​​"The basic law of children's creativity is that its value lies not in its results, not in the product of creation, but in the process itself."
- Lev Vygotsky

We love to offer creative activities in which there is emphasis put on the process of creating, not on the end result. Process based learning is a holistic approach where the entire process of learning is taken as a whole, as opposed to teaching to specific individualized targets.

Process art projects are a wonderful example of process based learning experiences. Process art is child-led, choice-driven, open-ended, and celebrates the experience of discovery. The final product of process art will have no right or wrong answers and will be unique and original. 

​​Process based learning weaves beautifully into the Layered Curriculum Approach in other subject areas too!

Bright Stars
Estrellas Brillantes

Falling Stars
​Estrellas Fugaces

Learning to read and add fractions is much more fun with brownies :)

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately then combine and pour mixture into a parchment paper lined 8x8 baking dish. Bake at 350 for 15 to 18 minutes.

​How many blueberries do you guess are in 1 cup?

Wow! 62!!

Mix together the following ingredients then scoop into muffin pan and bake at 350 for 18 to 20 minutes.

Huge thanks to Mama Christy-Lynn for sharing this delicious homemade sourdough bread with us!

S.T.E.A.M. is a multidisciplinary approach to learning and a big buzz word in education:

S - Science (experiments, observations, predictions, inquiry skills)
T - Technology (using tools, being inventive, understanding how things work)
E - Engineering (solving problems, designing and building things that work)
A - Arts (creativity, design, open ended activities, music and language arts)
M - Math (sequencing, patterning, matching, calculation, exploring shapes, volume, and size)

​When spinning you can really see how the red/yellow rim turns orange, the blue/yellow goes a light green and the red/blue turns a bright purple!

​Psychedelic Snowflakes

When the plants and skies start to look gray and dreary outside, it's a great time to bring more color to our inside projects.

​These snowflakes provide a great hands-on way to work with fractions, shapes, and symmetry!

Step 1: Take a coffee filter and fold it in 1/2.

​Step 3: Fold it again in 1/3.

​Step 4: Cut out various shapes.  Sharp scissors help this process, help younger children with the cutting as needed.

Step 5: Dip the corners into different colors of liquid watercolor then carefully unfold and observe the different colors and patterns.

It's so amazing how unique each piece of art turned out!

This kids loved creating their own colorful tangram puzzles. The younger kids practiced learning the names of the different shapes while the older ones learned about acute and obtuse angles and area as they crafted their designs.

​Huge thanks to Mama Rachel for helping to cut up so many shapes for us to create with!

The kids had a blast pretending to be spies and decoding these secret messages with a wax-resist art method. We used a white crayon to write or draw on white paper, then when we used water colors over them it revealed a secret message!

Chigirie is the Japanese art of tearing paper to create a collage. It is also known as painting with paper, but there are no other materials involved except paper and glue.

Mixing watercolors and tempera! Which color is translucent? Which one is opaque?

These cards are a great tool to use in circle time to expand our language and practice new ways to express ourselves through color.
​
​Our prompt was "How do you feel when you look at this color?"

​"This color makes me feel happy, like a baby!"

"I like this fuschia!"

Want a free gift to share with your kiddos? Collect some free paint swatches and present them upside down as a memory match game! 

You can also collect many shades of the same color and then place them in order of lightest to darkest which is a classic Montessori sensorial activity.

What better way to learn about letters and colors than to fully embody them!

Here we are spelling BLUE and RED.

When we do experiments, we first discuss what the experiment is exploring. Then we have the kids all let us know what they think will happen - this is their hypothesis.

For the rainbow milk experiment, they draw/write out their hypothesis and then we do the experiment. After the experiment they create a conclusion and compare it to their original hypothesis.

​What do you think will happen to the colors in this milk if we add a little soap to it?

​“Every kid starts out as a natural born scientist.”
Carl Sagan

We added an art element by dipping paper into the milk swirl and created amazing marbled milk prints!

Will the water or oil float on top?
We first filled a jar halfway with vegetable oil. Then we added a few drops of food coloring (which are mostly water). The food coloring did not mix with oil and sank as little bubbles to the bottom. The kids then slowing added water until the jar was near full. The water sunk to the bottom and the food coloring dissolved into the water making a blue layer! The oil floated on the top and its original color was unchanged 

We loved learning how animation works with this simple machine! Simply spin and look through the slots and see the animation come to life as the monkey swings from arc to arc!

We then created our own animation pieces on strips of paper.

Building with blocks, ramps, and tiles to create all kinds of structures and obstacle courses!

This exciting game is all about creating structures and balance, super fun for all!

Math makes so much more sense with tangible tools to discover and play with. The older kids are using them to learn different math equations, while the younger ones are learning basic number recognition and counting.

Mix together dry ingredients, then add wet ingredients. Scoop on to parchment paper lined cookie sheet, then bake at 350 for 11 to 13 minutes.

