What are the best experiences for children?

All children learn differently. My boys like to observe before jumping in.  Sometimes the first time they see an activity they do not want to take part.  However, they are learning by observing.  I realize this by the way they bring things up over the dinner table.  For example tonight T said, "Rot is good.  It is good for the plants because it shows that there a bugs breaking things down."

Yesterday we did a Fiddleheads session at the Arboretum: the theme was decomposition.   Teacher Sarah always plans wonderful activities and today she had set out stations at the start of class and at one of them were some books.  The boys saw a "Magic School Bus" book and that was what they wanted to read.  Today part of what the boys were talking about came from that book.  They actually retold the story.  Yet, I know that it was also the hands on experiences in the aboretum that they took into their explorations in the yard. I know I certainly did-- gardening today was filled with more attention to all the bugs, millipedes, and centipedes

A few of the activities from the class were:

• make a worm tunnel: the adults stood with their legs apart and the kids all faced them and then crawled through their legs.
• dig in the dirt off the main paths looking for bugs, place them in a white bowl to observe then set them free 
• making a segmented worm out of a hosiery stocking, cotton filler, and rubber bands for the segments

As always it was just getting out to a regularly visited place that caused the most excitement for my boys.  They were especially thrilled when they found how the skunk flower had changed next to the stream.  

I enjoyed seeing how the winter garden had transformed into azeala way.  It was a bright pathway.  The boys wondered if their paths that they had taken in the winter were still there. They were there, just narrower. 

I wonder what learning will stick.  All these outdoor experiences that my boys experience.  Some structured- as in the arboretum classes, some unstructured- just play in the backyard with the neighbors, some laden with vocabulary- while they walk the gardens with mama, and other experiences just filled with wonder.  Some experiences mediated by story, folklore, and silly songs, and other just their own imaginary play.  

My guess is: whenever there are smiles and true awe- there will be a deep bodily memory.

Investigating cones

Today the boys and I went to the Arboretum for the fiddleheads program. Teacher Sarah does a great job balancing play, games and explorations  during the two hour sessions.  The boys enjoyed looking at the cones and noticing their different colors and shapes.  They also enjoyed playing the game where they had to "run and find"…."a stem"…"a flower"..."a leaf"….and "a root. " S was always particular proud of his discoveries and would run back to Teacher Sarah to tell what he had seen.

Later this afternoon we played this game in our own yard taking turns calling out what to find: "something red and wet," a yellow leaf, "something dry"...a tulip..a laurel tree leaf.. a hidden spot under the wheelbarrow.  This game can be played with older kids and the added element of something chasing you and the only safe place is "a huckleberry bush" or "a rock" or anything that can be found in the environment.

Measuring Success by the Smile

On Friday our boys participated in  a class at the local Arboretum.  It was fabulous.  Although it had a topic of the day- bats; the children and adults enjoyed it because of the delightful pacing.  Planned activities were interspersed with the children's own discoveries.  Mushrooms were bountiful today and the kids seemed to find them all.  Compost piles were heaped in different areas & Teacher Sarah allowed the children to explore them by climbing up  and over them.  For one child every pile of dirt begged poking at- and he found plenty of time to poke & dig.  Meanwhile,  a story about bats was woven throughout the day with science, art, literacy and physical activities.

The day started with open ended activities until everyone had gathered
Then the kids were able to touch a real bat specimen.
Kids were handed out a "rubber" bat and they learned the parts of the bat as well as developed a connection to it by carrying it around all day.
The kids began the day by using "echolocation" and learning one another's names.   The teacher said her name; the kids repeated it.
The kids were bats: looking for insects, looking for shelter.
Then they heard the story of  Stella Luna.
The children also learned about how a mother bat finds her baby bat with her own particular sound:Old film canisters were filled with different objects and the kids had to find the child who had the other one that sounded like theirs.
Then the kids played a game where the children had to find a tree to "sleep in" and when the sun came up and then when it was night they ran around catching insects.
In closing there was a painting activity.   A silhouette of a bat was taped onto a large piece of paper the kids were told to paint around the bat and then the bat was removed and they were supposed to see the "bat" on the paper.

As an observer/ participant mother along for the adventure I saw kids engaged all day, but also thriving with just some of the "free play" opportunities:  stopping to throw leaves, lay in the leaves, and look at the leaves.  Investigation of a nurse log that was filled with shelf mushrooms and had isopods crawling in and out of cracks.  Discovering HUGE leaves that were big enough to be umbrellas.

The day was so lovely &  it inspired my family to stay and experience the arboretum for another couple of hours....and bats became a topic of family discussions as well as other nocturnal animals.