Bowl of Nature Wonder

We live in Omaha, so it's not as if our children are growing up in a cement jungle, but we do introduce another way to approach nature in our Spirit Play classroom. If their homes are anything like mine, there are few opportunities to just sit down with a leaf or a stone and look at it closely. To study it. Magnify it.

That's what this bowl is all about.

I've put items in there that they may encounter often. And some they may have never encountered. Horsetail grass is a weed. If you look closely to the seed head, the "tail" has little serrated edges. They can certainly feel them. There are bones where they can see the internal structure - that they are not solid all the way through. And that "weakness" makes them stronger. Seashells whose patterns get more complex through magnification. The different parts of a feather. Geometry found in seed pods.

It's a great way for them to quietly explore the world, and share the wonder.