After washing, rip up the kale into large bite size pieces, massage with olive oil, add some salt and brewers yeast then dehydrate at 105 over night.

Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then mix together. Scoop into grease loaf pan and bake at 375 for 55 to 60 minutes.

For more fun STEAM projects you can do at home visit the Resilient Educator for free resources!

See you next time!

​
​There ​are many studies that show the benefits of incorporating a gratitude practice into children's lives (and their caretakers!). Scientific research shows that people who make noticing, feeling, and expressing gratitude a part of their daily routine experience many helpful results: improved emotional intelligence, better sleep, high self esteem, positive mental health, healthier relationships, and a stronger immune system to name a few.

​Keeping a gratitude journal together is a great way to grow our experience of all the wonder and joy in our lives. Adults and older children can write out the words, younger children can copy writing and draw what they love on to the page. 

These gratitude journals are a great example of how differentiated learning works in a mixed age environment. Differentiated learning refers to an approach to education whereby teachers adapt the materials and the way they teach to maximize the learning of every student in the class.

Gratitude games are even more fun when the kids help to make them! You can find this gratitude game in the back of your Thanks Book.

The younger kids are learning colors and growing fine motor skills while the older kids are learning about grammar and the properties of nouns. All ages benefit from focusing on gratitude!

If you lose your color dice or are looking for ways to keep the game fresh, try this mystery bag version where we pulled colored sticks​ from the bag with our eyes closed.

​​
Say What You Love is another fun gratitude game we often play together to inspire kids to focus on what they are grateful for - some kids will get really enthusiastic with their heartfelt appreciation: " I love my mama! I love ice cream! I love the moon! I love dragons! I love coloring! I love hugs! I love swimming..." The joyful expression is contagious!

Here's one of our favorite poems to move our body to:

I bow to Mother Earth
I lift to Father Sky
I open to the wind
and the clouds floating by
I welcome the rain
that flows to the sea
I honor the kindness 
​in you and in me

Inspired by this sweet book where Bear writes to all her favorite nature friends, we wrote thank you letters to people we love.

Everyday before snack and lunch we sing together:

Give thanks to the Mother Earth
Give thanks to the Father Sun
Give thanks to the plants in the garden
Where the mother and the father are one

​This soup is perfect for the chilly weather and a great way to consider what goes into the food we eat. So much to be grateful for!

Ingredients:

• 2 carrots, chopped 1/2 moons
• 1 delicata squash, de-seeded, chopped small cubes
• 1 sweet potato chopped small triangles
• 1 purple turnip, chopped small cubes
• 2 cups collards, chopped bite size
• 1 cup dinosaur kale, chopped bite size
• 1 cup sorrell, chopped bite size
• 1 handful rosemary, chopped fine
• 1 handful parsley, chopped fine
• 1 handful sage, chopped fine
• 2 TBS coconut oil
• Salt  to taste

Instructions:
Sauté the root veggies and half of the fresh herbs with a pinch of salt until their fragrance is released. Add the greens, another pinch of salt, and add water just to cover the veggies. Bring to a boil, then cook on a  low simmer for about 20 minutes until all the veggies are tender. Add salt to taste and garnish with the other half of the fresh herbs.

When encouraging the kids to eat new vegetables we love to ask them questions to help them feel more friendly with new foods:

• Can you see any of the vegetables we picked from the garden?
• Can you smell any of the herbs from the garden?
• Do you see any shapes in the soup?
• What happened to the color of the purple turnips?
• Taste your soup, would you like to add more salt or fresh herbs?

Kids love to make a contribution by cooking together, cleaning up, and helping each other throughout the day!

Having a hard time feeling the gratitude? We find that breathing and singing are the some of the fastest way to shift back to a state of appreciation!

This ancient Hawaiian prayer makes a beautiful song to sing together and uplifts the vibration of any situation:

I love you
I'm sorry
Please forgive me
​Thank you

A turkey twist on our favorite fox tail game - decorate a clothes pin, tape on some feathers, attach to your tail area, and chase your friend's tail!

Shucking dried corn is an excellent activity for developing the small muscles of growing fingers - kids are especially motivated when they are contributing to a popcorn party!

Older children helping younger children is an empowering benefit of mixed age learning!

Cooking class is a wonderful medium for learning how to read a recipe, adding fractions and cooperating together.

What's your hypothesis? How many drops of water do you think you can get on the top of a quarter with out it spilling off? Most of us thought between 5 and 10 but WHAT!?! 48 drops was the highest! The surface tension holds the water into a huge bubble!

See you next time!

​When introducing the concept of ancestors to the children we explained that ancestors are relatives and family members who are no longer living. They can be our parent's parents and all our relatives all they way back to pre-historic times.

Honoring ancestors is an ancient tradition still practiced all over the world. 
Some do this as a way to cultivate family value and kinship. Others believe the deceased have a continual existence and ability to influence the physical world even after they are gone.

