Weekly Activities

During group times as well as many other moments throughout the day at Creative Minds we have been speaking about Generosity over the last little while. The children have come up with so many great ideas and it really feels like they understand. It still came as a pleasant surprise to over hear the children exclaim, 'I am going to make a bracelet for my friend!' and 'I'm going to make one for my friend too!' The beads and pipe cleaners were put out on our art table in the morning as an activity for the children to do when coming in for the day. But on this day there was an extra aspect of giving. Such a welcome surprise to find the children giving to each other out of their own volition. E said, 'I can't wait to be done so I can give it to my friend O'. A was really excited to hand his bracelet to K. He said, 'seeing her happy makes me happy.'

Welcome Year of the Dog. Sharing stories, food, and time together. Learning about different traditions.

Most people's understanding of sharing in a daycare setting is with toys. Taking turns. Sharing items and equipment. But if we look at how our community shares with each other and compare it with the children's understanding what do we see? The children see the importance of preparing food and sharing this with others. This happens inside our centre as well as in the forest. Once in the forest, markets are carved out under trees and merchants sell their wares. Pinecones, stones, seeds and twigs become food to be shared. Ice cream and treats are easy to find but merchants are always happy to fill special requests. Money is sometimes requested in exchange for food but most often food is given for free. It was lovely to see how Valentine's Day was able to coincide with our generosity unit of inquiry. The children were SO excited to be able to mail their valentines to friends and family. Sharing space with others is often a difficult thing to learn how

We tried to come up with things to give that didn't cost real money. Our list included things like, giving a hug or kiss, singing a song, or having playtime together. Then the children and I made our own money/coupons. They decided who they wanted to gift it to, and what what the offer should be.

This morning Brianna was leading one group of children in music. As they sang they were trying to count how many times the song had the word 'together'.   Mai had the other group for math. She played a game that had the days of the week. Everyone would cover their eyes and she'd sneakily take one day away. The children would then guess what day was missing by counting through the days.

One of the best things about being right next to a forest is  the opportunity to visit the same natural space many times. The hope is the children  will form a relationship with, and feel a connection to the land. Doing that takes time. It is exciting to adventure into uncharted territory. Discover  a new climbing tree, and picking the perfect place to build a fort. What a great feeling, then, to be able to return to the same space, to reconnect with that tree or that fort, to realize that the unknown trail now feels comfortable and familiar. Daily visits to 'our spot',   offer the children who are more hesitant and unsure the chance to observe familiar territory and proceed at their own pace. As an educator, I love being able to say to a group of children, “We’ll be back. It’s time to leave now, but we will be back.”  And when a child says, “Remember how hard it was to climb that tree the first day? I think it’s easy now.” or “There was so muc