Today’s Walk Through Fairy Lane

Each weekend I go for a walk through Fairy Lane.  I love that I find changes every time.  Items are moved, sometimes taken away and new things are added.  Proof that families are still visiting and enjoying the woods.
           
One morning I found this handwritten note, encouraging me to search for
                                something new.

I found a variety of houses had moved into the neighbourhood.
                       Well worth searching for.
 
 
      
                 
       This last one is my favourite.  I really like all the details.

           
A tea set has been here for several months.  Over time the little tea pot and cups disappeared leaving just the plates.  Then just last week a whole new set appeared.  Each time I go by there are different items on the plates.  I can only imagine when and how long someone plays with it.

Here are a few other new additions.
   
 
Hope you have fun wandering through finding each one.

Thank you to everyone who continues to engage our wonder and imaginations
                  and make contributions to Fairy Lane.

Garden Mountain

One of our families invited us to help plant their garden.  About a month
ago we had a small group visit Vivian and Millie’s house.
       
             
Vivian had an interesting theory; each plant needs a certain depth for their roots so what if the garden was a hill, like a mountain, would everything grow?
 
  
She had a plan drawn explaining where each seed would be planted according
to the space their root needed.
          

We started at the top of the mountain to plant popcorn.

What a great experience to dig into the soil and get our hands dirty pushing the seeds into the ground.  We also practiced sounds of letters to help us decide what each seed started with so we could print the name on a stick.

Can you guess the next seed?  It starts with a ‘k’ sound.

Vivian showed us how to sprinkle the carrot seeds from our fists.


Next was pumpkins that needed to be poked into the soil and covered.

Then we stretched a short fence around half of the mountain to plant peas.  The children measured the depth of the hole by using their finger and planted a seed in front of each fence peg.

Lastly we erected a bamboo teepee.  The children shovelled dirt around the poles to help secure it to the ground.
      
Around each pole they planted beans.  As the beans grow they will climb the pole.
     
We finished gardening by giving the mountain a good rainfall.

One month later
 
Pumpkin,                                                   beans,
 
peas                                                                    and carrots
                                           are all growing. 

Thanks Vivian and Millie for teaching us about seeds and growing a garden mountain.

We’ll be back in the fall to help harvest.

Final Pond Day

Our tadpoles have grown legs but school is closed early because of a
teacher's strike so we made a quick trip to the pond to let them go.         
          
We also had to release a few other creatures that came in with the fresh
                                         water each week.

  We had several different larvae, a fish, teeny bugs and a tiny snail.
             
Lots of questions came out as we spent time watching the tadpoles.  What do they eat?  Do tree frogs grow in trees?  Do toads grow the same as frogs? 
                     Great questions to hold on to for next year.
   
But for today we carefully carried them down to the water and said goodbye.

Spiral Play

                  Spiral Invitation on the Play Tray table last week.