 Fall is the most common time of year for these ancestor celebrations; the light is waning, plants are returning into the ground and lore says "the veil between the worlds is thin."

This Fall our community is celebrating with many ancestor feasts where we prepare food inspired by our family heritage, listen to ancient stories from their lands, and create art to honor the lives and myths of our ancestors culture.

We love to cook at the Children's Garden! For more details on all the learning benefits of cooking with children please see our previous blogs:

Cooking with Children

Top 10 Benefits of Cooking with Kids

To honor some of the children's Cherokee ancestry we listened to the Legend of the Three Sisters and prepared a delicious 3 sisters stew of corn, beans, and squash with corn muffins.

We listened to more Cherokee stories and learned some simple Cherokee words for some of the animals in our area.

The kids helped grind the toasted cumin seeds with the mocajete, seed and chop the peppers, and prepare the quesadillas and guacamole.

While we cooked we listened to the classic Mexican folk song "La Bruja"!

Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) is a holiday of Mexican heritage where families welcome back the souls of their deceased relatives for a big reunion and is a big celebration in our old neighborhood in Austin, Texas.

We made sugar skulls from clay and painted them. In Mexican cultures sugar skulls signify a person who has died. The name of a deceased loved one is written on a skull and placed in an altar that is created by the family. The purpose is to honor their spirit during the Day of the Dead festivities. 

These colorful smiling skulls help to acknowledge and celebrate that death is a part of life rather than the end of it.

We went for a search for Mexico on the glowing globe!

We also enjoyed this washable coloring map as we located and colored different countries that our ancestors came from.

The kids loved this slavic folk tale of a magical and prophetic burning bird which is both a blessing and a curst to it's captor.

We honored our Northern European heritage with a cookie twist on a classic Nordic gruel of oats, crushed hazelnuts, and berries.

We danced to ABBA, read some of our favorite Elsa Beskow books, and added more art to our Ancestor Mural.

To celebrate our German heritage we listened to Bach as the children arrived, prepared this classic chocolate cake with upgraded healthy ingredients, and then danced the polka at our dance party!

This is one of our favorite story books by German author, Daniela Drescher.

And we added Epona, the horse goddess, to our ancestor mural, who was praised in Old World Germany around 200 AD.

We made this classic British Breakfast and Irish Potato Pancakes to honor our Celtic heritage, then listened to kid-freindly stories of the Green Man, Cerridwen, and the Morrigan.

We made a tasty minestrone with all these beautiful peppers and eggplants donated to us from Mama Hannah! Then added Venus to our mural and read about this famous goddess as well as the comical 'Strega Nona' to celebrate our Italian heritage.

These fried plantain patties were more delicious than any Halloween candy! We added a little cinnamon, a little salt, mashed them up, and then formed them into patties to fry up in coconut oil. Yum! Huge thank you to Mama Arica for donating the plantains!!

We have been practicing our Spanish in storytime with Ben Bear and learning about the seasons with Mama Annalise in Spanish class!

All the groups collaborated in the creation process of our ancestor mural! We have many more countries and cultures to continue to add!

Remember how last month we discovered that Grandmother Magic Maple tree is around 200 years old? That started the conversation of "What was life like here when Magic Maple was a little sapling?"

​We visited the Zebulon Vance Historic Site to find out!

We were guided on a History Mystery tour as we passed around historic objects to try and guess what they were used for and visited dwellings from the early 19th century.

We have been harvesting greens for our lunch every day and casting seeds for our winter cover crop.

See you next time!

​We are so blessed with so many wonderful tree friends on the land here at our sweet Children's Garden.

​We began to get to know some of our new friends by sitting with a special tree and asking the tree what their name is, then listening quietly for an answer. This is a really fun way to begin a sit spot practice! 

These trees have some really creative names! Meet Ruth Rose, Planty, and Skyby...

While we sat with our trees we enjoyed taking deep breaths and filling up with their sweet scent.

Breathing in the natural essential oils of these lovely pine and cypress trees has an amazing effect on our immune systems and sense of peace and connection. 

And the art of listening to the trees helps us feel our deep relationship to these majestic beings!

Bark rubbings are a fun way to start learning about tree identification and to notice interesting patterns and textures of nature. They also help us feel a more intimate connection with our tree friends.

While we are rubbing we get curious...
"I wonder why trees have bark?"
Rather than have an adult answer the question scientifically we love to let the wondering take the lead.

"Which trees have smooth bark and which have the roughest?"
​"How does the bark feel and smell of one tree compared to another?"

On our rubbings, some of us wrote our names or the names of the trees too, some of us helped our younger friends by writing the names for them.

Then we collected leaves to add to the rubbings, remembering to ask our tree friend for permission to take a leaf and waiting until we could hear or feel an answer within.

Here are some of the amazing trees we are in community with here everyday:

Some of us gathered our rubbings and leaf collection together to make a tree book!

