Super Hero Bodies

We all have them! Bodies equipped with sensory systems, designed to make the most of our time on earth. When everything is working well, it's easy to forget just how marvelous the experience of living really is.

But, when we remember that our working ears allow us to hear the wind in the leaves, we begin to really listen. When our noses delight in the heady scent of grapes ripening, a smile spreads across our face. When our skin's receptor's feel the sun's caress and we eat the last tree ripened peach in the back yard, we laugh, caught by the wonder of being alive.

These super bodies conspire to remind us that life's purpose, at least in part, is to relish the daily act of living!

Our celebrated senses are the tools of every creative scientist!

And will be essential to this years research question, "How might creative expression amplify our love of the natural world?"

Farm-to-table Spaghetti Sauce

At Children's Garden, we have our very own Farm-to-Table thing going on.  

In spring, we plant the vegetables, we tend them through summer, and by autumn we are in full harvest mode. 

Our tomato crop has been particularly generous... so what do we do with all this food?

We make homemade pasta sauce of course!  And the best part of all... we get to EAT it!

YUM!

If you have an excess of garden produce at home, feel free to send it in!  We can always find something to do with it!

Nature-ing

The children and I spent a week exploring music in and with the natural world.  (I'll include a link below to a short musical video of our time together).  After experimenting with sound making, we carried our instruments to our arboreal friends.  First, we needed to meet our audience: Ash, Bradford Pear, Red Bud, Silver Maple, Peach, Apple and Pear.  (Yep we have all those trees out our backdoor!). Then we played our noisy hearts out! 

We then gathered a few peaches to share and delighted in the warm, juicy sweetness ruining off our chins.   When finished we stop by the compost to add to our decaying fruit and vegetables pile and meet all the wonderful worms and insects converting our trash back into soil

We finished in our prolific garden, picking some collard greens, basil and tomatoes for food prep in the studio!  

Stay tuned to see what we make with our bounty!

Click here for a peek at our music in the making.

The Senses of a Scientist

The XP children and I began our year of inquiry by fine-tuning our sensory, observation skills!  And where better to begin than sunflowers!

Smelling the flower and stems...

Tasting with sunbutter....We decided it tastes like the flower smells... its smooth, salty, a little sweet, sticky and just plain gooood!!!

We smelled,

It feels sticky in some areas, smooth in others but everyone agreed that it sounds crunchy...

And then we spent a long while looking at the flower from a variety of angles....

R

We then recorded our data on paper with graphite and colored pencils!  

More to Come!!!

Enchanting Explorations

The children began visits to the studio this week and I could not be more delighted! In keeping with our research question, the studio is connecting children with the natural world through a variety of materials. 

This magnificent treehouse has been a perennial favorite for many years.

The Latin origin of the word "enchant" meant "to sing upon." To be enchanted by the natural world, literally, meant to be sung too.  Cultures around the world have historically sung to forests and other special landscapes.This year we will be doing the same! Here you can see the children playing with instruments set up in the studio. Next week we will be exploring music in the outdoor environment as well. Our early explorations emphasize the importance of listening. These tools allow us to sound a note and then follow it as long as we can with our ear. This will foster our listening in the weeks and months ahead. Listening to wind and snowfall and birdsong and one another. 

Stay Curious and Filled with Wonder!