​As we continued with our natural materials exploration, we took a step away from the creation of our nature table and salt dough homes, and headed for the Rebecca Spit.  What could the children create with the abundant driftwood?  For inspiration, we visited the sculpture of Mayhew, the Sasquatch.

​While visiting Mayhew, we took notice of how many fingers and toes he has, his size compared to the creatures that live at the beach, and how he had a great big walking stick.  
 With our ideas on how Mayhew was built, it was time to hit the beach in search of materials to build our own structure at the Childrens Centre. As the children were gathering up their materials there was some conversation about the Eagles and Mayhew “keeping watch” over the Spit. This inspired the children to help Mayhew by collecting garbage from the beach.
“Children benefit from opportunities…to recognize the connection between their own actions and the wider world. These activities help them build the ethical foundation for social and environmental health and well-being, now and in the future” (ELF pg. 33).  

​Beside collecting, part of being at Rebecca Spit is enjoying all of the pleasures of the beach on a beautiful day; jumping off logs, searching for crabs, exploring seaweed, playing in a fort, and throwing rocks in the water. 

​After lunch, we went back to the Children’s Centre with our bags stuffed full of beach treasures, ready to build, create, and learn new skills.
Soon we were putting together our own structure. With their own self- assurance and ideas, the children were eager to pick out all different shapes and sizes of driftwood collected from the Spit and begin drilling it all together. It was a thrill and and a real confidence builder to be in charge of a real power tool.  “This confidence is essential to children as they begin to explore their creative capacities as family members, friends, thinkers, citizens, and stewards of their natural environment”. (ELF pg.18)

​With the smaller pieces of driftwood, seaweed, and other smaller treasures found at the Spit, we offered a table activity with glue and paints to create smaller structures they would be able to explore and enjoy inside. 

As play in nature and with natural materials is eroding generally in our culture, we are so fortunate to live here on Quadra Island, where there are such rich opportunities.  Just as play is the innate mode of learning for children, nature and its treasures are the most accessible, and essential learning medium.  At the Children’s Centre, the values of natural materials and nature is central to our approach. 

The BC Early Learning Framework (p.23) states: The capacity to explore and create is vital to nurturing the zest for life that is the basis for learning.  Through play, children express their natural curiosity about the world and explore multiple early learning goals simultaneously.  Supporting children’s explorative play is perhaps the most important-and the most natural and accessible-means to promote meaningful learning in the early years.
Our exploration of natural materials allows the children to explore the world using their bodies and senses. We have painted and felted rocks; glued small objects found outside to pieces of bark; crushed and ground clay, leaves and chalk using a mortar and pestle and a grinder.  This wide range of materials has given the children the flexibility to transform the materials in creative ways. Through their play with real tools their experiences have been meaningful as they expressed their curiosity of the world around them. 

​We have painted leaves and added them to mobiles which we beaded. 

​We have ground leaves into fine sprinkles which we glued into beautiful collages. We have experienced the heavy scent of dried cedar boughs as they went through the grinder.

​We have practiced our cutting skills as we cut leaves and moss.

By offering materials in interesting and different ways the children's creativity can blossom. The way they consider the materials is challenged; crushed leaves are not trodden on and overlooked but instead are caught as they fall from the grinder and focused upon as they manipulate them with a glue stick.  These materials were collected by the children on walks in the forest or found in the yard and playground.
 
In the lead up to Christmas, we made presents for our families using some of the natural materials.  Using air drying clay as a canvas the children selected materials they wanted to use and pressed them into the clay.  Each child took their time, suggesting that a lot of thought went into deciding how to arrange the materials.  Some of the materials were collected especially for the project while others were a product of our exploration, such as the finely ground leaves. 

​To extend their interest and to involve their families, an invitation went out, and the response was wonderful:

​Our intent is to create a space where they can once again explore natural materials through play.

​​Unpacking our treasures
 “The development of languages and literacies among young children provides them with a strong basis for successful learning throughout their lifetimes.  “Literacies is a broad term used to describe the development of the physical, emotional, social, creative, linguistic and intellectual means of communication among young children.”  Early Learning Framework (ELF).
Revisiting their materials gave the children many valuable experiences of sharing, rich descriptive language, storytelling and wonderings. 

