The morning began with chasing and squealing. One of the original Play Club kids, who moved out of state, is back to visit for the summer. The children were excited to be reunited. Once things settled down, I7 handed a small toy puppy to M. I7 also had a small toy puppy for herself.
“We can play with them today,” I7 said.
X grabbed one of the small toy puppies and ran away. The chasing and squealing befan again. Eventually, I7 got the puppy back from X.
“When we’re done, you can have a turn,” she told him.
M, I7, and the puppies headed to the mud kitchen. M got busy shredding chalk into dust. She sprinkled the dust into a bowl of water.
“It’s dark pink on the actual chalk, but light pink in the water,” I7 said.
X wandered around near the mud kitchen. He pointed to the sun shade.
“I thought this would stop us from getting wet, but it’s not,” he said.
“Yeah, its meant to be a shade from the sun, but it doesn’t stop rain from coming through,” I agreed.
I7 picked up her toy puppy. “X, can you bring her somewhere she’ll like, but not in the water?” she asked.
X happily accepted the puppy. “Okay! I know,” he said, as he ran towards the stumps.
X stopped suddenly, just before reaching the stumps. “The grass is blocking us from going on the logs. This is a farmer’s house,” he said.
“The grass is long around the stumps, but you can still go on them, if you want,” I assured him.
X climbed onto one of the stumps and set the puppy down. Then he ran back by I7 and M.
I7 scooped some sand into a container. “X, you’re the babysitter for the dog. Bring her this food,” she instructed.
X picked up the container and brought it over to the puppy.
L and I6 arrived just as the rain started to pick up.
The children all began to feel hungry, so they paused to eat snacks and listen to stories.
“It’s raining harder. Will it stop at some point?” I6 wondered.
“It should,” I said.
“I don’t like when it rains, Then I just have to sit here,” I6 said, motioning to her spot under the big umbrella.
“There’s a shade over the swing. Then you’ll just get a little wet,” L suggested.
The children put their snacks away and headed over to the swing and hammocks. They negotiated who would swing first, and who would push. Then they switched.
“Does anyone else want a turn pushing? I need a break,” L announced.
“I will,” I6 offered.
After several minutes of swinging, M. I7, and L decided to run to the mud kitchen. They got busy mixing concoctions of sand, water, and chalk.
“I’m making the cupcakes,” M told everyone.
She stepped away from her batter to clean her hands with the water drops that were falling from the shade. “This is the hand washer. The hand shower,” M decided.
“Yeah. I need to wash my hands,” I7 agreed.
“I’m making one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, muffins,” L called out.
X walked under the hand shower. “Why is this dripping? Why is it mostly dripping here?” he wanted to know.
“Hmm. I wonder if its mostly dripping right there because most of the water is collecting on that spot on the top of the shade,” I said.
I6 wandered over to the mud kitchen. “I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“You could help us get ready for the muffin and cupcake party. I’m making muffins,” L told her.
“Okay,” I6 agreed.
Water had collected in a lid on the mud kitchen counter. There were tiny creatures wiggling in the water. “What are they?” I7 asked.
“Mosquito larvae,” X replied.
“Should we dump them out so we don’t get more mosquitos?” I7 wondered.
“That seems like a good idea,” I said.
I7 dumped the water from the cap.
“I just really don’t want to play in the rain. If I knew it was going to be raining, I would have told my mom that I don’t want to come today,” I6 confessed.
Playing in the rain has many challenges. It can be uncomfortable. But, if given the opportunity, children can overcome their discomfort and figure out how to have fun in rainy weather.
“I understand. It can feel uncomfortable to play in the rain. Would you like to stay under the big umbrella until it slows down?” I asked.
I6 chose to sit under the sun umbrella. A short time later, she was back on the swing. Soon, all of the children joined her.
“I6, can I go on the swing, too?” M asked.
“Oh, I’m still using it,” I6 said.
“We could both go on there. Two people can be on there,” M explained.
“But how will I stand and push it?” I6 asked.
“I can push it, and jump on,” M offered.
I6 agreed, and M started pushing.
“I want to go on!” X said.
“No,” I6 told him.
“Two people can go on,” X reminded her.
