Love Your Mother.. Earth



As we continued our theme of Nature and Environment we had a packed week ahead, and our little ones were raring to go..

Arriving at our cosy clubhouse for the start of a new week, out came the grey-coloured play dough that got the kids moulding rocks, rhinos and elephants. We even got some grey pizza going!

Our project focussed on the topic of ‘Forests and Meadows’, so out came a large piece of paper, which we stuck masking tape onto in the shape of trees. The children dotted paint using pom-poms attached to pegs onto the paper. Once the paper was covered in paint, the masking tape was removed and a beautiful forest came into view. 

A run-around in the yard followed by light snacks at Munch Time, prepared our kids for a little stroll around the tree-lined pavements of the Clubhouse. After picking up twigs, leaves, pine cones and other nature bits and bots, we made our way back, where a nest was put together by the children from all the things they had collected.

More fun, crafts, Yoga and Pottery Workshop was had the following day before midweek came round to get some alphabet activities going.

Our ‘Letter of the Week’ was ‘W’. So, mingling worms and watermelons, our tiddlers traced the letter, utilised their motor skills and had fun with number activities.

Preparation for our excursion to Perivoli the following day was had by talking a little more about worms and how fundamental they are to our planet, as well as chats about frogs and ponds.

Song Time, bike-riding, drawing, play dough sculpting and jigsaw puzzle doing, added to our midweek fun.

Friends Corner’s Creative English Workshop took centre-stage during Evening Club the following day. A range of ages, all backgrounds, and linguistic abilities of any kind are welcome to join. Here a group of children use stories, songs, crafts and games to interact with the English language. Guided by an enthusiastic ‘teacher’, the Evening Club kids went home hoppy and happy!

Before Evening Club, however, the Friends Corner kids, and all the big people with them, had a truly fabulous day on a field trip at Perivoli in Vari.

An oasis of green joy welcomed us as our little ones, some bigger than others, entered this beautiful space. Our wonderful hosts; Christina, Anna, Irini, and all those working at Perivoli, made our day so pleasant.

When not running around like mad, the kids stopped and explored their surroundings. Irini, our guide, made the experience all the more pleasurable as she showed us around and taught us so many things about all the living things found in this lovely place, be it vegetable, flora, chicken or worm.

Lettuce, broccoli, artichokes, strawberries, beans, herbs, a compost heap, worms, snails, chickens, cockerels, and pond life, we’re just a few of the things we spotted; many of which we learned a little more about also (thanks to Irini, and the fantastic educational programme run at Perivoli).

All who participated in this fantastic excursion, both big and small, had a truly wonderful time. But, this place of ecological sustainability, and its importance, goes way beyond sweet green trees and a space for kids to run around..

The magnificence of Perivoli, and all like it, is the spirit of conservation, awareness and living sustainably.

It espouses the virtue of “being Green”; thinking permaculturally, making it, growing it, building it. Doing all you can with what you have. 

The importance of this philosophy, and indeed lifestyle, is infinite. It is a belief in the future and what we can do in order to ‘pass it on’. 

If reading this and you happen to find yourself in Attica, a trip to Perivoli is a must – a Friends Corner recommendation!

Our ‘Green’ kids continue their learning and fun times when a new week begins at the Clubhouse. We’ll be following on from Nature and Environment with a new theme; Little Things. Spiders, ladybirds, bees, ants, dragonflies, and loads more ‘little things’ are on our learning agenda.

We’d love you to come by and join us in some memory-making. For today, though.. Happy (UK) Mother’s Day for all those who celebrate it and, in the spirit of this post.. get Green, stay Green, be Green.

Until next time..

“We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children” 

– Native American Proverb

Beach Balls, Bouncing And Mother Nature

 

The beauty of our planet takes centre stage at Friends Corner these days. Nature and Environment our theme, and we’re walking through it.

 

Kicking off our theme were manmade constructions within our environment, and we took the liberty of talking about ‘City Parks and Zoos’.

Discovering that all our tiddlers had enjoyed park strolls and zoo trips, there really was only one thing to do; pretend to be pretty much every animal found in the zoo!