How old do you think Magic Maple is? We measured her circumference to be just over 11 feet! We used this tree age calculator and discovered that she is about 199 years old!!
I wonder what life was like here in this beautiful valley in 1821 when Magic Maple was a young sapling?

How many kids would it take to give Magic Maple a hug?
6 kids and 1 mama!!

We have still been feasting daily on all the abundant apples Auntie Apple has shared with us.
We picked our apples and went looking for some apple seeds. While we looked we listened to this beautiful story...

The Story of the Apple Star

"Once upon a time, a young apple tree began growing in an orchard. Each night she would gaze up at the evening sky and admire all the bright and twinkling stars. Oh, how she wished she had just one of those shining stars of her own!

One night, an orchard fairy came to the tree with a promise to grant the little tree one wish. Without hesitation, the young apple tree told the fairy of a wish for a star of her very own. The fairy promised that if the apple tree grew to be big and strong and full of red ripe apples, her wish would be granted.

The apple tree tried her very hardest. Each sunny day she lifted her branches up to the warm sunshine and each rainy day she soaked up all the water she needed to grow. After several seasons, her hard work had paid off and she was one of the biggest trees in the orchard with branches heavy with red ripe apples.

One day the orchard fairy returned and the the tree shook her limbs with excitement, showing off her strong branches and all those beautiful apples. "Look!" she exclaimed "I've worked so hard and I've waited so patiently. When will I finally be given my wish and one bright star of my own?"

"Oh my dear tree," replied the fairy, "Your wish has already been granted. You have among your branches not just one but as many stars as you've admired in the night sky."

"But where? questioned the apple tree, "All I see on my branches are leaves and these ripe apples!"

The orchard fairy gently answered, "just peek inside any one of those apples. there you'll find a special, secret hidden star. It's ready to be discovered by the lucky person who chooses one of the apples you've worked so hard to grow!"

Once we found our seeds we planted them into little beds of earth and listened to this sweet story about the coming Autumn and Mother Earth...

Mother Earth's Children

"One morning Mother Earth got up and looked out her window.  Something was different!  The trees were covered with golden and red and orange.  Mother Earth went outside to have a better look.  Ohhhh, it was colder!  Then Mother Earth knew.

'Why it's autumn, it's autumn!  Goodness me, I have so much work to do.  The harvesting must be done, and I must make nice warm earth beds for all the seed babies to sleep in through the cold winter.  Oh my, I will go and prepare everything, then send for my children.'

In the garden lived the flower fairies. They did not yet know it was autumn.  They were still happy to play in the garden. They danced and sang and practiced their somersaults in the soft grasses. While they played, one little fairy wandered off quite far. She came upon a cave that was glowing with golden light.  Inside were baskets of shining seeds for Mother Earth.

'Oh, Autumn is here,' said the little fairy and she ran to tell the others.
'Autumn is here,  Autumn is here,' called out the little fairy to her fairy friends.  'Mother Earth needs our help.  Come see, come see, quickly, quickly!'
All the flower fairies went with her to the cave and looked in.  What a wonderful sight, shining golden seeds. 'We must take them to Mother Earth, quickly, Autumn is here, the little fairy told the others. The fairies gently gathered the gifts of seeds and carried them to Mother Earth's home.

Mother Earth was just finishing her work.  The beds for all her children were ready.  Just then, she heard the flower fairies calling to her, Mother Earth, Mother Earth, we have something special for you!  Look, golden seeds that need to sleep.'

"Oh how beautiful they are,' Mother Earth said gently. 'Come little fairies and bring your seeds, put them in my warm mantle, I have earth cradles ready for all.'  Mother Earth showed the fairies where to tuck the seeds in for their long sleep.  'I will watch over them and keep them warm and safe until they awaken with the warm spring sun.  You come too little fairies, find your beds and rest through the winter so deep.
​
The fairies carefully placed the seeds in their cozy earth cradles, and then they too nestled down in Mother Earth's blanket to sleep.  Outside the air was crisp and clear, and the cold winds began to blow.

Just in time,' said Mother Earth.  She rocked her children to sleep and sang a sweet lullaby.

'Seeds and flowers have gone to sleep,
Loving care I will keep,
To watch over all through winter's night,
Till they will rise to see the Light.'
​
The seed babies and flower fairies were warm and safe, and very soon they fell fast asleep.  Mother Earth made a cup of tea, sat in her rocking chair and smiled.  All was well.  Outside the first soft flakes of snow began to fall and covered the earth twinkling with the starlight."

Some of us enjoyed singing the lullaby from the story to our freshly tucked in seeds.

Then we read some books about Johnny Appleseed! Some of us chose to take our seeds home to spread the spirit of Johnny Appleseed near where we live while others left their apples seeds here where we will experiment and see if they grow!

To prepare for our Autumn Equinox celebration we made a feast in honor of the trees around us.

