Staying Cool this Summer

One of the reasons I keep blogging about our school days is that looking back at the week encourages me to be a reflective teacher.  One thing I've realized this week is that we need a new sandbox.  The old one was wooden and falling apart, so we took it out a few weeks ago, but there's a group of kiddos who still play in that area, desperately collecting the sand that accumulated in the mulch over the years.  When I see children determined to return to a favorite activity, I know it is feeding a need.  They need a sandbox.

It's definitely summer around here, and they also need ways to play outside and get their big body play, but without getting overheated.  I have misters that we turn on while we're outside, and they help a lot, but we've also had water and bubble play several days, and the kids love it!

 Arguably their favorite bubble toys, the large circular wands are in constant use when I have them available.  I'm really impressed with how well the children manage to share them, using other toys while they wait for their turn to use the huge wands. 

 Who wouldn't want to make huge bubbles like this?!

 Another favorite wand has many large holes, and makes a cluster of bubbles.  When a bunch of bubbles are stuck together, the children call them "snowman bubbles" - and chase them down to pop them.

 There's some snowman bubbles!

 This is the main cadre of bubble poppers, ready to chase them down and pop any stray bubbles, any way they can: with their feet, their hands...

 ... their mouths.  Yuk!  Bubbles don't taste so good!

 These girls, in the mean time, were figuring out how to share one car.  They couldn't scoot it very fast, but they were both on, and apparently they were satisfied with just sharing.  Nice!

As much fun as we can have in my backyard, I think it is important to play in other playgrounds sometimes.  Each playground offers different ways to move our bodies, different combinations of activities, and fun new elements to explore.  I took two different groups of kiddos to Stovall Park to play this week.  There are climbing elements that use lots of upper body strength, spinning elements, and some fun places to pretend.

 Here the boys were playing hide and seek...

 I mentioned last week that the Arlington Public Libraries have a lot of free shows for kids this summer, both at libraries and at recreation centers around town.  We're taking advantage of some of the performances, and checking out the rec center playgrounds while we're there.  If you are in the area, you can check out the schedule of events at  http://www.arlingtonlibrary.org/kids-calendar.

 It's really hot out on the playgrounds in the afternoons, so we take our ice water, and I take a spray bottle full of water to douse the kids - and myself.  Do you think these girls liked me spraying them down?

 Our backyard play area is nice and shady, and with ice water, misters, and a little water play, it's still nice to get out at the house too.

 So how do we keep from getting bored at the house?  By rotating which toys are available.  This week I dug out the light bright, and the little pet shop toys, as well as kid connex, and those were instant favorites.

Outside, I got out some high dollar toys... by which I mean recycled loose parts for the kids to play with.  You've surely heard people talk about how children prefer the box to the new toy sometimes... I take that theory and go with it pretty regularly.  These cardboard tubes were in the center of carpet rolls, slated for the trash or recycling bin... but I rescued them.  Add balls (and pine cones), and you have serious kid entertainment.

We added plastic tubing and recycled bottle funnels to the water play table, and the children came up with quite the creation.

 The children connected all the tubes, attached the funnel to one end, put the other end in the top of a water wheel, and collected water to pour down the funnel and into the water wheel. 

 Joy!

Field Trips, and why I love them

I love field trips with the kiddos, I really do.  They are probably the biggest reason I've continued to teach from home, rather than go back to the public school setting.  I love public schools too, don't get me wrong!  My own children attend or attended public schools, and have learned a lot, and done well.  It's just that the students only got to go on one field trip a year. ONE!

 There is so much they can learn by getting out into the world around us, hands on and experiential learning that can't be mimicked in a classroom, even a really great one.

 One of the trips I took this week was to the FW Botanic Gardens.  I took the oldest few kiddos, and they walked and explored for 2 solid hours.

 We started with the Texas boardwalk, going through trees on the raised boardwalk, and stopping every few minutes at the learning stations that are scattered along it. We admired the leaves in different colors, shapes and sizes.

 We climbed on a fallen log, and counted the rings to find out how old it was when it was cut.  The children could see fat growth rings that represent years of plenty, and thinner rings for drought years.  Even cut and on the ground, it was home to roly pollies, spiders and ladybugs. 

 When I told them we were going to go to the Botanic Gardens, they started talking about how beautiful it is there.  Five year olds, and pleased to go somewhere beautiful?  Oh yes!

 We literally stopped to smell the roses - over and over again.  These young children compared the different scents, while watching for bees and other insects.

 Of course we had to take some sweet pictures to show our families! 

 They found peaceful spots to pause.  I have to admit, they had already been walking and running for over an hour at this point, but it was still lovely!  We also paused by a pond for a long time, watching turtles and koi fish, and they noticed that one turtle was different than the others, a different species.

 One child insisted I check out this "bee" - which turned out to be a clearwing sphinx moth.  It hovered like a hummingbird, but looked like an oversized bee.  Amazing!  Something I had never heard of before, but now we all know what it is.

 Of course, kids are going to be goofy.  They had a fine old time sniffing these fallen trumpet flower blooms, then laughing when they could sniff no more, and the flowers fell.

 I planned to take the rest of the children to the Botanic Gardens too, but due to crazy traffic, we ended up at a local city park instead.  It's easy to see that the Botanic Gardens could be a place of learning, but what could they learn at the playground?

 Cooperation and communication to start with.

 Gross muscle development, all kinds of physical skills.  This child learned how to climb up through these rings and back down again safely - and was so proud.

 Pretend play is important too, and each group of kids I've ever met has used this kind of play space to "sell" something.  This group was buying and selling hot dogs, but the following day the wood mulch pieces were sold as chicken nuggets.  Imagination!

 Don't forget the power of sheer joy!  We spun and climbed, slid and rocked, ran and laughed for hours!

 I have a wonderful backyard play area - so why do we need to go to a park?  Variety!  By playing on different equipment, the children are using different muscles in different ways, and it's just more fun to change things up sometimes.

 They get to interact with children they've never met before, or sometimes catch up with an old friend.  On the way to any field trip we talk about our safety rules - #1 rule is "We stick together."  One of the 3 year olds also told me that we talk nicely to the other kids, and if someone bothers you, you ask them to please stop.  What great social skills!  Don't you know some adults that could learn from that small lesson?

 While there are many, many things I could say about our trips out into the world, many things that we can learn, I'm going to end with this one: confidence.  The world is an engaging and wonderous place, and by learning to handle new places and new situations, children learn that they can, indeed, handle new places and situations. 

That's some heavy stuff, for a city park, a garden, or a museum.  And that's why I love field trips!