Water...

I have a theory.

I imagine that world peace would emerge if we had enough water to drink, as well as play in!

Well, probably not, but it's a nice thought.

It's actually a thought that stemmed from a rather difficult day, for both the children and myself. We were just not on the same page. There are days like that, it's completely normal. I was just not myself, and the children just seemed to sense that, and were really pushing my buttons. Hmmm, let me rephrase that, because I was probably pushing their buttons. They were laughing and having a great time, aside from a few moments of tension amongst the children. It was me.... completely me... I will stand up and say it was me! I was just not feeling the excitement of the sunny and warm weather, and just wasn't in it. So when the children were happily playing and moving about the outdoor classroom, I just found myself kiboshing their fun. It was not intentional, I just wanted 'an easy day.' Try as I might I just couldn't get them to just 'take it easy'. Of course not, what was I thinking? They weren't doing anything untoward, they were merrily playing, and exploring. They were taking risks, they were creating their own fun, they were PLAYING!!!

So I had to shake myself out of this funk.

That's when the water came out.

For no other reason than I needed something to play with myself. Something I could engage in, that would bridge the tension between the children and I. Out came the water tables, and the water, and suddenly the world just settled into place. Similar to my theory.

The tension was gone, the nagging stopped, the laughter continued. The children that were engaged in play already, continued their play, but I found something that 'calmed me nerves', and motivated me to get down and dirty with the children and have fun.

I guess the overall message is, if you're finding yourself nagging and annoyed.... just pull up your britches, and PLAY!!!! I think that on a small scale we saw the solutions to the world's problems.... just PLAY!!!

FUNK.... BE GONE!!!!

Reality Meet Play, Play Meet Reality

About a month ago we sent cheerleading thoughts to one of our moms that competed in a Tough Mudder race. We were all curous about the race and the night before the big race we had a big daycare meet and greet bbq and made sure to provide plenty of carb rich foods for her carb load she had to do. She did well and braved the challenging obstacle course. We were all very proud of her, and even motivated some of us adults to perhaps give it a go next year?

So it was only natural that her children would be inspired to compete in their own Tough Mudder course. Our loose parts outdoor classroom naturally lends itself to foster that creativity. What a fun connection between real life and play!

The water portion of the obstacle course

Now you have to go backwards

One of our grand traditions we have at the centre is the centre pieces. The children take them rather seriously and put a great amount of thought into each one. They range from simple and minimalistic, yet well thought out....

 .....all the way to 'where can we put our food, because the centre piece has taken over the table?'

...and somewhere in between.

So it came as no surprise that when the chidren play in the dramatic play area, the centre piece portion of play is a serious process. Another lovely connection between real life and play.