​Apple Filling:

• 4 large apples peeled, cored, and sliced
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar 
• 1 tbsp cassava flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 pinch of nutmeg, salt, and cardamom
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/8 cup water
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Crumble Topping:

• 1 cup gluten free flour
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup coconut oil, softened (almost melted)
• Chopped walnuts

Topping:

• In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir with a spoon or a whisk. Then add the softened coconut oil. Using your fingertips, rub the oil into the dry mixture, until small crumbles form. Add more flour if the mixture is too wet. The kids loved this process! Place the bowl into the fridge, while you prepare the apple filling.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8x11 inch baking dish with coconut oil.

Filling:

• Peel, core, and slice the apples. Transfer the apples to the prepared baking dish, set aside.
• In a small/medium bowl, combine coconut sugar, cassava flour (any tyoe of starchy flour will work), cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and cardamom. Stir with a spoon or a whisk. Also add maple syrup, water, lemon juice, and vanilla extract and stir again.
• Pour the mixture over the sliced apples and stir to coat them evenly, then spread into an even layer.
• Remove the crumble mixture from the refrigerator and sprinkle it over the apples. Add the chopped walnuts.
• Bake in the oven until the crumble topping is golden brown and the apples are fork-tender, about 40-45 minutes.
• Remove the baking dish from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes before you serve the apple crumble.

We pureed sprouted walnuts with coconut oil and maple syrup until it was just sweet enough and a nice spreadable consistency and then spread onto gluten free bread. There were a favorite with the kids!

Pine needles have numerous health benefits and make a really tasty tea. We first asked our friend if we could please have some leaves for our tea and sang her a little song of gratitude:

"White Pine Tree
​Thank you for our tea!"

We rolled together the needles in our hands to release more of the fragrant phyto-essences into the spring water and boiled for about 5 minutes.

All the contributions for the Autumn Equinox celebration were delicious! Huge hugs of gratitude for all the generous chefs!

To prepare Magic Maple for our Equinox Ceremony we gathered blossoms and leaves from the garden and made little bouquets for her in the four directions.

Then we gathered around Magic Maple to sing her our love.

​Inspired by these wishing trees around the world, we pondered our wishes and dreams and then wrote or drew them onto strips of fabric.

Some of the wishes expressed by the children were daydream time, going to grandma's, and piggy back rides.

Our parents joined us with more wishes and prayers!

Thank you Magic Maple!!

We were inspired by reading this book to create our own peace sticks with fallen branches from Magic Maple.

We practice kind listening as we use the peace stick in circle time, giving the speaker our peaceful attention. For the kids who aren't speaking yet much or did not have much to say, we would sing their names and tell them we loved them while they were holding the stick and their faces lit up with joy!

​We love to say this little poem for tree pose:

​​I am an old and solid tree.
My roots grow deep into the ground beneath me.
Bending one leg, I bring my foot to my thigh.
Balancing can be tricky, but I’ll give it a try!
I focus my sight on a single spot.
Yoga improves my concentration a lot!

 It's so much easier to balance when we become a forest by holding hands and supporting each other!

Dancing trees in the breeze!

We continue to weave in our principle of kindness throughout our days. We loved making these kindness rocks as we doodled our kind hearts onto the rocks and our parents and teachers helped write loving messages for us to find all around the play garden.

Sometimes it's more fun to paint each other!!

We love our bilingual yoga and storytime with Mama Annalise!

Playing parachute games is both fun and cooperative!

These friendship bracelets were a sweet way to learn patterns and practice generosity.

A huge thank you to the lunch bunch helpers!

Sweet friends!

See you next time!

 We have had a wonderful first few weeks of the new educational year in our beautiful new learning garden! We love our new home and community!!

In the beginning of the year we are laying the foundation of our learning community as we tune in to our daily rhythm and co-create a culture of kindness.

​A nurturing environment that is rhythmic in nature supports a strong foundation that is essential to healthy child development. Predictable rhythms through the day, week and year provide security and a sense of the interrelationships and wholeness of life. 

Our daily rhythm alternates periods of concentration and expansion, as if in a breathing rhythm where there is inhaling and exhaling. In the inhaling or breathing-in phase the child directs their attention to an activity that basically relates him to themselves (drawing, water painting, eating…). In the exhaling or breathing-out period, the child relates mainly to the surrounding world (free play, gross motor movements, guided activities etc.). For each breathing-in period the child needs a breathing-out period and so a pattern and balance is established. 

In our weekly rhythm teachers strive to give a rhythmic structure to individual lessons as well where we reflect on a subject we explored the days before and follow that with presentation of a new element. Whatever has been taken in on one day is remembered and reflected on the following days. This builds a growing rhythm and a deeper sense of understanding of a subject.

Children are in deep harmony with nature and our seasonal rhythm connects us more to the natural world.  Nature is a world of rhythms - the rising and setting of the sun, the flowering of trees, the change of seasons... when we provide supporting rhythms for children, we harmonize their being, thereby aiding the development of their inner rhythms of sleep, digestion, circulation etc. Monthly themes, block study, seasonal festivals and celebrations reflect and support our connection to the seasonal rhythm.

