V is for Volcano

This morning was a busy one. We had a doctor ship, a deep sea diving ship, and a cruise ship going. Using chairs, our cardboard boat, and shelves they played happily, without incident for over an hour. I didn't want to pull them away from their play, but we needed to have circle time and I really wanted to introduce them to Volcano's. So, I pulled them away from their play, leaving the makings of their fantasy world intact for when we were through with circle. Yet, when I began talking about Volcano's, reading stories, and then watching a National Geographic video on Volcano's erupting, they were hooked. I guess the Hot, Red Lava was to enticing. They loved the video, it was a Volcano 101 4 minute video we found on the Internet, and they loved watching and listening to it. We then talked about how Volcano started with a V and made the Va sound... but it was the kids who made the connection that some Volcano's looked like an upside down V. Brilliant!! On the art table today I had set out the letter V on a piece of paper with some different types of medium to create with. They of course turned it upside down and made volcano's. I loved that I didn't even have to suggest it. I did leave an image of an erupting volcano on the computer so they could see what one looked like. This is what they came up with... The white is supposed to be smoke & ash, not a Christmas Tree topper :) After we were finished creating, I thought they would go back to their play, but they did not. I felt bad about that. Instead some little disagreements broke out, I decided a nice walk would do us all some good!! During our walk we found a small pipe sticking up from the ground, left over from a street sign. We could have sworn we felt that hot lava just bubbling and boiling down there. Even feeling some of the steam on our faces as we knelt over it :) Again, I did not mention that maybe they could "see" the middle of the earth with all its lava bubbling... it was a connection they made on their own. I was very proud of them.

(Don't you just love all those little heads together trying to get a peek)

Sprout is thinking very carefully about what Princess had said about the dry parts of the road being where the lava is right underneath, drying the road faster there than where Sprout is walking. Huh...

Just a little snippet from our day... I wish I could capture it all.