We've also been enjoying our lunch outdoors which allows some children extra time to savor their food while others play. 
     Our small-scale auto detailing service from last week expanded into a full-scale car wash and gas station. It was a hit and the lines were out the door. Luckily, our 3 year old workers know exactly how these businesses should be run and kept the lines moving swiftly. Needless to say, there were many wet clothes going home this week. 

Inside, play revolved around driving various vehicles through the tunnel we made from our building frames and sheets. A favorite morning ritual has been their little gathering in the toy kitchen where tea is poured by everyone, "food" is shared and glasses are clinked together with "cheers" being said in everyone's way. 

Pumpkin muffins were made by all and enjoyed by most on Wednesday. This is a nod to what is to come. Miniature squash and pumpkins are calling my name at the grocery store. 

Our story this week was about a little gnome named Pip who climbs a hill to get to an apple tree. When he gets there he finds that he can't reach the apples. But then "one little apple rosy as a rose, it fell down and bumped his nose!" He shouts "ouch, ouch!" but is happy to find the apple on the ground and puts it in his bucket. This continues with apples falling on his head, his eye, his toes, and finally one "rolls and it rolls nearly to Pip's house, and there it is discovered by a funny little mouse, "this red apple will make a fine meal!" and he munch, munch, munched, even the peel!" 

My own children joined us this week. Nora enjoys reading to the children, while Bram enjoys sharing his digging technique. 

This week was filled with baking, crafts, and apple everything. To prepare for our Autumn celebration on Thursday, the children helped me to make applesauce by using a food mill to strain out all of the skins and seeds. This was a fun job for all of the children and an excellent workout for their arms. We also prepared our apples for pressing by giving them a scrub with the scrub brushes. We had a little song we sang while polishing the apples that goes "We polish and polish and polish so bright, polish and polish hold up to the light". It is a little rhyme that will make it's way into other fingerplays later this year. 

For our Autumn craft, the children helped to sand some wooden rings until they were smooth. Next, they painted the rings with some red and yellow watercolor paint. After the paint had dried, they polished their rings up with some beeswax polish. I tied on some long ribbons and they became streamers! 

We added on to our morning circle this week and I can say that I think everyone is catching on and beginning to grasp the whole circle time idea! It helps to add something familiar. All year long we start with our morning verse of "Good morning dear Earth, good morning dear sun"...
We then pretended we were going to an orchard and playing a game of "Ring Around the Rosy". They LOVED being able to play this familiar game, and it is very useful in getting the children to carefully follow directions. They can't tug too hard on one another's hand, they have to walk not too fast or too slow; if you think about it, it's a fairly complex task for 2 year olds and young 3 year olds! But it's a wonderful game that prepares them for more complicated tasks. Then we went into the orchard where "The apples are ripe, the apples are red..." and did the same verse as last week. But now one of the children would fetch a basket and we would sing,

"There came some children and picked them all up, picked them all up, picked them all up.
There came some children and picked them all up
And put them in the basket.

We would put our imaginary apples in the basket, then we sat down to get them ready to make applesauce. Each child grabbed an imaginary apple, some had small red apples, some chose big green ones, and we sang our polishing song. At last, it's time to:

"Chop, chop, chop, and put them in the pot" (2x)
"Then stir, stir, stir and cook them till they're hot" (2x)
"Now scoop, scoop, scoop. Scoop some in a dish" (2x)
"And eat, eat, eat. Mmmmm. Applesauce is sweet" (2x)

Our story remained the same. Children love to hear stories over and over for awhile as it helps them to grasp what's going on, and the familiarity is comforting. I will begin a new story next week, but they have loved hearing the story of the fairy putting a star into each apple.  

Outside we had a "castle" built, but later it was replaced by a gas station. I have to say that the service at our gas station cannot be beat! You just don't find service like that anymore! And good thing, because these kids drive some gas guzzlers! No sooner had they gone around the "block" then they had to refuel! 

The week was capped off with our Autumn celebration, when all of the wonderful parents came to share the apple cake and apple sauce we had made. Big hands and small helped press all of our polished apples into delicious cider! 

