Farms to Feast

Farms feed the world.  They are, quite simply, fundamental to our existence.  For some of the children at Harmony's House, farms are also the place that they live.  We have been exploring farming for several weeks this fall in a variety of ways.  This post will explain how the ideas about farming and food culminate in celebrating the harvest at Thanksgiving.

In September, we visited a small farm of one of our families to meet, care for, and understand where food like milk, meat, and eggs come from.

Some farms have only animals, only food, or both.  In October, we "worked" in a Farmer's Market in our House Area.  

The children would come to the market to buy produce that they could "take home" and make supper with.

When they ran out of food, they would go shopping again.  Eventually the food at the store ran out.  The children solved this problem by "calling the farmer" to make a delivery to the store.  

Whoever was pretending to be the farmer would have to check if the hens were laying, if the pumpkins were ripe, and when they'd be able to make a delivery.  We learned that farmers were important people because the stores would run out of food without them!

Now, in November we are preparing for Thanksgiving.  Most people in the U.S. celebrate Thanksgiving by sharing a feast with family and/or friends, just as pilgrims did centuries ago to express gratitude for a plentiful harvest.

The children are demonstrating their knowledge of farming that they have developed during September and October by working with farm animals and barns.  Farmers must take good care of the animals to have enough milk, butter, and eggs for all of the baking that happens during November and December.

They know that turkeys live on farms, and try to "catch a turkey" with these clever scissors in the Explore Table.  Turkey farmers are very busy this time of year getting ready for Thanksgiving!

They create their own miniature farms, deliver hay and water to the animals, and use the tractors to work in the fields with the plants.  It's time to harvest all the corn, apples, pumpkins, potatoes, and squash.

Finally, they use the grain, eggs, and butter from farms to run the Cookie Bakery.

Some friends work the mixers to make cookie dough.  Some bake the cookie dough on sheets.

Some friends work to frost the cookies, and box them up for sale.

This year, for the children at Harmony's House, Thanksgiving will mean being thankful to farmers who bring the meat, produce, and grains to our table for a feast!

Pets are Part of Families Too

Some of the families of Harmony's House have pets, and one family even has a parent who works with pets as a Dog Groomer!  When the children asked for the puppies and kitties to come back to the House Area, this seemed like the perfect time to make a Pet Salon.  

Check it out!  We have a waiting room for clients to hold their pets while they wait for the groomer to come get the animal.

The first stop for our stinky pups is the bathing station!  Our pets get top-notch treatment with a bubble bath and shampoo.  Then they need a quick towel down.

Next they need to move to the Styling Station.  The "groomers" can use toy blow dryers, brushes, clippers,  and bows to spruce up the pet's look!

Lastly, we have some pet crates (carriers) where pets wait for the client to come and pick them up.

We sure hope our school friends have a barking good time with our new House Area set up!

Make Your Own Mermaid Cove

This has been a hot spot for play lately.  We provided a box with flat stones, natural seashells, blocks, ocean animals, and a variety of mermaids in shell seats.  The "water" was simply a blue and silver silky scarf tied around the table.

The children have set the stage, played, and reimagined stories and scenes over and over again.

Sometimes our mermaids befriended nice turtles and dolphins.

Sometimes the mermaids needed a spot to chill out and have a snack.  And sometimes they had to escape to safety from an invading shark or orca whale!

It's a beautiful thing to behold when young children develop creative thinking skills, scientific knowledge of living things, language, and role playing with a small box of simple toys.  <3

Spring in Quarantine

It's been a quiet spring with the Covid-19 Quarantine, but we have been having fun in simple ways with everyday things.  We added easter eggs, dollar store bird houses, and silk flowers/leaves to the block area.  It's been fun to build color castles and bird apartments that burst with texture and vibrancy!

We pulled out new dress-ups that include flower crowns and bunny ears.

We've assembled countless Potato Heads, each fantastically silly!

We've ventured outside to splash in water, mix up sand, and get our Vitamin D.  We tossed out leaves and discovered all kinds of new blooms.

We've built with legos to make cameras, houses, gardens, and castles.

We've hidden, found, climbed, bounced, and run around.

We've had fun!

Train Engineers, Pilots, and Doctors! Oh My!

The best way to discover new passions is by trying them out... right?!  That's just what we've been doing during February.  Last week we shared about our work as construction workers and builders.  We continued to explore even more careers in the classroom.  

 We tried on train engineering for size.

One day for Small Group Time, we talked about different medical instruments and pretended to be veterinarians.  The children continued to work as vets and/or doctors throughout the week.

We loaded passengers and flew Little People to new destinations.

We put toothbrushes in the paint and brushed away at the art easel.  Dentists make sure we are doing our brushing just right.  *Bonus: this week was the first time Baby "E" painted and didn't try to eat the paint!  Way to go "E!"  You're growing up!

Friend "Sandwich" brought his fire equipment and did a show and tell.  He explained that helmets are for protecting your head, the extinguisher sprays out the fire, and the megaphone has a siren.  We used his equipment and materials from Harmony's House to build apartment buildings and houses, then rescued people, and put out the flames.

Toddlers "Kite" and "Koala" worked together to build many a road.

Thank goodness we all have a few years before we grow up and decide on a career.  There are just too many to choose from, and we had way too much fun working with these ideas to pick just one!