5/17 - Mud Recipes and Morning Light

This Sunday started bright and warm. After so many cloudy and rainy sessions, we basked in the sun together. We began the morning by observing the results of our wet felting project from that week. The stones we had wet felted on were now dry, and the wool had shrunk to fit snugly around each one. The invitation was to cut open the felt, release the stone, and then cut the felt to form petals, making a felted flower, before adding thread and beads to create a little chain or ornament.

As it goes sometimes, friends had other ideas about how to interact with the materials. On the table we had beads, thread, and felted rocks. L arranged the rocks in a flower pattern and placed one bead upon each, making a flower her own way. Hn decided to make a bracelet by experimenting with threading beads onto thread.

We noticed how the invitation seemed to open differently for each child, rather than following a single path, it appeared that the materials themselves were being read and reimagined. What else could this become? What does it feel like to arrange, to thread, to place just so?

When T arrived she headed over to the water table with L, where the baby dolls were in need of a bath. They used sponges and wash clothes the gently wash away marker, paint and mud from baby doll faces. We take care of the materials and spaces that we share together. We clean up our space in the garden by washing paint cups and folding blankets but when caring for the baby dolls or our garden, we noticed a different quality entering the play: something that felt more like nurturing than tidying.

When S arrived, he joined T and Lu at the water table. When M came, he had the idea of adding water to the invitation at the table. He filled a cup with beads and poured water and beads back and forth between vessels. We all listened to the sound it made, the beads pitter-pattering like a rain stick.

Si and Sh joined in the fun of combining water and beads. They took clear cups, poured beads inside, and watched as some beads sank while others floated to the top. It seemed they were paying close attention to what the water was doing — noticing weight, movement, surprise.

When L arrived, she wanted to try the invitation and threaded beads alongside a felted flower. We never know quite where an invitation will take us, but by providing open-ended materials, we can experiment and learn together in ways we were not expecting.

After a morning of water and bead play we headed to the blanket to read Welcome Flower Child by Bridget Barrager together. We learned about our birth flowers and then we headed out to the garden. We knew that the plants needed some water with the weather warming up this week. We spied more pea blossoms and got to digging up the weeds. We are always amazed by how much growth takes place in just one week!

T and L started weeding while S and K went to fill up watering cans. H and M ran around the garden together. Friends decided to dig a hole and fill it with water after watering the plants. A mud recipe at its finest.

Then after our hard work in the garden we headed to the fountain to cool off. We splashed and played until it was time to head back to the circle. We sang “Love is a Circle” before saying our goodbyes.

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