Towards the end of last week, I gave the boys a little taste of the forest, by building a bear cave. Nothing fancy, just a fort covered in a brown blanket that made it resemble a bear cave. The boys LOVED their cave, and even had their teddy bears cooking breakfast in there. I loved watching their imagination blossom, and they loved having the freedom to play as they wished.
Monday we took it easy. We were still in Rhode Island, so we took a walk through the woods looking to see what animals and vegetation we found. We also read the book Owl Babies, by Martin Waddell and talked about owls and how they were nocturnal. It also brought up the topic that mommies always come back, and that we always come back because we love our little boys (and girls), so much! My guys always are asking when I leave the house when I am coming back, so I love when I find books that offer reassurance of parents always coming back.
On Tuesday, I introduced the boys to their school tray. I have stopped having such a structured "school" time. I am learning that while it is nice to have a schedule, that is nowhere near what they need right now. They need play. Sensory. And the invitation to learn. And with this new concept (and I have also been reading some Montessori books lately), I have made them trays that are in the school room. This week's tray has some bear pictures in a variety of sizes, a ruler, pre-writing practice sheets (Pierce loves those!), and art supplies to make a bear cave picture. Of course the boys loved making their own bear cave picture, while I loved seeing them create what they thought to be a cave. We also read The Bear Snores On, by Karma Wilson. We also used our color bears to sort, as well as measuring bear pictures to see which bear was the biggest. After about 40 minutes, they were done, and we got ready to go to our music class at the library. It was so stress free and relaxing! Who would have thought that school would have been relaxing? :)
Wednesday was such a beautiful day outside. After we finished playing at the gym (they played, I worked out), we came home and certainly did not want to go inside. So, the boys came up with the idea to go for a walk in the woods. I came up with the idea to do some tree rubbings...and off we went! Crayons, paper, and our sense of touch were ready to be used to learn some more. It was so much fun to have the boys figure out that while the smooth trees didn't really transfer to the paper, the big rough trees made a really cool texture on the paper. Pierce discovered that the texture looked different if he moved his crayon up and down, vs. side to side. My favorite parts of being a stay at home mom, is when I can literally see the sparkle in my children's eyes as they discover and learn on their own.
I did not have that many activities planned for Thursday, as I was supposed to perform my civic duty and go to jury duty. We did start our day off by talking about various animals that lived in the forest, and the boys really wanted to talk about rabbits. They told me all about how rabbits hopped everywhere, they didn't make a noise, and they used their noses to smell the good grasses to eat. Then that was it; they were off to playing dodge ball with Nana in the house. :)
The culmination of our week was done on Friday. Before we went to our gymnastics class the boys colored in raccoon faces. Every part of the face was made out of hearts, and they decided to use multiple colors to design their raccoons. As they were coloring, Pierce asked if we had any books about a raccoon that stepped in paint. Of course my answer was no, but I did suggest that maybe we could make a book. He thought, and he thought. And then of course he made a book!
On the inside he "wrote" a story about how the raccoon ended up covered in paint. Here is how it went:
Raccoon stepped in paint.
The raccoon shouldn't step in paint anymore.
But he did anyway.
Because he is a bad raccoon.
The bad raccoon stepped in paint, because he didn't listen to me.
The End.
Hey, for a first time book writer, I think he is pretty awesome. :) Carter actually finished his project, which meant that he has a completed raccoon as well!
Although we are moving on to Nursery Rhymes for next week, it certainly does not mean we are done with the forest. We have way too much wildlife in our back yard to ever be done with talking about, or learning about, the forest. And since the forest changes in every season, there is always something to learn.
Do you have any favorite activities for the forest?
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