This Sunday morning began with a slight drizzle and cloudy grey skies. Drops of rain clung to bright, colorful flowers all over the garden. We met under tents and canopies to talk about migration and create with long, dried grasses and yarn. Lum cut the yarn and twisted it around some of the grass, tying knots. T watched and then tried it too. Soon, Lum helped with a weaving to connect sticks together.
As hands worked, conversation moved. We talked about how birds migrate in the spring and how people migrate too. T’s caregiver shared that his family moved from Haiti across different parts of the United States, even to California. Lum’s family mentioned that they are from California, and this seemed to open a thread of shared remembering and imagining—places they have been, places they might go!
It felt like a small question held space for larger connections, as families traced their own pathways through story.
Nearby, outside the canopy, M, S, and H used the hose and kitchen tools to build a mud kitchen. S filled a cupcake pan with mud and water, asked his caregiver to be the oven, and placed the pan carefully between her feet.
M gathered items and arranged a small station on the bench, lingering with the miniature metal pots and colanders. Their actions suggested a close attention to the rhythms of everyday life, reworked through play.
The hose proved tricky, but T adjusted the water pressure, finding a balance that allowed the others to continue their mud confections.
Then we met under the mesh tent to read a story together. As friends made their way in they were all greeted by the bumble bee puppet. Being in a smaller space together meant setting some boundaries. S played the drum and H jumped around but Lum requested that we have a calm time in the tent together and her friends obliged.
We read Grumpy Pants, a book by Claire Messer about a little penguin who was feeling grumpy and needed to take some time to feel better. We talked about what we do when we are feeling grumpy. Sometimes we use our words and sometimes we use our bodies to express how we are feeling. We tried some of penguins big body movements like stomping our feet to get some grumps out.
Then friends exited the tent to have a snack together before heading to the garden.
At the garden we noticed pea plants shooting up from the ground, little seedlings reaching up for the rain. We had planted some peas into an egg carton and now that they have germinated we transplanted them into the garden.
Just like the plants people move from place to place to make room for their roots to grow. We dug holes and gingerly placed the sprouts in the ground, grateful that the next few days will be rainy to support our peas after transplanting. As we dug and gently placed each sprout, it felt like another way of thinking about movement—how living things shift places to keep growing.
Then K was ready to go to the fountain! We followed M on his balance bike through the garden out by the compost pile, down the hill and onto the field. T and Lum ran on ahead to the magnolia trees blooming at the edge of the field. They collected the petals from the ground and planned to make them into soup back at the circle.
Hen and S set out on a path into the woods. Sage trail guides, they pointed out all of the “pokey plants” on their way.
K and M made their way purposefully to the fountain to find a place to splash.
Everyone follows their own path, sometimes with a friend and then later, when we come back together we can share what we learned on our adventures.
Soon, everyone was up at the fountain. S showed his friends how you can hit the surface of the water and make a big splash! K wanted to climb in but we knew it was too cold. Before we went back to the circle we saw a robin taking a bath.
We made it back to the mud kitchen and friends got straight to work on the magnolia petal soup. We also gathered some other flowers and as we harvested we chose to pick only some of the flowers that we already growing in abundance. We chose grape hyacinths and dandelions to add but left the solitary sunset red tulip to grow.
After portions of soup were ladled out it was time to say goodbye. We sang “Love is a Circle” then everyone pitched in to clean up from our rainy day fun before we left the garden.
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