We highly recommend reading Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne for inspiration to create more rhythm in your children's life at home!

​“Children depend on the rhythmic structure of the day–on its predictability, its regularity, its pulse…. By surrounding a young child with a sense of rhythm and ritual, you can help them order their physical, emotional, and intellectual view of the world. As they come to understand, with regularity, that ‘this is what we do', they feel solid under their feet, a platform for growth. Such a stable foundation can facilitate their mapmaking: the connectedness that they are charting in their brains, in relation to other people, and in their emerging worldview.” (Simplicity Parenting by Kim John Payne)

We also recommend the blog Rhythms of Play for more inspiration in how to create healthy rhythm and routine in your life at home.


Here's a look at how we learn through rhythm at the Children's Garden:


Daily Rhythm

Our daily rhythm is a gentle guide to the flow of our day. We do not adhere to a rigid time structure for the day but we do follow the same order so there is a natural predictability of what comes next. This natural predictability helps promote positive energy from the children - if they know what is coming next they feel more secure and are more at ease with the flow of the day:

Art Projects
Circle
Inside Free Play
Snack 
Outside Free Play
Guided Activity
Dance Party!
Lunch (Morning Group)
Special Classes: Yoga/Mindfulness, Music, Cooperative Games, or Spanish
Story Time

​With all the new children this year we have been focusing a lot on our rhythm, creating a culture of kindness, and exploring the different learning areas we offer to create a solid platform for growth.

​As children arrive we have art projects and materials for the children to interact freely with. We have been getting to know all our new friends so we have kept a lot of the art projects as a simple introduction to the supplies that are commonly available to create with. Our art projects are process based - please read our blog Raising Creative Thinkers with Process Art to learn more!

Learning how to use scissors properly and how to write our names is an empowering accomplishment for many young children!

​In our opening circle we unite as one group, connect with each other through singing and various greeting activities and move our bodies in brain smart ways that enhance our ability to learn.

On the first few days of a new year we give the kids a tour of our classroom, community room, and play gardens, so they have more understanding of all there is to discover and play with. 

​The safe place is an area where the children can go if they are having big feelings and have the space and tools to practice self-regulation.  It’s also a sweet soft space to play with friends or read a book.For more details on how we use the safe place see our previous blog on Emotional Intelligence.

​"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." - Fred Rogers

​"Play is the highest form of research" - Albert Einstein

​"Creative people are curious, flexible, and independent with a tremendous spirit of adventure and a love of play" - Henri Matisse

We have been harvesting green beans and learning about how their roots have special homes for Rhizobium bacteria. These helpful bacteria take nitrogen from the air and convert it onto more fertility in the soil. Some of the beans get eaten right off the plant, or some get hulled and the kids eat the inside "sweet bean". Beans that we let dry can be hulled and saved for the winter and replanting in the spring.

The kids have loved picking and feasting on all these delicious abundant apples!

We took turns using different slicing techniques and had an apple taste test! Check out these pro knife skills!

The cooked apples were the winner! Everyone agreed that the cooked apples tasted more sweet. Why? Do our cooked apples have less or more water in them than the raw? Did the heat of the cooking make the apples get bigger or shrink? Why do you think the cooking process makes the apples taste sweeter?

Make your hypothesis! What do you think will happen when we combine this powder with this soap and this liquid?

​The Kindness Jar is a practice that helps us to spread kindness in our community. Any time we see someone else doing something kind or helpful we put a pompom in the jar. What you focus on grows and a momentum of kindness, generosity, and helpfulness is growing fast. Once the jar is full of pompoms we are throwing a kindness party to celebrate growing kindness in the world!

​As we listened to the story we created paintings of acts of kindness and talked about a kid-friendly version of the pledge:
​

1. Be Kind - I pledge to respect people that are different, and treat people and animals with kindness and fairness.

2. Be Peaceful - I pledge to find peaceful ways to work out my problems.

3. Share with others - I pledge to share my time to help out in my community to make life better for others.

4. Listen to understand. I pledge to allow others to express their point of view; to find win-win solutions to problems so that both sides can win; and 'agree to disagree' if we can't come to an agreement.
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5. Preserve the planet - I pledge to practice good environmental habits like recycling and helping to protect the earth and its habitats.

We have had many conversations with all the groups of how can we create a healthy, fun, and safe learning community for all here at the Children's Garden. What are the agreements we can create that will help us grow from a "me" to a "we" community?

Well, the kids had ALOT of ideas in response to this. Some of the ideas that were offered from the children were: no hitting, be nice, listen to the teacher, take turns, take care of the toys, listen to each other, no running inside, no yelling inside, don't grab toys from each other, tell a teacher if you are hurt or scared, use your big voice, gentle hands, be generous, keep the classroom tidy so kids don't trip...

