Preserving the Beauty of Summer

We understand how beautiful our recent experience coming closer to the water. The creek at the Maple Ridge offers us so many opportunities for experiential learning. It sparks curiosity and offers a rich, hands-on way to learn about the characteristics of water, nature, and environmental systems. 

To help us process and value our emotional and sensory experience with the creek, we gather ourselves through drawing and individual expression.

Creating a 3D underwater mandala art piece to build our understanding on its concept is a stunning and immersive idea! It brings depth, texture, and motion into the typically flat, meditative structure of a mandala, while honoring the fluid beauty of the ocean. Here is how we can conceptualize and build step-by-step.

Emily arranges square water cubes in a symmetrical pattern around the lighthouse. creating a structured, reflective base. At the center of the design, Nora places a large shell, surrounding it with smaller shells in a circular formation to form the heart of the underwater mandala. Subsequently, Nora's work invites Kai to participate and further observe how underwater objects being portrayed in a circular motion.

“What do we remember?"

• What sounds do we remember hearing?
• What does the water feel like?
• Do we discover something that makes us feel curious or excited?
• Is there a moment we feel peaceful or full of wonder?​

Free play in and around the water builds a love and respect for natural places. We often remember these moments as magical. There is something timeless about us feeling the rocks in the water with our bare feet, watching the water ripple past our toes. The moment is simple, quiet, and yet, something profound is happening. 

In this moment or revisiting our recent experience, we are not just learning facts about water. We are feeling ourselves as part of something larger, older, and alive. The sound of the water rushing over smooth stones, the smell of wet earth, the coolness of the stream - these sensation wrap around us like a story told in a language deeper than words.

This is where our emotional bonding with nature grows stronger in the stillness and wonder of real encounters. Over time, these moments build an emotional foundation. We begin to care - not because we have been told to, but because we feel the creek is part of us. This emotional connection is what later fuels a sense of stewardship and respect for the earth.

We arrange for a dancing rice experiment to illustrate basic scientific concepts like buoyancy, gas formation, and how movement can occur in water - all of which can help explain how our bodies behave in water too.

We observe how the rice appears to "dance" - rising and falling in the liquid as bubbles form on the grains and lift them upward, then burst and let them fall. The rice moves due to the upward force of gas bubbles. Similarly, our movement in water depends on the balance between gravity and buoyancy.

We start by observing an image that shows evaporation and condensation. What is the difference between them? Where is the water going? What happens when something warm meets something cold?

To deepen our understanding, we use our bodies to represent each stage of the water cycle:
Evaporation: finger rise like steam
Condensation: hands gather into a cloud
Precipitation: fingers wiggle down like rain
Collection: we crouch into puddles.
We use movement to feel the process of water's journey. This helps the abstract concept become real.

This week  we explore a big scientific idea in a way that feels real, joyful, and alive to us: where does the water go?

When we create our own cloud in a jar. Using warm water and ice, we observe how water turns into vapor, rises, and condenses.

Throughout the week, we follow the children's lead. We offer invitations through image, movement, science, and story with intentionality and heart.

During outdoor time, Luka takes off his shoes and steps into the sand with confidence and curiosity, laughing with delight.  Luka explores with his whole body, learning through his senses, and his emotions.

We need the earth not just to see it, but to feel it.

​Today, we embrace creativity in the best way—by using what we have right in front of us. There is no set instruction or outcome, just a table full of open-ended materials and the curious minds of ours leading the way.

​Tvisha also builds a garden, using popsicle sticks to build a structure, then adding flowers and even some rocks to complete her piece.

Emily creates a little garden scene using pompoms, artificial flowers, and a green flower bed. Her creation looks soft and blooming. 

Kalyan and Kai preserve the warmth and color of summer by placing dried flowers between sheets of contact paper to create delicate suncatchers that glow in the window -like petals of light held in time.​

Our love for daily reading time continues during this summer time! Creating a cozy space each day has become a comforting routine - the perfect chill-out moment before we transition into our group time. It is amazing how motivated and excited we are to read when it is part of a special daily rhythm.

The song of Here is The Beehive has been well received by our friends. Since the first time we introduce it, Kalyan and Emily have really taken to it!

This familiar starting point invites us to ponder the essential role that bees play in nature. By highlighting the bees busy lifestyle, the song subtly points to their industrious nature, reinforcing the idea if work and community within their beehive.

As the melody buzzes through our days, Kai, shares his knowledge of the bees’ wondrous lives, weaving deeper layers of wonder into our shared learning experience. With this in mind, we are going to further explore the relationship between flowers and bees in the days to come.

We explore a different kind of creativity by making colorful bead suncatchers. We carefully place transparent beads onto craft rope, creating sparkling patterns. 

​There is a calm rhythm in the room as we thread the beads one by one, concentrating and choosing colors with intention.

​It is a mix of fine motor practice, creativity, and patience—wrapped up in a beautiful piece we can take home or hang in the window.

Moments like these remind us how capable we are when we trust ourselves to take the lead. Materials are more than just supplies--they are languages we use to think, feel, and express. Today, each creation tells its own story, builds from the ideas that comes straight from our hearts and minds.

Kindest,
Children & Friends.