This year Brooksfield created an oudoor classroom area for our students to explore nature, dig for worms and learn about the world outside of the classroom walls. Led by our our Outdoor Education teacher, Anne McLaughlin, students have had fun getting dirty rain or shine!
“Water, water everywhere” was the theme this week in the outdoor environment! Undaunted by the weather, we trekked outside and were lucky enough to have some cover and protection from the rain underneath the big green tent over the picnic benches. The children appropriately dubbed our work “the water kitchen” as we noticed just how much rainfall had collected in 3 separate basins set out for water play. The children experimented with various natural objects to see which ones would sink (such as river stones and seashells) and which ones would float (Iike leaves and sticks). We even made a boat! Many children used practical life skills like pouring and measuring to make pretend soup, juice and other treats. Part of their imaginative play included constructing swimming areas and islands for animal figurines, and even using a long stick to go fishing in a muddy puddle!
We observed mushrooms and colorful fungus growing on logs and tree stumps, a cobweb delicately spotted with raindrops, a queen ant with wings crawling in search of her mate, and still the beautiful monarch butterfly fluttering around us as if saying hello!
The children are also enjoying the boot scrubbing station where they can dip a scrubbing brush into a bucket of water to scrub off mud and rinse off before entering the building again.
