At Morning Star we love to celebrate the seasons through poetry, songs, dances, morning circles, painting, drawing and craft activities. So with the transition from winter to spring, Term 3 has kept us very busy. We started the term with our wood cutters Morning Circle and the children enjoyed carrying their wooden stump axe around, stomping through the woods to gather the fire wood to keep us warm. They delighted in the imagery of Jack Frost with his “cloak of Silver, his hat of shimmery white, his wand of glistening star dust and his shoes of moonbeams bright”.
Through our artistic work, we enliven the children and strengthen their will forces. Our winter painting sessions give the children an experience of the soul qualities of the cool blues as “water dancer”, our paint brush, glides over the wet paper. They were amazed to find the beautiful hues of purple appear when the watery blues and red colours met together. In craft, we made both big and little felt gnomes for the children to take home for their nature tables. The children are continually developing their fine motor skills using the needle to do both straight stitch and blanket stitch. Towards the end of term, we turn to Spring, making caterpillars and butterflies.
On our regular nature walks, we love to collect treasures from the natural world. This term the children have also stopped along the way, sat down in a circle and learnt to whittle green sticks. This is also a lesson in coordination and control, ensuring we are working with our strong hand and further developing dominance.
The creative play both inside and outside, by its very nature, continues to teach the children social skills. They are all learning to use their words to solve problems and build resilience and strategies for self-regulation. We have also welcomed new children and families to our Morning Star group.
Now with the sweet smell of jasmine in the air and the warmth of the spring sun, our garden is forever gifting us with flowers and herbs and the many natural ingredients needed for making fairy potions. Many thanks go to Daisy and Lucas for their gift of compost and to Nathan, Sid and the Class Fours for the mud bricks that have brought a wonderful resource for our outside play.
Our highlight for the term thus far would have to be our Lullaby Baby doll celebration. It is such a special day, with the delight so visible in the children when they realise that the “special visitors” are indeed little baby dolls that they get to keep forever and ever. Many thanks go out to all the parents and grandparents for coming together to make the dolls for the children. A special thanks to Kirstie for holding the workshops and guiding everyone in the art of doll making.
With our Spring festival around the corner, we look forward to continuing our seasonal celebrations and the return of the warmth.
Spring is coming, spring is coming, birdies build your nest.
Weave together straw and feather, each one doing their best.
Blessings,
Paige