 

The clubhouse yard became the enclaves of a zoo as rhinos charged, kangaroos bounced, lions roared and giraffes wandered. Hide and Seek was played and the bouncing around continued for most of the morning.

 

An activity involving cutting, gluing, colouring and piecing together concluded our day’s fun. The children each had a piece of paper depicting a ‘jumbled up’ alligator. Their cutting skills were first put to the test as they cut each piece of the alligator before piecing it together, gluing it down and, finally, colouring it in.

The next day welcomed Yoga at the Clubhouse, as the littler ones breathed an air of zen before livening up with their favourite tunes for Song Time.

 

Midweek, and we were ready for another topic for our Nature and Environment theme. This time, something that every kid living in these parts holds dear; the beach!

 

First stop for our ‘Beach’ topic was sitting around the round table and talking about the beach. The kids enthusiastically spoke of what they do at the beach, what they see and find there, and how much they enjoy going. So, after mentions of sea, sand, boats, buckets and crabs, an invisible beach ball was thrown around the table as each child passed it on to one another. This game gained steam as it went on and by the end of it, that invisible ball was getting bounced all over the place!

 

After a filling snack for Munch Time, we were ready to get more beach ball happy with our next activity. Our little ones were each given a paper plate that had drawn on it five dividers. Each divider was numbered from 1-5, and each number had a dot of a different colour. The children were tasked to match each number to its colour before using said colour to fill in the divider. The result was a magnificent bunch of technicolour beach balls, made by a group of smart kids using brilliant skills in order to create. Proud munchkins (and mummies!) all round!

 

A game of Duck, Duck, Goose was played in the yard before heading back into the Clubhouse for something that had most of the kids talking of long after Home Time.

 

What was this impressionable thing, I hear you ask.. Well, I can tell you that a packet of digestive biscuits, a tub of yogurt and a tube of blue food colouring goes a long way. As the biscuits were blended into smooth crumbs – resembling sand, and blue colouring added to yogurt – resembling sea, the Friends Corner kids picked up their spoons and, in the words of at least one child animatedly telling his daddy and big sister all about his day, “we ate the beach!”.

 

A perfect end to a fun-filled day..

 

But, there was more to come as a new day dawned and we made our way through the clubhouse gate. That day’s adventure, as part of our Nature and Environment theme, focussed on ‘Volcanoes, Mountains and Lakes’. And, as our Alphabet learning reached the letter ‘V’, we mingled our activities and got down to some learning through play.

 

Lakes were first up as images flashed before the kids’ eyes of these beautiful wonders of nature. Talk of lakes and water and life found in and around them followed. Snow-capped and fire mountains were spoken of before heading outside to, literally, spread our wings.

 

A huge V-shape was drawn in chalk on the ground outside. The children stood along its two lines before flapping their wings and ‘flying’ in a V-shape like a flock of birds. Well, that was the idea, anyway!

 

Little hands and arms made out the letter ‘V’, before little legs were placed against the chalkboard wall in the shape of our ‘Letter of the Week’.

Then, to the table the children went where they found taped down pieces of card. Each piece of card had small lines that our little ones joined together to write out the letter ‘V’. They then unstuck their own piece of card, turned it upside down and had their own mountain. Talk of mountains with fire inside them made for a happy connection of ‘V for Volcano’.

 

A game of Tag, some V-shaped snacks and a good old sing-song filled the rest of our day before Home Time beckoned.

 

That same day, the Friends Corner Evening Club hosted its first English Through Creative Play Workshop, aimed at kids of any background wanting to make friends with the English language.

 

Closing our week, more yoga fun swept through our clubhouse ending another fun-filled, happy memory-making sequence.

 

We’ll be back for more Nature and Environment fun as a new week starts. But, that’s not all.. Evening Club workshops, Free Play, craft fun, as well as informative and worthy seminars given by supporters and advisors of Friends Corner, are all on offer. Keep up to date with these brilliant activities and events by visiting our website and Facebook page.

 

So, if ‘Meadows and Forests’, ‘Trees and Flowers’ move you; if having a cup of tea with kindred folk while your child builds his/her own network of pals appeals; or if just being part of something that will stay in your heart forever woos you; Friends Corner is the place for you!

 

Until next time..

 

 

“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”