“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces you up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”

John Ruskin

Happy Fall,

Welcome to our November addition of the EEC newsletter! Time is simply flying by at rapid pace without our permission and the children are not the least bit bothered. In fact, the children are super excited for more rainy days. 😊

Why is that? What is it about rain, mud, slippery rocks, and puddles that inclines them to jump right in?

According to NAEYC, children experience cause and effect and properties of water through this simple activity. They learn to make predictions and explore strategies for answering their questions and create a sense of rhythm and rhyme. (Burton) https://www.naeyc.org/our-work/families/play-in-puddle

One of the fondest memories I have of rainy-day adventures was time spent in the community garden with preschoolers. The Waldorf school I previously worked for spent most days outside in the rain, letting the children explore in their puddle jumpers. Outdoor activities included gardening, garden bed walks, tree climbing, stump rolling, and worm hunts! Imagine the learning possibilities during a full day of rainy-day discovery.

Here at the EEC, we encourage rainy day play for important reasons such as emotional and social development, discovery, investigation, awareness of seasonal changes and so much more! Most importantly, outdoor rainy play is a natural immunity booster! Rain cools and humidifies the air, invites critters you might not see on a warm day, saturates your gardens, and creates the best recipes for mud soup and leaf pie.

The beauty of rainy days is the fact that children need extraordinarily little -tools, props, and toys to truly become emersed in play. Here are some tips to set up your back yard space if you are wanting to keep rainy day play at home.

Outdoor Space tips:

-          Hiding spots

-          Varied gradations

-          Sand

-          Stumps

-          Musical sounds such as a chime

-          Garden beds

-          Digging tools

-          Fort-building materials

If you child is hesitant to explore with water, here are some things you can do to help integrate exploration.

-          Cooking

-          Gardening

-          Footbaths

-          Washing vehicles

Please take a look at the photos above as the children’s faces express it all! 😊

Be well,

Natalee