Tender Tracks Tues. Day 45

March 13, 2018
Waning Moon
Lake Lagunitas

Another day where the prediction was a lot of rain yet instead we had just enough rain for fun and just enough sun for ease.  All were here but Vita who is still on her holiday.

When they got on the bus and after stuffed animals the children found their way to something new that was introduced, a small glass jar with something liquid and white in it.  I told them that we were going to take this white liquid and shake it into gold.  They all got very excited and spent the rest of our drive to the lakes shaking, and shaking, and shaking, and shaking and……well on and on it went. They each had their own special way of shaking and this continued until we got there.

They instantly went to their Newt home to carry on. Ruby played with them and I set up our circle time underneath the shelter there.  Ruby and I had fun taking a rope and hoisting up some small lanterns to bring some light to our morning circle. The sky was rather dark at this time and we had fun setting up our little house.

When we came to our circle time we sang our songs, washed our hands and then, poured out the white liquid, called Whey, from the little glass jar and then saw the gold that was created inside. We spread that “gold” onto our fresh baked bread with a little honey and ate up. This, however, was the first snack that Owen was NOT delighted about. The rest ate it all up.

Then it was time for the story. A story that would explain why there was a little cauldron on the table with golden jewels inside.  I told them a tale that I tell most every year at this time about a grumpy old Leprauchan, a woman who made “cream into gold” and how the Leprauchan found gold all around him instead of chasing rainbows for it.  We all had fun listening to the tale. Even me who was telling it! and then, off they went.   They played with their newts and Avaline asked if Devin wanted to play Airplane. The two of them went off to do that while Owen, Austen, and Puma were transfixed in their newt world.

But then, I shared that something moving very quickly came by, took our pot of golden treasures and left a trail of the jewels. The pot was surely at the end of the trail. They all came over with great focus and intent and followed, followed, followed, followed the trail until…..THEY FOUND THE POT!!!!  what fun was that?!! And then, when lunchtime came, there, in all of their lunches, were some of those jewels just for them.

Right before lunch, however, there was some devoted water play, we ate and then, one by one a special time with Ruby for a one on one changing party took place. And, while they were doing that, the Sweeping lady and the Rain lady (me!) was coming around sweeping children with her Redwood branch broom and then shaking water like rain all over them.  Such fun we all had with this game and it lasted quite some time.  After everyone was changed we wound up playing up and down our favorite hill near the bus and the Redwood trees until it was time to go home.

And oh yes, what I did not share was that there was a lot of talk about Star Wars and Darth Vadar.  I stepped in and told them, a young child version, of how Darth Vadar, once upon a time, was a happy young boy. He loved to ride in jets ( of course Devin loved this part. And of course, it was for him 🙂  but his heart got sad and sad and sad. He found himself in the Forest of Sadness. He walked there for quite some time until he found himself stumbling into the desert of darkness. Oh dear, there were those there that encouraged him to be angry and unfriendly and he chose that way for quite some time until, others, that remembered his true heart surrounded him with so many warm fuzzies that the dark clothing of madness finally dropped off. His hard heart melted by all the warm fuzzies (which they remember from valentines day) that was being sent to him and he went back to his original self.

The storyline was inspired by all the things they were saying about the bad guys and the good guys and the darkness in Darth Vadar. So I took it, wove in things that have been shared at tender tracks with the story about Darth Vadar and, there you have it. They were transfixed, satiated and Darth Vadar tales took a back stage for a bit. They then went on to have fun describing the many colors and sizes of warm fuzzies.

After changing time also, they each made a springtime basket with dirt and wheat berry seeds to grow for our Spring festival.   What a truly fun, playful, alive, active, vibrant day.