Saturday 13 August 2011

Rainy Day

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Rainy_day_girl_xsmall

 

“Rain, rain, go away,                  

please come back another day,

 little Johnny wants to play!”

 

Not at Montessori……

........ our children LOVE the rain and welcome every opportunity to get out there.

 


Let me tell you what some of the children got up to……..

Boots_xsmall

Jack did his favourite thing: filling up the tipper with water and then releasing the catch to “make a BIG splash!”

Later he joined in with the cleaning team as they set to cleaning the sandy area around the water butt. A brief rain shower had topped up the water butt and the tarmac was still wet. At the suggestion that we might want to tidy the area a bit a few of the children rushed off to get the brooms and brushes. Then the fun began. Water and sand make lovely mud. There was a team of willing volunteers and we had a ‘works meeting’. Marcus, bless him, stopped moving the wet sand around for a bit to exclaim: “I LOVE the rain!” and then carried on. Of course, all we were doing was moving mud around, but it was done with a great sense of purpose, not to mention joy.

Damp__dirty_broom_xsmall

That same morning, Matt and Katey carried out a junior science experiment. They lifted a heavy bucket filled with water and ducks onto one side of the balance. Then Matt stepped onto the other side, taking care not to slip. Having lost some water in the process, Katey carefully topped up the water, filling the bucket to the brim again. Then Matt jumped and, sure enough, the bucket slid off and the balance was washed clean. Not science you think?

 

Toddler_in_wellies_xsmall

“Play is the highest form of research“

Albert Einstein

I rest my case.

Fireworks_machine_cropped
 

On the same day Tim built what initially looked like a computer desk. He assured me, however, that it was a fireworks machine. He was happy to have his machine’s picture taken, so that we could  share his achievement with his friends and parents, and with you!

 

 

Rainy Day

Rainy_day_girl_xsmall

 

“Rain, rain, go away,                  

please come back another day,

 little Johnny wants to play!”

 

Not at Montessori……

........ Our children LOVE the rain and welcome every opportunity to get out there.

 


Let me tell you what some of the children got up to……..

Boots_xsmall

Jack did his favourite thing: filling up the tipper with water and then releasing the catch to “make a BIG splash!”

Damp__dirty_broom_xsmall

Later he joined in with the cleaning team as they set to cleaning the sandy area around the water butt. A brief rain shower had topped up the water butt and the tarmac was still wet. At the suggestion that we might want to tidy the area a bit a few of the children rushed off to get the brooms and brushes. Then the fun began. Water and sand make lovely mud. There was a team of willing volunteers and we had a ‘works meeting’. Marcus, bless him, stopped moving the wet sand around for a bit to exclaim: “I LOVE the rain!” and then carried on. Of course, all we were doing was moving mud around, but it was done with a great sense of purpose, not to mention joy.

 

That same morning, Matt and Katey carried out a junior science experiment. They lifted a heavy bucket filled with water and ducks onto one side of the balance. Then Matt stepped onto the other side, taking care not to slip. Having lost some water in the process, Katey carefully topped up the water, filling the bucket to the brim again. Then Matt jumped and, sure enough, the bucket slid off and the balance was washed clean. Not science you think?

 

Toddler_in_wellies_xsmall

“Play is the highest form of research“

Albert Einstein

I rest my case.

Fireworks_machine_cropped
 

On the same day Tim built what initially looked like a computer desk. He assured me, however, that it was a fireworks machine. He was happy to have his machine’s picture taken, so that we could  share his achievement with his friends and parents, and with you!

 

 

Tuesday 2 August 2011

Enjoy the Great Outdoors

Summer is the best time to get outside and get busy. Why?

 It's great fun, and that's enough reason in itself!

© Children can get active and ride their cars, run, jump and shout; 

© Children can get sociable and pretend, the can run an ice-cream stand, do a car wash, look after the baby, or take their bear for an outing.  

© Children can get busy and plant, water, paint or build with lovely hollow blocks from Community Playthings. Here's a link to a video about these wonderful blocks and what children get out of playing with them:    
   http://www.communityplaythings.com/products/blocks/video/video.html

Little_gardener

© Children can get creative and messy, do some digging, play about with water, "paint the wall" (with water and big brushes:-), do some finger- or footprinting, or draw on the ground with big chunky chalks;

It's official: children who play outside laugh more. This was observed by Dr. Tessa Livingstone, Child Psychologist and one of the researchers who contributed to the BBC study 'Child of Our Time.' Dr. Livingstone said:

"Children who are allowed to play and explore outside are likely to be more adventurous, self- motivated and better able to understand risk when they grow up." 

Do we need any more reasons?  

Blowing_bubbles