Clay and Mirrors

The CLAY

"What does it feel like on your feet?" - Elyse

"It feels like I'm at the beach." -George

"That is something I never would have thought of, George."  -Melanie

                    Feet first. Why not?

The properties of clay compel sensory interaction, from fingers to toes.
So, we took a bag of red clay "dirt"  outside onto the bricks for a no-shoes clay-play experience. The results were nothing short of a success. The clay was walked upon, jumped upon, stomped upon, tickled with toes and in return feet and hands were colored in a beautiful earthen red. After some time a hippo, some plastic people, and some seashells were integrated into the merriment of bare hands, bare feet, and bare clay.
With all the joy, what more could be asked for in the the beautiful morning light of a crisp autumn day?

The MIRROR

"I'm upside down!" -several children 

A few morning meetings were held in the outdoor classroom under the open sky. On a couple of occasions, we lied on our backs and looked up. What did we see? Where did we see it? Cedar and Giacomo first saw "a tire high up," and Jack saw "leaves in the branch." After some time, Reed exclaimed, "Elephant!" This was followed not long after with Reed saying, "A giraffe!" At this time, the other children had connected with her and were identity animals "up there" as well. When we asked where the animals were being seen it became unanimously "in the sky." Even Giacomo, who later identified seeing a tree, said, "in the sky," after he was asked where the tree could be located. The children were telling us something; a lightbulb went on in our minds...

Out of those earlier moments of serendipity, and the children's imaginative expression, an idea emerged. The children had given us the idea of  "animals in the sky." Now all we have to do is to play with it, explore it, and extend it!
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So we took a big mirror out to the front lawn as an investigation into what the children might see with the additional layer or modification of perspective. Many said "I'm falling" or "I'm upside down." Eventually, Marley, while peering into the mirror said, "I see an elephant." ​