Back when I started as the preschool teacher in July last year, I was intrigued by our outdoor environment and a few stumps that the children had access to.
Over the course of the winter we slowly brought in more and more stumps. Luckily my parent's live in a forest and acquiring stumps from downed trees has always been easy. For the first time time I got to use a chainsaw too.
Since then, the stumps have come to be an integral part of our outdoor experience.
We look under them for millipedes, earwigs, potato bugs, night crawlers, worms, centipedes, and slugs.
We paint them and we build boats and moons out of them.
We make music on them. We balance on them and roll them along the grass.
Sometimes we even have snack inside of them.
Currently the stumps serve as physical dividers between specific use areas. Who knows what they will be next.
Oh mighty tree! Even in repose and division you bring such joy unto the young!
ReplyDeletePete, you reminded me that I should bring The Giving Tree to read again.
ReplyDeleteI love that the objects children gravitate to over and over again never seem to be the manufactured toys which define the play, but rather things that allow the imagination to make the rules (cardboard boxes, rocks, stumps...) This is a perfect example of that. Thanks Aron!
ReplyDeleteOh I just saw this link now on my page - sorry I wasn't ignoring you! This is a wonderful snapshot of all you do with your stumps - love the one of the children sitting inside the circle of stumps. Have to share this post on my page - thanks again for sharing it with me.
ReplyDeleteNo biggie! Thanks for sharing.
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