Another Autumn Week celebrating with Ward Hobbs

If you are having a tough day, rake some leaves and don't just watch the children play, get in the mix and PLAY too!

We continued our sunflower paintings...

And added some pumpkins.


To keep the investigations going, BJ stepped in for some fun-filled pumpkin carving.

We even experimented with techniques to vary the light in each pumpkin and indulged in some roasted pumpkin seeds!

Stay tuned to see what fun we get up to next week!

440 Celebrates Autumn, Van Gogh and Planes

We painted on our clear easel and then pulled prints inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflower paintings.



Inspired by the changing colors we tried our hand at some observational drawing.

The children have been interested in planes and are making some 3D planes of their own with found objects.


It was another fun-filled week with the children!!!

Ward Hobbs celebrates Autumn!

Fall is in the air and nature is dripping with color!  We used this motley display as an inspiration for some observational drawing.

Drawing in this way helps us to slow down and linger in the beauty.  This supports our ability to express  what we see in a variety of creative mediums.

Outside, the gardens keep on giving.

To celebrate the children and I harvested tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and basil.

Then spent the day washing and cutting and prepping our food.  Once the trays were full we drizzled them with olive oil, a tad of balsamic and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Popped them in the oven to roast and then we ATE!  MmmMmm good!

Amy is back playing with mud in the studio!

We are so happy to welcome Amy Laugesen back to the studio for a wonderful yearlong clay collaboration!  Amy will be joining us every month or so to provide the children with support as they explore and express using the language of mud!

With fall is in the air, Amy celebrated the turning of the seasons by bringing some autumn inspiration to investigate alongside Clay.

While they work, the children are experimenting with a lot of techniques including rolling, making impressions, coiling, scoring, joining and basic pinch and poke techniques. 

It’s an absolute joy to watch them play and discover with this wonderful media!

Toddler Explorations

This week Angelina is exploring the language of watercolor with the Toddler classes...

And Amy is introducing playdough as a first step toward clay.




Together we are having a FABULOUS time!

Ward Hobbs is problem solving!

“Hey Angelina how does this work?” 

“I don’t know?”

Can we take it apart.”

And so we did.



As educators we understand the value of “I don’t know”. Even if we do know. 

Try it out. 

“I don’t know” gets children excited and interested to learn because they have something to discover and teach. It’s one of the best tools in my tool box!

Another great tool is offering up an intentional challenge. The children have been playing with Legos and a new struggle has emerged. “What can you make using all the Legos?” It is being met with an enthusiastic "I can do it” attitude.

Another wonderful week in 440. I look forward to seeing everyone again on Tuesday!

Grape fun and observations in Ward Hobbs

The backyard grapes are at the peak of ripeness.

So the children helped with another harvest and carefully stripped each grape from its stem in preparation for another round of grape juice!

We also harvested the potatoes and beets from the back yard and while doing so we found a wonderful praying mantis.

This inspired some great conversations and Vida supported the children in observing our new friend and recording our findings in science journals.

Inside the children experimented with different materials on a black drawing surface.

It was another fun filled week in Ward-Hobbs!