Natural Scientists

This week, we invited the children to join us for a little Belly Time (lying together on a rug, magnifying glasses in hand) to examine one mysterious green object in the middle.

We didn’t tell them what it was. We just looked.

What do you notice?

“It’s bumpy and it’s smooth.”

“When you knock on it, it makes a clicking noise.”

“The top looks different than the bottom.”

“It’s calm. It’s not moving.”

What do you wonder?

“I wonder if it grows from a plant.”

“I wonder if it’s a cucumber.”

“I wonder what it looks like inside.”

"I wonder what it would taste like.”

“I wonder if it’s a fruit or a vegetable.”

And finally: What does it remind you of?

“A garden.”

“Summer.”

“A zucchini.”

“I know, I know… let's make Zucchini soup.”

“I think we could make soup with it.”

So the zucchini made its way into the studio.

We looked, chopped, cooked and tasted. The soup itself received mixed reviews. But we did enjoy plenty of conversation along the way.