The apples are ripe, the apples are red
They hang so high above our head
Leave them alone til windy weather
They all come tumbling down together


The children are getting more comfortable in the rhythm of our day. They love the whole process of having snack together. We wash hands and then they pride themselves on finding the placemats, their napkins and their cups and setting them on the table. They all sit very quietly with their hands together as we sing our seasonal blessing. They of course love the candle and being able to blow out the match and later, the candle. 

With all these boys, there was a great deal of "construction" this week. Roads were made, trucks were built, the car was put into action. Little hands were constantly working with sand, water, scrubbers, pumps and watering cans, driving, digging. 

In the quieter moments, the children have been listening to me tell them about the very first apple tree who started to grow. No matter how hard the tree tried, it could not touch the stars. Luckily, a fairy comes to it's aid and flies up to fetch some stars for the tree. But by the time the fairy returns, apples are growing on the tree and it is happy enough with her "apple children". So the fairy kisses each apple child and puts a star inside. Then I show the children an apple cut crosswise to reveal the star. 

For the golden corn and the apples on the tree
For the golden butter and the honey from the bee
For fruits and nuts and berries we gather on the way
We thank you for the food we eat we thank you everyday
(Our food blessing)


We've had a warm first week of September, with summer not prepared to give up. Earlier in the week, we enjoyed hearing and watching a hearty thunderstorm from the nursery window, and then had the fun of splashing in puddles. There's been some harvesting in the garden; our Scarlet Runner beans, although not too tasty, are a beautiful treasure when you've managed with young fingers to pry open a pod. 

As all of the children are new, we are taking things slowly and allowing the children time to adapt to the daily rhythm. The morning greeting/circle is simple: 

Good morning dear Earth (arms in a circle held downwards)
Good morning dear sun (arms in a circle above head)
Good morning dear stones (hands in fists held down)
And flowers every one (hands like a flower near the heart)
Good morning dear beasts (one hand "pets" the other)
And birds in the trees (hands held high, flapping)
Good morning to you, and good morning to me (hands, arms stretched out to others, then clasped to heart)

I follow this with very simple fingerplays so that the children get used to the rhythm of sitting together and listening as a group. Fingerplays are actually a very helpful tool for brain development. For one, they help establish an awareness and control of the body and how it moves. As you can imagine, learning to control your hand movements is an aid much later to drawing and writing. In addition, by using movements that cross the body's midline, they help to connect both halves of the brain. The rhyming of the poems helps language development and later on, reading. But mainly, they are just fun. 

Here's a cup (hold out hand in fist)
And here's a cup (hold out other hand in fist)
And here's a pot of tea (stick out thumb on one hand)
Pour a cup for you (pour into one "cup")
And pour a cup for me.

Another one that has helped the children learn one another's names is this:

Two little blackbirds sitting on a wire (stick two thumbs up)
One named  Jamie and one named Simeon
Fly away Jamie (fly your thumb away)
Fly away Simeon (fly the other off)
Come back Jamie (bring one back)
Come back Simeon (bring other back)


These are both very simple, and we'll do much more exciting ones later, but they are long enough for the children to concentrate and just right for this period of time while they're getting used to the rhythm. We also read a book, "The Little Red Hen" before lunch each day. I will tell stories using simple homemade puppets and wooden animals, as well as my "story apron", but for now I chose to just read a book, which most children are familiar with how that activity goes. This way we establish another quiet together time before lunch. 

I have to say that my favorite part of this week has just been watching how the children work SO HARD! Watching children who have not long ago learned to walk, and seeing how every inch of their body works. Careful, tentative feet reaching below to find a rung on the ladder, or the ground beneath the picnic table. Lifting a heavy pump handle and figuring out how to center the body behind it so that it can be lifted straight up. Holding a cup and trying to tilt it just right to get water into one's mouth and successfully set it down again. I am amazed at how many times children will pick themselves back up and attempt an activity over and over again. They are always striving. It's so wonderful to watch.