​Descriptive words such as : ‘prickly’, ‘hard’, ‘soft’, ‘pointy’, ‘sharp’, ‘dead’, ‘alive’, ‘crunchy’, ‘stinky’, ‘gooey’,  were used to describe characteristics of items.
We compared and distinguished the materials:  “Green is alive, brown is dead”.

​Stories were told:  “Under the moss was an egg that Raven stole.”

​When sorting their items, some matches were obvious to us while others seemed unrelated.  A rolled up piece of bark was tossed into a basket of pine cones with the explanation that it was a rolled up pine cone. – A fine example of a literacy goal of being able to express one’s own point of view.

​An invitation to play with the materials was extended to the children.
We were surprised at the speed in which the children dumped scattered and arranged their found materials on the nature world table.  The pieces had no meaning to them unless they had found the materials themselves.

​It wasn't until they began to play with them that the children began to discover the potential of the materials.  

​What began to emerge was an interest in animal habitats and dwellings.  Sticks, pine cones, shells, rocks were manipulated to form homes for the animals that we had added to the table to evoke their play.  

​To support and extend their interest we offered clay and salt dough for them to build more sturdy and permanent dens. 

​The children have painted their homes and were invited to cover them with materials that they have ground, crushed, broken and transformed.

To show the children the possibilities that natural materials offer, we provided them with opportunities to explore and use them creatively:

Our natural materials exploration will continue in next month's blog with a visit to Mayhew.

​Jackson expressed he wanted to do some gluing. He was unsure of the glue stick as “it wasn’t drippy”.  After I explained the glue stick and took off the lid to show him the glue he spent several minutes twisting the bottom and watching the glue going up and down. He touched the glue. “Sticky, not drippy.” he said. He started off being gentle and soft while applying it to the paper flowers. I told him to push hard and use his muscles to get the glue down.  In between every application he would twist the glue all the way out and check how much he used and how much was left. 

​He seemingly understood the cause and effect of his use of the material. If the glue was all the way down he couldn’t get any glue. If it was all the way out he could glue. If he spread lots of glue the stick was “getting littler”. 

​As stated in the Early Learning Framework (page 18) “A sense of well-being and belonging is vital to children as they learn about and explore the world around them”.  Jackson, although unsure in the beginning  felt confident to try this new way of gluing! He was in control and felt strong in his abilities to explore the glue stick as well as his uncertainties of its stick form vs. liquid glue. 

​LOOKING AT OUR DRAWINGS AND DISCUSSING COMMON DESIGNS
The children agreed that their plane will have wings and jets. They have come together as a team and collaborated in the drawing, cutting and attaching the wings to the main box.

Eamon has just arrived and joins the engineers in adding what he calls; “A rudder”. He has found a pizza box and seems inspired by the narrow side which he folds back and forth.  He shares that real wings have these. He knows exactly where his rudder should go and proceeds to tape it on.  Beckham; “Yah! That looks really good!”

​Miles: “The top is open!”
Teacher: “What would happen if the top of the airplane was open?”
Westley: “The pilot would fall out.”
Eamon: “He would have to use his parachute.”
Eoin: “We need more jets!”
                    

​The capacity to explore and create is vital to nurturing the zest for life that is the basis of all learning. (Early learning framework. Page 23)

​                             RELATIONSHIPS AND SPONTANEOUS CREATIVITY
This group of children have built strong relationships with one another. They enjoy spontaneously drawing together. Their unique creativity enhanced and inspired each other.  At first, it was the details of their airplanes that took precedent; the children seemed focussed on describing all the bells and whistles and performance of their airplanes! As they became more confident in their personal style, the children went on to incorporate old favorite ideas as well as new components in their pictures. Their drawings no longer stood alone but became adventures to be shared with friends in rich narratives taking birth as they drew.  The children developed a reciprocal interest in their friend’s skills and stories, they felt valued and a sense of belonging in knowing that their ideas mattered. 

