Weekend Explorations

I've been reading a lot of articles about Reggio Emilia education and Reggio-inspired play so I decided to set up a nature table and a few "provocations" for Brecken.  I created them while he was napping and let him discover them on his own.

The nature table was an instant hit.

 

 

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Next he noticed the insect-hunt inspired, bug collecting provocation. We followed this up with some real-time bug collecting in our backyard.

When he walked into his room he saw the tray I filled with play-doh, colorful rocks, markers, cards and a couple of snakes.

I really enjoyed watching Brecken discover the activities I had set up for him and I definitely plan to include Reggio-inspired play into our days.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Full Friday

After spending so much time playing with his construction vehicles Brecken decided to scoop cookie crumbs into the excavator while having coffee with a friend at Starbucks

After our coffee date we headed to Ardastra gardens and zoo for a play date with a little friend. Brecken really enjoyed the new display at the front with snakes and spiders.

Then Brecken said "hello" to the Macaw

And finally fed the Lori parrots. Up until now he has happily eaten the apple provided for the birds 😆

 

Brecken really enjoyed spending time with someone his own size

After leaving the zoo we headed for our weekly homeschool get together at Charlotteville. A couple of older boys found a blind snake and Brecken was beside himself with excitement

He was getting a little rough so I returned the snake. We spent the next hour or two looking for another one under every rock Brecken could fine. We found spiders and other creepy crawlies but no more snakes. 

What a fun-filled full Friday!

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Corn-struction!

Yesterday I combined Brecken's love of construction vehicles with a sensory item that we have an abundance of here....corn!

I added them to a galvanized tub and threw in some measuring cups and scoops.

Brecken often helps to feed the chickens so he was pretty familiar with the texture of the corn. He immediately started scooping and loading. 

  

 

Someone came over to check out what was going on...

And after awhile the corn ended up going down the slide!

 

 

 

Sensory Success

Brecken is almost 21 months old and I'm trying to be more deliberate about presenting activities and opportunities to him.  

I decided to start with a daily "sensory" experience. Pinterest is a great resource for this. 

Today I made Moon Sand using this recipe:

8 cups flour

1 cup coconut oil

The original recipe called for baby oil but I don't keep that on hand. 

I made a test batch first then made the whole recipe. I added some wooden tools to play with then told Brecken I had something new to explore and he followed me outside.

At first he was only willing to explore the strange new texture with the wooden knife, cutting molded balls of it into little pieces 

but slowly he began to touch and feel it. 

Very quickly he was climbing into the small bin I had made it in! 

I grabbed the lid to his sandbox and added some small animals and he played for almost an hour. 

Shaping...squishing...sprinkling...our first sensory bin was a success!

got milk?

I am so excited! While Facebooking - a very rare occurrence I promise ;) - I saw a mom mention finding raw milk from Andros! I have been looking for local raw milk for so long. To clarify we simply do not seem to have dairy cows on this island . . . Or dairy goats. I would even accept sheeps milk if it meant grass-fed, non-homogenized raw milk!

Now that I have heard about it, everyone I speak to seems to have an auntie or grammy in Andros that they get to send them their raw milk. The Mennonites in Andros seem to be the key. They grow vegetables, build furniture and, apparently, keep dairy cows. I am still trying to secure my supply but I am hopeful for the first time.

Up until now I accepted that living on this island meant choosing the lesser of two evils - Organic Valley (whose cows spend 7 months eating grass) or Horizon Organic (4 months on grass). On my last shopping trip the only kind of milk left on the shelf had added Omega-3 to make up for all of the fresh grass that was not eaten. I don't know about you but adding fish oil to my milk just is not very appetizing.

Organic Valley does have a new milk available called  . . . drumroll please . . . Grassmilk! These cows spend 100% of their lives on pasture and the milk is non-homogenized. But . . . our local food store does not stock it - yet! I have been messaging the store and mentioning the new kind of milk available to every shelf stocker I see. I think they cringe when the see the pregnant lady coming to bug them about milk again :) Until I heard about Andros, Organic Valley's  Grassmilk seemed like the best I could hope for.

Anyway, that is my exciting news and here is a link giving some reasons why raw milk is a good choice.

Why you shouldn't drink pasteurized milk