The Way We Come Closer to Summer

By June we let in birdsong every morning and the scent of freshly mown grass. Day after day, as if our bodies know before our minds: the season is shifting. We stop reaching for sweaters in the morning, stop checking the temperature. The days stretch long. Shadows grow softer. And even we can't name it, we feel it - inevitable turning toward warmth and light. The way we come closer to Summer.

When the weather is quite windy in this early-summer way, we take a kite to the open field to begin to learn about the wind. The kind of wind that can bend tree branches. 

Fides runs very fast to find the kite nosedives. Being determined, he slowly finds it, after a few effortful attempts:

• the rhythm of tug and release
• the feel of tension in the string
• the moment the wind catches​.

Nora, processes the whole situation by observing and paying a close attention to it. She joins the whole thing with laughter. We can hear her laughter rise with each lift into the sky. A whole sky stitches with motion. It is always this way: a season teaching us to trust the change.

Our friends create beautiful suncatchers using dried flowers and contact paper, making it a playful and sensory-rich experience.

We eagerly choose from various dried flowers, excitedly noticing different textures, colors, and shapes. We carefully arrange petals and leaves onto the sticky contact paper, showing off our creativity and fine motor skills in a relaxed and joyful way.

It is wonderful to see us share our thoughts, help each other, and celebrate our unique ideas. After finishing our designs, we seal the suncatchers with another piece of contact paper.

Through hands-on interaction. Tvisha and Emily choose to further explore our artistic learning experience. We engage our brushes to understand how watercolor flows - responding to our touch and the texture of the paper.

To touch watercolor is to enter a quiet dialogue. In this delicate dance, we begin to feel the rhythm of the medium - how it soaks, spreads, vanishes, returns. Each stroke is a moment of trust, an invitation to let go of control and embrace the beauty of what emerges. Watercolor, in its softness and unpredictability, teaches us to create with openness, to let the process breathe, and to find poetry in the unexpected. 

At another moment, Luka invites surprise - placing his finger over the hose's opening, drawn by the tension between force and play, between what he expects and what water might decide. 

His curiosity strikes! One after another. Luka lowers the open end of the hose into the water, and as bubbles begin to emerge his curiosity stirs - mesmerized by the quite language of air meeting water.

We begin our day gather, and in the center, a chart waits/blank, full of possibility. We gently place objects beside it: a spoon, plastic containers, coins, and more...

Do you think it will float or sink?

The questions sparks excitement. Some of us shout with confidence, "float" others look carefully quietly considering. Sometimes one or two change our minds halfway through.

We test each object one by one in a bin of water. As we go, new ideas emerge:
But this one's big and it sinks.
This one floats because it's plastic.
Not all heavy things sink, depends on the materials!

Two identical plastic containers sit side by side, one with a lid, one without. The lidless one fills with water and sinks. This moment catches our attention. We begin to wonder more deeply. What start as ideas, transforms into a real investigation, We revise our thinking, compare ideas, and learn to look again.

On Friday, we extend our learning into the world around us. At Maple Ridge Park, the we meet a flowing river. It sparkles in the sunlight, and invites all kinds of exploration.

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Some of us run straight in confident, joyful, and splashing. We dip our hands, test the stones, feel the water rush around our feet. We love the sensor thrill of movement and play. Others pause. We stay back and observe. We notice a dog playing fetch in the river. We drop small stones, watching the ripples. We are quiet, contemplative, connected in a different way.

The way we sink our feet into the following creek invites us to experience the gentle conversation between earth and water -  a moment of stillness carried by the current.

Emily chooses to jump into the creek - surrendering to the splash, the chill, the rush of water against skin. It is not just about getting wet, but about meeting the moment with full-bodied joy.

Kai slowly and carefully walks sideways on a fallen trunk resting in the creek, feeling the cool splash beneath and the steady resistance of wood beneath his feet, each step a quiet act of focus.

Afterward, the playground becomes a world of motion: climbing, spinning, sliding, building in the sand. We laugh, take turns, invent games. Our physical play complements our earlier discoveries, this time, through movement, risk, and joyful collaboration.

This week, water teaches us more than science. It teaches us to be curious, to be brave, to be together. We stay open. We stay present. And together, we keep following the current of curiosity, wherever it leads.

The pump has become a curious instrument - drawing water from below, turning effort into flow, and transforming the invisible into something we can see, touch, and carry.

Kai finds the simple joy of releasing the gate, setting the water free to rush and ripple down the channel, alive with movement and sound.

Nora and Tvisha laugh as we settle onto the spinning seat, gripping the handles with steady hands. Nora, ever kind and gentle, places her hand proactively over Tvisha's, offering quiet reassurance. 

With a gentle push, the world begins to blur and whirl around us. The rush of air brushes our faces, carrying bursts of laughter and dizzy delight. Each spin lifts our spirits higher, turning a simple motion into a shared moment of carefree joy.

On the other side, Kalyan and Nora find ourselves drawn to the sound play space, a world alive with chimes, echoes, and gentle vibrations.  We explore slowly, curiously, tapping metal plates, brushing strings, and striking soft xylophones that hum beneath our fingertips. ​

Each sound becomes a discovery - some bright and quick, others deep and lingering. Nora tilts her head, listening intently, while Kalyan traces patterns in the air with rhythm and wonder. 

Here we go! It is time to climb together and feel that Spiderman-like thrill - hands gripping, feet searching, bodies stretching upward as we move with courage, curiosity, and a little bit of superhero spirit. 

Bouncing feels like a never-ending source of fun for us—up, down, and up again, as if gravity itself has joined in our laughter.

We cannot just experience without making reflections. In every splash, every spin, every quiet sound and daring climb. we find more than just movement - we find moments that stir wonder, courage, and connection. Whether it is Luka at the hose, Kai releasing the gate, Nora and Tvisha spinning with laughter, or Kalyan listening to the echoes of sound, each experience invites us to feel, to notice, to be. 

And as we bounce, climb, and explore, we are reminded: we cannot truly experience without also making space for reflection. It is in the pause, the breath after the play, where meaning begins to take root. It is there that the day lingers - alive within us.

Kindest,
Children & Friends.