​REVISITING AND PROCESSING
When Rosa finished her picture, I asked her: “What would you like to tell me about your plane?” Her reply came quickly; “The plane floated on the water and flew back.”  Later that week, Rosa revisited her picture at group time; however, her narrative had expanded into a tragic story; “The plane fell in the water because the wing broke off. They never came back alive, the wind broke the wing. The people died and went to heaven.”  As I reread her group sharing it dawned on me that it had a striking resemblance to a tragic plane crash in our community. Was Rosa bringing this subject in her story? My next step was to ask her mom if Rosa had been to the plane crash shrine at Rebecca Spit. This is what Amy replied; “Yes, she had been there several times and it made an impact on her. She is very intuitive and sensitive.”
“Play is the work of children…through play, children make sense of the world around them.” (Early Learning Framework p15)

​On January 10, 2019 it snowed! At first the flakes were small and as we watched it fall from inside, we wondered if it would cover the ground.  The snow kept falling and falling.  When we went outside to play, the ground was covered with a thin layer of snow.  It took a lot of time and a lot of work to roll the balls for a snowman out of such a thin layer of snow, but we worked together.
We found salal branches, rocks, and pinecones to make the features of our snowman.  When a pinecone was used for a nose our snowman was transformed into a snow penguin.  The snow kept falling.  But then it rained, and rained, and rained.  Soon there wasn’t a trace of snow or a snow penguin in our yard.

On December 6th 2018, we had some special visitors, visitors with feathers!  Aedon, and his family, brought some chickens to share with us.

First, Aedon’s mother, Yvonne introduced us to Charleston, the handsome rooster.  Everyone had a chance to hold a handful of grain and feed Charleston.  Although it doesn’t hurt, sometimes it is a surprise to have a hard beak come pecking down on your hand.

Then Yvonne brought out Skye, the hen.  Aedon showed us how to hold her so she felt secure.  Skye was very calm as she got passed from child to child for a hug and a snuggle.  Both Charleston and Skye were calm and gentle and did so well being handled by the children.  They must get a lot of love and care at home.
​
Three cheers for everybody who met Charleston and Skye!  Although everyone was excited, the children were considerate of our feathered guests.  Thank you, Aedon, Yvonne, and Isla for this up-close and personal visit with Charleston and Skye.

As Christmas approaches we wrap up the goodies
Choosing just one, from a plate full of cookies
We say our farewells to families and friends
And wish them a peaceful and cheerful year’s end​

November 2018
Finger painting has many developmental, educational and creative benefits.
Research has shown that art activities are important for brain development in early childhood.
One of these is sensory play where kids learn through their senses.
Sensory integration is a developmental process where touch, taste, hearing and vision are part of brain development for later spatial, math and language concepts.
Messy play like finger painting is important to every child’s development. It helps the body and brain integrate information as well as being relaxing creative way to express feelings.

​With warm weather in sight, we were happy to move our explorations out to the side deck. Out came the pools and tubs of water, and one day, dried water color pucks were offered as well as big syringes. How would the children use these materials to create?  

​To redirect away from the temptation of shooting water at each other, and the conflicts that ensued, I quickly painted a happy face on one of the circles on the fabric backdrop, and invited the children to aim at it.  As the streams of water hit the freshly painted face, the happy face disintegrated and disappeared.  This act of destruction was greeted by glee, as everyone joined in the thrill of making the faces disappear.  

​ At a staff meeting we talked about this delight. What other materials and experiences could we offer that could give the children a similar sense of glee of boundary pushing within the safe confines of the deck? 
We first gave them the freedom to experiment with the messy blackness of charcoal.  

​Two themes emerged in their play with the charcoal. Eamon poured the black mixture into the clear water and delighted in the spreading blackness. He called over the other children to witness the darkening of the water, and his excitement was contagious. Now the group had a goal. Let’s pollute the clear water with blackness. The goal of dirtying what was once clean was repeated over and over in our deck explorations always accompanied by a mood of elation.
 Then their play turned imaginative. They started making poisons and potions for the teacher.  A container filled with black water was offered to the teacher. Everyone watched with barely suppressed anticipation as the teacher pretended to drink.  Then gleeful shouts of “Its poison, its poison. ” erupted. Making poisons is a recurring and popular game and is a clear example of children delighting in
​“badness “ within the safety of play.  

