Marin Tender Tracks Wed. Oct. 14, 2015 Day 5

Waxing Crescent Moon
Roy’s Redwoods

What an exquisite day. They all have truly dropped into the Tender Tracks way and Tender Tracks Friends.  Some are still trying to get each others names so we continue to sing our name song in the morning yet I have added describing the childrens clothes and then asking who that is as they search the circle to see who fits the description. The song is a traditional preschool song that is changed like this: There are two little beautiful Tender Trackers sitting in the circle. One wearing_______ “That’s ______” And one wearing____________” That’s__________. Fly away________ Fly away _______ come back________come back___________.   I hope you can get what the blanks are; names and descriptions.
Our story today was with an instrument of a turtle shell and a goat horn used to play it.  They would clap their hands as I played the instrument.  All while they were eating the great snack that Isabella’s Mommy brought.  Those muffins were gobbled up!!!
After that the day was filled with extremely organic wandering and flowing from one great exploration to the next.   Ruby got a turn on the bouncy tree for the first time and LOVED IT!!!  Kuba had me carve a stick for him so he could do a lot of different things with it and he loved that.  It turns out that Kai LOVES to play drums. Eli started the day a bit sad that Mom was going but had the best day ever!! as he played with Kai, who was a bit challenging for him before. Hide and go Seek was  great game for all along with running around, playing games, and  discovering weird yellow spungy fungus and more.  Isabella went on a great wander with Linda and Kai. They were the ones that found this incredible yellow mushy, gushy fungus and really wanted to show the rest of us. Isabella remembered how to get there and we all had fun checking this wonder of of wonders out.  She also found a leaf that she thought  was a Eucalyptus leaf like at her house. Linda thought it was a Bay Leaf. I suggested that she take the leaf home and bring a leaf from her tree at home and this leaf and lets just see what they both are like.  From there we went checking out lot’s of different leaves during the day and smelling them.  Eli, Kuba,Ruby and I were playing music, or rather Kuba was playing the occarina I have for them. Ruby wanted to dance and Eli was waiting for his turn to play the occarina.  I brought out my flute and made up stories with the music for them to act out different animals and stories with.  But then, we heard the others and went to hide and see if they would find us.  Of course, three year olds are GREAT with hiding and then jumping out before you find them.  Gordon Neufeld, Developmental Psychologist and Expert in Healthy Attachment says that this game is an on going healthy game of developing healthy attachments. Finding , getting lost and then lovingly being found again, and again and again. So, that is what we did a lot, throughout the day.
When we all were together again, we went on an adventure to find the black dust to paint, well ME, with. Although Ruby stopped with Linda and, with incredible awe and wonder, had Linda scratch the burnt black tree dust and she painted herself and painted herself and painted herself with complete abandon.
The rest of us hid some more and then we were found again. Isabella, Kuba, Eli and I. Kai was happily with Ruby and Linda though he did not want to get any black on himself. 🙂
We hide in the Redwood hidey places and the children were so very, very quiet while we waited. Eli finally jumped out to say “Here we are!!”  We all laughed and had a good time of it. Then we got to scraping and they got to painting me.  I was reminded of the game I shared with them earlier and thought they might be ready for it, Earlier meaning a week or two ago. We played Little Tommy Tittle Mouse…  One person is the mouse with his/her eyes closed, we sing the song, another child makes a sound and then Tommy  has to see if he/she recognizes their friends voice. This came with a story and it was a great game. The girls only wanted to watch, Kuba was REALLY into this game and got it going on and on. Kai liked to make a hitting sound though that was a bit challenging to figure out who made the noise and Eli really liked making a sound.  We played and played, painted and painted and then began a journey to find our way back but,  Which way do we go to get back????   Kuba was sure it was one way. He was remembering how we actually came from our wander. The other children knew how to make a direct line so, Linda took the other children, after we decided on a call to give each other if either one of the groups got lost  and Kuba and I went on his path.  We kept listening and listening to continue to hear them as Kuba kept remembering which way to go.  He found our way back and realized that they got there sooner then we did!  Then we all sat down to eat lunch together.  A lone Yellow Jacket was visiting so I then told them a very shortened version of how Yellow Jackets got their black stripes.
We played a bit more , then packed up and made our way back to the bus and back home
A wonder filled day!