Today is International Mud Day.  Started in 2009 in Nepal and Australia, the organizers of International Mud Day wanted to find a way for all of the earth’s children to feel closer to one another and to nature.  Here at McKendree, we celebrate Mud Day everyday with lots of opportunities for children to get dirty.

Playing in the dirt is proven to make you happier, healthier, and even smarter!  Loaded with healthy bacteria, parasites, and viruses, exposure to dirt and mud inevitably strengthens a child’s immune system.  Dirt play – making mud pies in the mud kitchen, gardening, exploration of earthy potter’s clay, or simply digging holes – can significantly improve a child’s mood and reduce anxiety and stress. The open-ended nature of mud and dirt is perfect for the developing brain, and allows children to exercise their ability to problem solve, think critically, form ideas, and be inventive and creative.

“For ourselves, and for our planet, we must be both strong and strongly connected — with each other, with the earth. As children, we need time to wander, to be outside, to nibble on icicles, watch ants, to build with dirt and sticks in the hollow of the earth, to lie back and contemplate clouds….” Gary Paul Nabhan & Stephen Trimble, The Geography of Childhood, 2004

 One of the BEST summer traditions at McKendree is water play day!

Although water play is a staple on the roof throughout the warm months, once a week during the summer, each class turbo charges their roof play experience with all things wet and messy.  On these days, we ask parents to send children in swim suits, already liberally doused with sun screen and ready for a morning of fun!  We fill the standard water tables and even add a few more.  The sprinklers take center stage as the kids get wet from head to toe.  Splashing, pouring, squirting, filling, dumping, sloshing, wading, wallowing, spraying, spattering, and drenching all happen simultaneously while the children play and have fun.

Water is one of the basic raw materials for purposeful play.

The ways in which it can be used are endless.  When water play opportunities are prepared thoughtfully and with intention, invitations to play and learn abound.

Children need:

• To come dressed in swimsuits
• Sunscreen Ready
• Water Shoes
• A Towel
• Sunhat and/or Sunglasses
• A dry change of clothes

Schedule:

• Monday: Explorers
• Tuesday:  Navigators and Movers & Shakers
• Wednesday: Researchers and Constructivists
• Thursday: Inventors
  Friday: Discoverers and Investigators

Planted in April, our garden is already flourishing!

The early crops of spinach and lettuce are so bountiful that the Discoverers Class (a toddler group) made pizzas topped with leafy spinach for lunch; and, the Constructivist Class (our Pre-K group) harvested enough spinach to enrich a special lunch of chicken quesadillas.

Bunny, our center pet, has also been appreciative of the fresh lettuce offered to him as a tasty snack.

As the garden continues to flourish, we expect to harvest tomatoes, herbs, peppers, figs, and even (hopefully) the heirloom pumpkins inadvertently planted by visiting birds!  The garden is an active part of our play environment on the roof.  The surprises of the garden (“Look, we have a tomato!”) fuel and provoke a child’s desire to investigate and learn.

In addition to the hands-on lessons in sustainability, natural science, and sensory development, the garden offers a joyful place for relationships and community to blossom. Meals centered around the foods we grow allow children and teachers to come together and enjoy their collaborative efforts.

Furthermore, as our harvest grows, we will share the food we produce with McKendree United Methodist Church who offers twice weekly meals to homeless and displaced persons in our downtown community.

Loose parts are those captivating and open-ended materials that invite children (and adults) to create, think critically, represent, transform, and experiment in an unstructured way.  They include interesting natural objects like stones, sticks and seeds, as well as up-cycled items like bottle tops, beads, and rivets.  They come in a variety of colors, textures, sizes and shapes.

Recently in the Researchers class, we presented a beautiful collection of glass beads, feathers, pipe cleaners, marbles, smooth wood pieces, craft sticks, and over-sized sequins with no specific set of directions.  We simply invited the children to explore.  Initially there was lots of “messing about” as children dove in to touch and investigate the materials (imagine feathers flying in the air and marbles freely rolling across the floor).  After adequate time to explore, the children became more purposeful in their work and began to move objects and arrange them in complex patterns within the frames we provided.  They experimented with SPACE, LINE, FORM, PATTERN, and DESIGN.  These are high level characteristics of art – a far cry from the one-size-fits-all craft projects traditionally offered to preschoolers.

Each creation was as unique as the individual artist.