Woolapalooza! The intersection of nature and art.

This past weekend we took the little one to our first Woolapalooza. It was also our first visit to a farm this season and an amazing experience. We learned about the path wool follows, "from shearing to sweater." It was an interdisciplinary lesson in science, social studies and art.

The city crowds surrounded this man and sheep, as he laboriously sheared lane by lane, with strength, skill and patience.

We admired the initial product, digging our hands into the soft and unaltered wool.

The girls observed carefully as a woman with seamless effort spun the wool into yarn. She explained it takes years to master that skill.

We learned that wool could be dyed naturally, by using plants, vegetables, seeds and even mushrooms. Some of their samples had been dyed with black walnut, goldenrod and beets!

The little one got to pick and spin two colors into this beautiful bracelet. She also kept some in her pocket to later leave in the woods for a bird to use to build its nest.

We even witnessed with amazement how this border collie herded the sheep, in an incredible dance between human, dog and sheep.

The visit ended with colorful displays of yarn and the work of many artisans and their beautiful works of art to buy or just dream of.







Today, the little one took a trip to the Arburetum to leave the yarn for the birds. They picked a tree to leave it by and went for a walk. When they returned the yarn was gone!

Many farms are opening their doors to visitors. You may get to see some of the newer additions to the animals' families or maybe some sheep shearing. On May 1st, Codman Farm, in Lincoln MA will have its own Sheep Shearing Day.

Bringing Spring In!

We've been itching for some spring flowers, so I couldn't resist bringing these Narcissus home from the grocery store. I put them on the kitchen table and invited Lucia to draw them. Her first response was "I don't know how!" So with a little encouragement, talking about color, shape and the properties of the stems and flowers, this is what she drew:

Most of our art projects are process based, but I have to recognize that I occasionally rejoice in some product aspects. In this case, I just love the simplicity of the drawing and the attention to detail. She carefully counted the petals and gave each flower six, with their own little pile of dirt. While she worked, she was quiet, focused and observant.

Our latest indoors nature activity has been planting grass. We were inspired by an article I read in a magazine at a friend's house. I knew it would be great to grow some green in our home, but also it would be an opportunity for Lucia to get her hands in the soil. (In a recent trip to the zoo she spent the whole time digging in the pots instead of looking at the animals!)

So we put some dirt in a container.

Evened out the soil.

Spread some seeds and added water.

"Plants need soil, sun and water to grow," she stated. So we added water. Lots of water!

Then it was time to PLAY! So we brought over the little plastic animals, the rocks and some bowls and pie pans. The little one went to town and played for a long time, narrating, exploring, patting, digging, baking and distributing... You know, what little kids do when they are left to just be. It was the best part!

 

Once we were done she confessed liking better the dry soil than the wet soil. With the remaining soil, I decided to make a second grass garden, just in case the first one had a little too much water. Now we are waiting for the grass to grow!

Time, Nature and Creativity

One of our commitments as a family has been to spend time in nature. During the cold months it has saved our sanity and as spring begins to unfold we are filled with excitement and expectation. There is nothing like the inebriating scent of soil after the snow has given the stage back to rain.

This past weekend we were gifted with one of those scarce, early warm days when Young Spring has won one of the first battles against Old Winter. Ecstatic about the 55 degree weather we spent every minute we could outdoors. We are lucky to have the Arnold Arboretum around the corner from our city apartment. As we walked through the familiar gates, I found the adults in the group holding on to their city walk, an I-need-to-get-somewhere-quickly sort of walk, while the girls were stopping from puddle to puddle, looking for sticks to poke around in a I-have-no-where-to-be-but-here kind of non-walk. It was lovely to see the dance, between the adults needing to pull forward and the children digging their heels in the mud (literally) and saving us from our own insanity. 

Time is what childhood brings back as a gift to rushing adults, especially if we are wise enough to offer the right space: Nature.

Yet the gifts Nature brings to children outweigh most gifts we, the adults, may offer children. 

Presence: In Nature children can be in the moment, connecting with themselves, their bodies and the environment, exercising mindfulness, improving attention capacities and promoting wellbeing and mental health.

Intellect:  Time in Nature promotes abstract thinking. Children have access to understanding concepts in concrete natural environments that translate into abstract and symbolic thinking. (Concepts of distance and measurements, reading maps…) Nature also promotes problem solving skills, through the immensity of possibilities presented while working with the physical environment: comparing and contrasting sticks long enough to reach a destination or rocks to throw into a pond, collaborating with others to build a structure or carry a heavy log, calculating the distance and effort needed to reach the next step while climbing a tree. 

Freedom: When children spend time in Nature with no or limited adult supervision they have to make decisions, take responsibility for their decisions, individually or as a group.

Creativity: If we are fortunate enough to observe children play in Nature we will hear endless stories. A log will become a bus or a pirate boat. The will transform the world around them endlessly through thought or action, constructing and reconstructing what they now, while exploring reality and fantasy.

Spending time in nature can begin with our own back doors. Bring your children outdoors as often as possible and if you can, let go of their hand, they will thank you.

Some books to get you started:

Links to get you outdoors:

http://www.audubon.org/
http://www.nps.gov/applications/parksearch/geosearch.cfm

Cold days and GLUE!

