Eating Outside

"Children are born with a sense of wonder and an affinity for Nature.  Properly cultivated, these values can mature into ecological literacy, and eventually into sustainable patterns of living." -Zenobia Barlow

Recently the weather has finally started to communicate with the calendar. This has meant a lot more time spent outside for all of us. Cohort 5 has been especially pleased with the extra time outside, as we have discovered all the different ways we can experience our outside space. One of our favorite things- both inside and out!- is eating. 

Today we had both lunch and afternoon snack outside. The girls loved eating beneath the tree, which gave us a generous amount of shade. The wind was slightly blowing as we ate our afternoon snack of bananas and o's. They noticed the wind rustling the leaves, the shadows from the branches, and the feel of the fresh green grass.

Giving the children opportunities to enjoy nature as part of our everyday routine is part of how we fight Nature Deficit Disorder here at Tumbleweeds. Our outside area is an expansion of our classroom. Not only do we play and eat outside, we also bring our art and circle times outside. Our outside classroom serves as an important scaffolding piece for the children's work, just as our indoor classroom does.