Love and Play in the time of Corona: Happy Happy Earth Day! Bonne journée de la Terre!

Wildrose's globe creation for Earth Day. 

There are so many things we can do to lessen our impact on the environment, from driving electric cars (my son is working on this for our whole family),  to using solar power and recycling materials, but the single most impactful way that we can all honour the earth starts right in our homes.

It is about loving our family. Appreciating the treasures within our communities, cities, and the larger country, and envisioning the impact of true dedication and love by looking at the world with around. 

From the tallest trees, the deepest oceans, and the wondrous sky. No matter who we are or what we do, we must share the Earth, and even if we cannot agree on many things, we must agree that the Earth is a very special place.

Don't you agree?

Moonface made a ship from recycled materials...minus the mini plastic people :)

Rainman's pixel Earth

What are your plans for today? We are going to roast marshmallows later on, and maybe make Italian hot chocolate.

Share your Earth Day Activities with us! 

Liam and Ethan made 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies. Looks yummy!

3 ingredient peanut butter oatmeal cookies shared by Liam & Ethan
Recipe found here.

Ingredients

• 3 medium bananas
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 150 g rolled oats

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 185°C/175°C fan oven/365°F.
• Mash the bananas in a bowl until smooth.
• Add rolled oats and peanut butter, and stir to combine all the ingredients.
• Add any add-ins if you wish.
• Use a fork or spoon to spread the cookie dough into cookies on a baking sheet covered baking tray. The cookies will not change shape when they cook, so shape them the way you want them to turn out.
• Bake the cookies for about 15-20 minutes, or until they are golden brown. The cookies will still be soft when removed from the oven.
• Move the cookies from the baking tray to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool down completely, which will also help the cookies crisp up.

ES took some photos of his neighbour's beautiful  garden. 

Celebrate Earth Day With the Children:🌿🐝🏡 🌷🌼 Go on a walk and try to find all the signs of the changing season, there's always something new in nature. Take note of what the animals and insects are doing. How can we be kinder to them? Create an easy Earth Day activity, or why not print yourself an extra colouring sheet and colour with the children. Talk about all the adventures you've had a a family in your community, city, country. Have you travelled outside the country?

In the Atelier ...ending Jan 30th

The INGs of a Nature Walk (1.28. 2020)

This week's nature walk

/ running to our favourite spot

/ climbing on rocks

spotting a bird's nest high in a tree

/ collecting pinecones

/ making a mandala

/ throwing fluffy snow

/rolling snow balls

/ looking at the icy patterns on 🍁 🍂 

/ finding a favourite stick

The INGs of a Nature Walk

Bundling up in our warm layers.

Squealing in delight upon seeing not one but two snow bunnies.

Hiding in an "ice castle"

Making snow balls

Running faster than their legs could carry them.

Climbing icy banks

Licking ice and snow 

They are happiest when they are in nature.

In the Atelier: Pine Needle Painting

We've had a good rhythm this week (so far). The best thing is that it's not last week's arctic weather. The children and I went for a nature walk and collected some pine needles which were intended for our painting activity.
Our weekly collaboration was inspired by this book. The book is all about teamwork and creativity. We finished the book in 3 reads...it's pretty lengthy - at least for the littlest ones.

In this activity the children got to:

• express themselves using new and interesting materials
• practice fine motor skills by controlling a pine needle as a brush
• work together to create one big masterpiece

* One child used the pine needles to paint her area, then dipped her finger in the paint to make dots, therefore creating a different kind of design.

At first the children looked unsure what they should do with the material (pine needle), after one child picked up the pine and began painting, the others followed without words/commentary.

The children all found their own methods of gaining a secure grip on the pine needles, and held the "brushes" with precision as they painted the surface.