We're just beginning to see those first hints of green new life around here. Our seedlings are emerging and some will go out to the garden this week, while others need to wait. Our daffodils have been coming up and the children love to pick a couple to put into our flower arrangements inside. Our peas and radishes have sprouted and each day we water them to help them along. A visitor recently asked if I do lesson plans such as "How does a seed grow?" and create a curriculum for the things we're seeing growing. I explained that I don't because I feel the child's task is to simply observe and wonder. There will be so much time later in the child's life for information to be given to them, but the time is limited for them to just wonder and observe without explanations being given to them. As adults, we feel the weight of information overload. What a gift to be given time to simply BE in the environment and watch day by day as the garden unfolds, without being given lessons about HOW it happens.
Our seasonal circle has been quite an aerobic workout with bunnies hopping, bears waking up and bumbling around, snakes waking and slithering, and on it goes. By the end, I'm often panting out the last verses, as are the children! For our morning table activities, the children have been doing wet felting to create butterflies for their spring garden projects, as well as little felt caterpillars. Wet felting is such an interesting sensorial experience. It requires careful, light touch in the beginning so that the wool doesn't just break all apart, and then progressively firmer and faster movements to get it to bind together. It's warm, wet, soapy fun.
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