​On another deck adventure day, nasturtiums were floated in a water table and pool as well as set out on a table.  So often the children are directed away from picking the flowers with gentle reminders to “Let them grow,” or “leave them for everyone to enjoy.”  Would access to flowers be engaging for them?  I also set out some mortar and pestles, and some plastic frogs so that the play could turn imaginative.  

​The children went directly to the mortar and pestles. Dylan grabbed a sifter, and caught a flower that was floating in the pool.  With exuberance, he declared, “I catch flowers and tear them apart.” As he used the mortar and pestle to grind and crush the flowers, he declared “I am killing flowers.” This was taken up by the other children.  They marched back and forth between the pool and table, scooping up flowers, and then crushing them in the mortar and pestles while repetitively chanting “We are killing flowers, We are killing flowers”
 As the chant filled the air, I was reminded of our staff conversation and the observation that adults can control children’s play out of a place of discomfort and a desire to keep things nice. I stepped back and let their mood of elation and exhilaration fill the deck, and then they shifted focus to imaginative play with frogs on their own

​On another day, we set out lumps of clay and tools for rolling.  As the group was busy with rubbing, pounding, and squeezing the clay, they came up with ideas together about their play.  As they narrated they hit on many boundary themes; making things dirty, death, poop, and destruction.  

“We are doing a job,” declares Miles, Beckham and Eamon. “What job are you doing?”  I ask.  “making the water dirty ,” is the answer.  Then their narration takes a turn towards death. “We are getting blood so that the bad guys die… How about we have to pound the blood out … It is actually poison that kills the bad guy.”  The theme turns toward poop.  “It is actually bad diarrhea that we are making.  How about we are making diarrhea in a factory? … Look how much diarrhea we are making in the factory … How about the poison is actually made out of diarrhea?”
 They describe their ideas with relish and look towards each other for confirmation.  One of them gets carried away and attempts to throw nudity in the mix. He hooks his thumbs in his underwear, puts an excited grin on his face, and looks back and forth at the other two boys in an attempt to generate excitement of doing something that is usually not allowed.  “I am going to take my underwear off,” he crows.  “We keep our bottoms on at the children Centre,” is my response.  It is not the response he is looking for and he abandons the idea. 

Do we stop children’s play when we feel uncomfortable?  Do we ask ourselves why we are stopping children’s play. If we are stopping children’s play because we are uncomfortable with its niceness or appropriateness, what happens to that sort of play? 

​ Throughout our experiences staff were observing how children communicate their consent to each other, and how they ask permission from the teacher. We noticed that children often signalled with body language. For example, Griffin approached Isla with his hands up as claws and with a roar. She turned her body away, her expression was downcast and she looked away. Griffin stopped what he was doing and gave her space. Minutes later he approached, again in a similar stance. This time Isla mirrored his gestured, and soon they were deciding on their roles of Mama and baby cougar. With a teacher they would look at the teacher for a reaction, before acting. 
Sometimes they asked each other verbally.  “Can I paint your toes?”  and sometimes they made a move and were met with either acceptance or cries of protest. We stepped in only when needed to smooth interactions and make their communication clear and respectful of each other.

​As educators we were exploring knowing when to step in and when to stand back. Sometimes we were guiding the children to a deeper understanding of the boundaries they were exploring, and how it was different from what they were allowed to do “in the real world,” We also needed to highlight that these explorations weren’t a free–for-all, and that the children also had responsibilities.
  When the clay came out a popular activity was smearing the window with clay to make it dirty.  The intention was announced. 
“ We are going to rub clay on the window,” 
“ What will happen if you rub clay on the window?”
“It will get dirty! ... No one will be able to see!”
“Would you be allowed to make the windows dirty like this at home?  What about at the library?”  The children responded with a chorus of No’s.
“If you get the windows dirty with clay here, what do you need to do after you are done?”  No one had an immediate answer.
“What do you think these cloths are here for?”  We need to clean it up!”  

​We started with the intent of offering activities that would spark a similar joy to the glee when allowed to destroy something. We discovered together how to talk about and give form to our activities, so that the group had a deeper understanding of when and how they can step outside of regular boundaries.

A slideshow depicting a group of children working towards a common goal. At times recruiting help but more often working as a team with revolving leadership roles.