From all our conversations we were able to consolidate all of our thoughts into 3 simple positive agreements:

Be Safe
Be Kind
Listening Ears

To put all of our love and energy into our agreements we created a collaborative art piece with all the groups which we then turned into a community reminder. Do we forget our agreements sometimes? Of course we do! We are humans :) We can gently remind one another and learn to adjust from a "me" to a "we".

​We loved making these sweet Kindness Cookies together and then passing a cookie to one of our friends instead of just gobbling one up straight away... everyone still got a cookie when we shared!

From slicing strawberries to peeling carrots to tonging cheese and mashing guacamole we love making lunch together! Cooking and eating together helps us to connect as a community. Ask the kids to sing you our gratitude song we sing together before lunch and snack!

We love our yoga and Spanish classes with Mama Annalise!

Mindful breathing with the Hoberman Sphere helps us practice slow deep breathing. Taking big deep breaths is some of the best medicine we have to keep our cool in all kinds of situations... and it's free!!!

Here are a few of the books we've been reading to learn more about how we can feel kind and connected in our community and our world!

And some helpful reminders for parents and caretakers to use positive words of kindness :) 

​To make this delicious and protein rich banana bread mix together the following ingredients and bake at 325 degrees for 45 min to 1 hr:

• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 large eggs
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 1/2 cups almond flour

​Here’s some inspiration for summer learning with water!

​Children are always generating ideas about the world and how it works based on evidence from their own experiences.

Playing with water can be a wonderful tool for laying the ground work for future mathematical and scientific learning as well as a fun, hands-on learning experience rich with discovery.

​We created some fun water walls to explore some of water's amazing properties.

​The kids love this water wall made with pool noodles!

​Child: "The leaf FLOATS!"

Teacher: "Why do you think the leaf floats?"

​Child: "It just floats."

Teacher: "Do you think the leaf is lighter or heavier than the water?"

Child: "Lighter!"

​We compared larger balls to smaller rocks:

Teacher: "How are the ball and the rock different from each other?"

Child: "Ball is bigger and the rock's little."

​Teacher: "Is the ball heavier or lighter than the rock?"

Child: (long contemplation) "Lighter!"

Teacher:  "How are the ball and the rock the same?"

Child: "They are both circles!"

​We made a table with our sorted and categorized findings while learning new vocabulary words like buoyant and dense, shallow and deep, empty and full.

​We floated our boats and slowly added and counted out the pennies as we explored further the concepts of gravity and buoyancy.

​It took one boat 28 pennies to sink!

​We compared making Watercolors on dry paper with watercolors on wet paper.

​The kids love to paint on this Buddha Board where they paint with water and then quickly watch the painting evaporate.  What a great paper saver!

​Teacher: "Do you think Ooblek is a liquid or a solid?

​Child: "It's a liquid!"

Another Child: "It's a solid!"

​Teacher:  "You're both right!"

See you next time!

Greetings Folks! We are still setting up our beautiful new space so here is an oldie but goodie blog post with tons of STEAM learning activities as we explored force and motion with Action Art, Simple Machines, and learning all about levers, wheels, inclined planes, gravity, magnets and more!

Jackson Pollock Inspired Action Art!

We love the book Action Jackson by Jan Greenberg to inspire kids in Action Art!

​Step 1
Decorate your clothespin with markers, paint, stickers, glitter....

Ready, Set, Launch!

Cooking with Motion!
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These cinnamon coconut apples were a hit! And a great way to pack apples for snacks!

Add 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1 tsp of coconut sugar, and 2 tsp of unsweetened shredded coconut to a bag of sliced apples.  Then "shake shake shake" the apples until they are fully coated.

See you next time!

So, sometimes parents ask us "What's with all the cooking?  Is it really helping my kid learn?"  To which we answer a happy hearty "YES!".

​Early Childhood Education experts agree that cooking with children has innumerous benefits from laying the foundation for basic math concepts to supporting healthy eating habits.


​"We believe that children learn best through play and when they are able to fully engage all of their senses. 
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The textures, smells, and tastes from the various ingredients provide an unmatched organic experience with an ability to enthrall, entice, and spur a sense of wonder in the children’s eyes. As educators, we foster each child’s independence and encourage the exploration of culinary creations, igniting a sense of accomplishment which provides an insatiable desire to push boundaries while we work together to create tantalizing results."

NAEYC National Association for Education of Young Children
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Here are our top 10 benefits of cooking with kids!
​

​1. Healthy Food Choices

Children look to adults to see what a “good” food is. Often times children are more likely to eat food they have prepared, even if it is something they may not taste otherwise. ​

8. Self Esteem

"Hands-on cooking activities help children develop pride and confidence in their skills and abilities as well as encouraging self-direction and independence."
- Creative Enrichment - Stimulating Young Minds

"Children who cook say "I can" not "I can't".
- NY Times

9. Science Concepts

"Cooking activities connect to three important content areas in science: life science, physics, and chemistry.

The ingredients in recipes come from plants and animals.  Children begin to understand the connection between their own lives and the plants and animals that help meet their needs. 

