Listening to children. Observing them and following their interests as we learn....                                                        One of the children asked me' what does that sign say?' I answered, 'it says: ‘can you make a den?'. That child said, 'oh wow. I want to make a pirate's den'. At group time we decided to split into two groups, led by the children. The adults put blankets and fabrics over 2 tables and removed all chairs. I asked the children, ‘how would you make a den?'. They scratched their heads and thought for a while and one of them said, excitedly, 'I know. we can throw the blankets over the table and crawl under!!'. The children had fun making their pirate dens, and added animals, cars and other resources. Some of them wore the pirate’s hats from dressing up. We made treasure maps which we stuck to the bottom of the tables so that we could read them 'upside down'. We had a busy morning, and later went out in the garden. One of the girls helped me 'look for fairies that live in dark places' while the other children explored other ways of being pirates in the garden. Can't wait for next week when we continue having fun!

X marks the spot......

map showing where the treasure (and fairies!) are.