“M is going to jump on,” I6 explained.
L came over to see what was going on. M got on the swing.
“I want to push, then,” X tried again.
“I’m going to push,” L insisted.
“Two can push,” X said.
M jumped off the swing. X climbed on. I6 got off and began to push X.
“You’re the first best pusher,” X told I6.
M ran to the mud kitchen. After a few moments, I7 realized that M was no longer near the swing. “M is all alone,” I7 gasped.
“I think she wants to do some other stuff,” I6 replied.
“Let’s go over,” I7 suggested.
“No, I want to swing,” I6 said.
I7 ran to M. They got to work on their sand, water, and chalk concoction.
There were a few more complaints about the rain from various children. Usually, Play Club is all about self-directed play. On this day, I felt like I needed to step in with an idea in order to keep things moving in a positive direction.
“Who wants to have a baking competition?” I asked.
I7, L, and M raised their hands.
“Okay. You guys bake something in the mud kitchen. Make the very best thing you can think of to make,” was the only instruction I gave.
I7 and L paired up. M opted to work alone.
“I’m trying to get all my orange ingredients ready for when I need it,” M explained, as she shredded orange chalk.
“What’s in there?” X asked.
“It’s just chalk and water,” M said.
“Maybe you should add other colors,” X suggested.
“No,” M said.
Over on the other side of the kitchen, L and I7 were hard at work. “Cooking doesn’t have to be good, it has to taste great,” I7 said.
M sprinkled sand into her chalk and water mixture. “I’m adding crunchy rocks to make it crunchy. The judge likes crunchy things,” M said.
“Who is the judge?” I asked.
“You are!” I7 cried.
“You have to ask us what we’re making. Like on the kids baking tv show,” M said.
“M, can you tell us about what you’re making?” I said.
“I’m making an orange salad,” she said.
“And what ingredients are you using, M?” I asked.
“Orange things and rocks,”she replied.
“L and I7, what are you making?” I asked.
“Cake!” I7 replied.
“And what ingredients are you using?” I asked.
“We’re not telling!” L said.
“Secret ingredients,” I7 added.
The competition came to a stop when a bug was found on the table.
“Should we flip it over?” L asked.
“What is it?” X wondered.
“I think its a firefly,” I said.
“A firefly!” X exclaimed.
All of the children came rushing over to see. After cooing at the bug, the competitors returned to the kitchen.
“Now you have to ask us what we’re making again,” M said.
“M. what are you working on?” I asked.
“I’m still making my salad, but I’m adding more colors. Only pink and orange,” she explained.
“Can I help you with the cake right now?” L asked I7.
P arrived. M rushed to greet her. “P, there’s a baking show competition. Want to help me?” she asked.
“Yeah,” P said.
X, L, and I7 were studying the firefly again.
“You’re squishing him! You’re squishing him!” L cried.
“I’m not!” X insisted.
“He wants to get away!” L said.
“He can’t fly! He’s hurt! I’m not killing it!” X, who was being very gentle, said.
X watched the firefly crawl on his finger. “It tickles. Why does it tickle so much? Did you know that earlier he wasn’t escaping my leg because he loves me. This guy is never getting off me. I think he’s in love with me,” X said.
Back at the competition, M and P were perfecting their dish. “Should we add leaves?” P asked.
“No,” M said.
M and P added more sand to the bowl.
“You can’t really see the colors anymore. If you can’t see the colors, they won’t know if it’s good,” P pointed out.
“We can put color on the topping,” M assured her.
Once again, play was paused to observe the firefly.
“I thnk he hurt his antennae,” X said.
“Maybe that’s why he can’t fly,” L said.
“Wind is coming, that’s good, It will dry his wing,” I7 said.
The children all returned to the hammocks and swings. Again, they took turns pushing, and swinging.
The morning ended with a game P invented. “Do you want to slingshot the babies?” she asked.
P demonstrated how to use the balance scale as a catapult to send the dolls flying.
Time, space, and permission to play made for a day filled with opportunities to move, explore, experiment, be resilient, imagine, try new things, assess and take risks, pretend, create, connect with nature, use teamwork, and have lots of fun.
todaywewillplay 