​Experimenting with simple machines, tools, and actions and their effect on objects connects cooking activities to physics.

As children combine liquid and dry ingredients, they can immediately see a change in materials.  The addition of heat and cold also causes changes in materials that children can observe. For children cooking is beginning chemistry."

​- Teaching STEM in the Early Years by Sally Moomaw

10. Social Emotional Development

Food is a great vehicle for communication.  Children learn to share, how to take turns, and to enjoy eating together. Cooking promotes social knowledge as kids learn healthy practices for hygiene and dining, explore cultural traditions regarding the creation of certain foods, and follow safety precautions during preparation and cooking.

​Uncle Bear removed a small branch for us so we could see how the pecans attached to the tree.

​The kids adored using this nutcracker.  It's so easy and effective!

​We combined 2 cups pecans, 3 large pitted dates, 2 TBS coconut oil, and a pinch of salt in the vitamix and blended until smooth.

See you next time!

Reggio Emilia is an approach to education named after the town where it originated in Italy. The founder Loris Malaguzzi believed children were in need of a more holistic kind of education after World War II. He began the Reggio Emilia style based on the belief that every child is unique and will express their interests in many different ways.
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This belief has practical impact, creating a co-learning environment where teachers learn with the children and work in a lateral relationship as opposed to a hierarchical one. The Reggio Emilia approach is intended to adapt to the children in the environment—it’s about them, their unique interests and their communities, not a fixed structured model. 

We are very inspired by the Reggio approach at the Children's Garden! Here are the guiding principles of the Reggio approach and some of the ways that we integrate them into our learning environment:

​Children are active participants in their learning. Children are highly capable, curious learners, who are supported in developing and following their own interests.  Most of our projects are inspired by what the children are naturally interested in learning about. We learn what they are interested in by observing their interests and documenting their activities.

​The environment is seen as a “third teacher”. 
High quality materials are carefully selected. Rooms are free of clutter. Natural light, order and beauty are hallmarks of a Reggio classroom. Thoughtful provocations are set up throughout the environment to engage learners with wonder and discovery.

​Project based learning is encouraged. 
​Instead of isolating subject areas, students are encouraged to truly research their interests from many angles. Whatever they choose to learn about can be read about, written about, painted, built...

​Documentation is paramount. 
One highlights of the Reggio approach is the importance it places on documentation. Examples of student work are made visible through photography and displays in the environment. Teachers record students’ thoughts and activities and then showcase them to make their thinking visible.

​Communication is imperative. 
​In the Reggio approach, children are talked with, listened to and respected. They are encouraged to use language to explore, and in the early years, sounds, rhyme and rhythm are toyed with. Later, rich conversations drive much of a child’s learning.

​The Hundred Languages of Children: One of the most important ideals driving the Reggio Emilia philosophy is referred to as the Hundred Languages of Children. 
​This means that children have many different ways to express their thoughts and learning. Hands-on learning and play are ways that children can demonstrate their learning, along with song, dance, drawing, writing, painting, physical activity, pretend play and storytelling, just to name a few. Each of these activities are seen as valid methods of learning about the world and work together to compose an entire child.

​A love for aesthetics, beauty, and items from nature also play an important role in Reggio inspired learning. 
Pine cones, stones, shells, sticks, bark and leaves can be used for many purposes. Children can create from them, examine them, and use them to represent concepts.
Other open ended types of materials may include a collection of wooden blocks, scraps of fabric, a basket of scarves, ceramic tiles or mosaic glass pieces, cardboard tubes, or other materials that children may be interested in.

One hallmark to the Reggio approach is the use of mirrors and light tables in the play/work area. 
​The light table is an engaging way to explore materials from a new perspective and provides another point of view and depth of understanding. ​

​Activities are set up as provocations or offerings. 
​The intention of provocations is to provide an invitation for a child to explore and express themselves.  They are usually simple and displayed beautifully to provoke interest. They are free to choose what they are interested in without any demand to fulfill an adult's agenda in the learning activity.

Inquiry Based Learning
One of the best ways to determine ideas for study is by listening to the questions your children ask, or observing them while they are playing. Perhaps they said “It is so cool that water turns into the shape of my bucket when I pour it.”, or “why don’t you ever see raccoons in the daytime?”. These simple conversations can lead to some of the best lessons you can do with your child. Stock your work area up with books about matter or nocturnal animals. Follow your child’s lead.
Once you have stumbled upon a topic that seems to grab your child’s attention, look for ways for them to explore it. Provide them with materials that can deepen their understanding and allow them to express themselves in one of the one hundred ways!

Check out this free course on inquiry based learning we did on our last teacher development day:

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/inquiry/index.html
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Flower science experiment

We have been exploring the color wheel to learn how different colors mix together and then mixed colors to dye a variety of flowers.

The kids loved counting out 30 drops for each color!

Red and blue make purple!

Blue and yellow make green!

See you next time!