October 25th

Although we missed Samantha, who was away this Monday, we were so lucky to have JoAnne, a special friend of Lindsay's, come in her place. She taught for many years at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School and is a true nature spirit and outdoor educator. Without Samantha, I didn't capture quite as many pictures but there was just as much magic as usual!

It's the time of year when all the plants of the garden and meadow begin to die away and leave behind  perfectly packaged seeds to sleep through winter, warm in the lap of Mother Earth. We looked at many different kinds of seeds; seeds with parachutes, seeds with wings, teeny tiny poppy seeds, and nuts! We talked about the reasons for all the different types of packages of seeds. We thought they are meant to first help the seed travel, through the air or with the help of animals and people, but also to protect them from air and water until it's time for them to grow again. JoAnne brought in beautiful clay Native American seed pots to look at. They have a small hole for the seeds to go in but then they are buried underground through winter. For these native people, collecting and protecting their seeds was a deeply important task that would determine if they could grow their food for the next year.

It was a chilly day but the October sun was shining and quickly warmed us. The children were delighted to find that Jack Frost had come to the big open meadows and left crystal treasures for us to find. We had to work quickly though because the warm sun was chasing them all alway!

The wind inspired a game of windy forest where the children had to try and create enough wind to blow down a tree (JoAnne). It took a lot of strength and determination to get a tree down! When the tree fell it dropped many acorns that grew into trees and made a new forest! 

We shared some of our Halloween ideas and costumes and decided it would be nice to make a decoration for our Wrens' Nest Halloween celebration. We thought we could gather leaves, seed pods and pine cones because of their nice autumn colors. 

We needed to warm up our fingers and toes after a frosty hike home to our room. We filled our bellies and discovered that many of us were eating types of seeds in our lunch! After that we had some very cozy floor book and story time before JoAnne offered us the story of Little Dawn Boy.

We made our Halloween wreath with the treasures we collected from the meadow and many beautiful marigold flowers that JoAnne brought for us. It will live safely in my refrigerator until it greets us on our door next week :)