Creativity can be elusive during the last stretch of New England winter. Glue has become our favorite pass time. I have observed over the years I have worked with children and now with my own, that any collage activity is really all about the glue. So, why not make glue the main character?

I added a few drops of food coloring to four bottles of glue and let her set free. She became one with the glue, and as she often does her art became more of a day at the spa. Once it was out of her system, she experimented with the glue’s properties and enjoyed its 3D quality.

We have also brought out left over collage materials and nature walk treasures. She was eager to see if the rocks would stay on the paper once they dried.

She also loves experimenting with letters and numbers cut out from magazines. (Something I do during the after-hours these days…) Not only do I find these great visually, but hey have brought about great stories. Her name has a baby and a mama for each of the letters. The second one is the story of Dangalili, a 10 year old pirate.

She now wants to have an exhibit. I will have work on the logistics for that!

A Love for Poetry

Illustrating her poem. Yes, she has her helmet on... She was missing the summer!

Ever since Lucia first started speaking she made poems. She was delighted with the similarities between words, the rhythm of the books we read, and the rhyming of chants and songs. One of her first poems emerged as she asked for a little more milk. “A little bit,” she said. I then saw her eyes wonder as she thought and then said “Elizabeth.” She paused to add “Isabelle,” and "Israel.” 

A little bit

Elizabeth

Isabelle

Israel

A great big smile followed. 

A few weeks later, during the summer she came up with a little playful rhyme:

Lion,

Lion,

Dandelion!

(I love this one in particular because to me she looked like a dandelion!)

Poetry answers to so many aspects of life; from the playful understanding of language and how it works, to a way of describing the essence of a feeling or a moment in life. Poetry is a window into other people’s souls and can be a tool towards understanding another way of life or a different understanding of reality. It can also be therapeutic and help children and adults process trauma, change and challenging circumstances.

We’ve been really enjoying a particular book these days. It is a lovely compilation of poems about families. It touches on the diversity of families, as well as on the many experiences in family life. It has brought about many discussions about families and their histories, as well as opened the door to talk about feelings, family dynamics and the what-ifs of life. Some of the conversations have not been easy, but who said they ever would be?

 

Another book we have been reading is “My People.” Langston Hughes beautiful poem is interpreted through breath taking photography by Charles R. Smith Jr. I thought it would be a good way to introduce thinking about the concept of belonging to a bigger family and to cherish the African American experience.

Lucia’s most recent poem came about when we were getting ready to have lunch. She said:

Mommy,

You sit there

And I’ll sit here

We’ll sit together

And watch the breeze

This brought me to designate a notebook to record her poems. I will write the poems she comes up with until she can write them herself. In the meantime she has the job of illustrating them. I have explained to her that this is an important job given that she will look at it in the future and see how she thought when she was younger.

If we listen carefully, we will notice that children speak the language of poetry. In between the lines of our mundane life, between hand washing and groceries, little poems flourish. Recording these little poems will open a window into their thoughts and provide us with greater understanding and closeness. By noticing, we bring light to their creativity and provide them with the first tools for reflection and perspective.

I would like to suggest one more book for your next trip to the library. Frederick is the story of a little mouse who collects flowers, colors and words for the hard months of winter, while his mouse family collects food. When they run out of food, the mice turn to Frederick who warms there hearts with a poem. They respond by saying: "But Frederick, you are a poet!" Frederick then blushes, takes a bow and shyly says: "I know it."

Ice Play

We continue our study of winter, the subtle changes of the elements and the wonderful transformations of water. Foreseeing that we were going to have some extreme temperatures, I thought it would be a good time to make some ice of our own.

We gathered a few containers from the recycling bin and interesting shaped ones from our drawers. When I asked how we would get the water outside, Lucia thought of using her watering cans. (These have come in handy for bath time, too!)

And voila, we watered our containers and added a little food coloring. We also brought out some of the treasures we gathered during our fall nature walks. We noticed that for the most part pine cones and acorns float. Sticks became a handle “like for popsicles,” she said.

 

We also discovered that there were already some other containers filled with ice; a pot with a frozen plant and our wonderful sensory play container, which we turned around and ended up with a great BIG block of ice.

 

We checked on the water a few times over the next hours, and day. “It takes a long time for them to freeze!” she said. “Hmm, maybe it’s not cold enough,” she added. When the water finally froze, the temperature was a little too cold for us.

 

Finally, this afternoon, at a balmy 30 ° (Fahrenheit, mind you! about -2 Celsius) we braved the elements and went out to play with the ice. We hung the muffin tin ones to make a mobile.

We made sculptures and discovered how tricky it can be to move ice around. “It is SO slippery,” said the little one. 

 

We also brought out the play animals to skate on the big block of ice. That brought about a lot of pretend play and discussion around skills on the ice.

 

Finally, the most exciting part was to stand on the big block of ice and pretend to conduct an orchestra, like the little boy on the internet.

The ice is waiting for us outside for more explorative play. If you live in an area that happens to be warm right now, perhaps you could freeze the water in the freezer, and get a nice relief from the heat. As for us, we will continue to enjoy our winter!