In a Montessori environment a cosmic education is how a child learns their place in relation to the world around them. The children in Crawford Childcare’s Montessori are introduced to this on their birthdays. Recently Kevin turned 3 years of age and got to experience the birthday walk. Another child held a representation of the sun while Kevin walked around the sun 3 times whilst holding the sandpaper globe. Each circle represents the earth’s yearly orbit around the sun. The child begins to understand how they are connected to the wider cosmos – the planets, sun and solar system.

Other learning in the Montessori this week has been based around scarecrows. We even made a scarecrow with old clothes and hay and named him Niall. The teachers are not really sure how the idea of Niall came about but the children were in complete agreement on this! Niall helped to open discussions and role play around emotions. Some of us talked about what scared us and how it feels to be scared. We also talked about how it feels to be loved, cared for and safe.

We love our Dingle Dangle Scarecrow action song:
When all the cows are sleeping
And the sun has gone to bed
Up jumps the scarecrow
And this is what he says
I’m a dingle dangle scarecrow
With a flippy floppy hat
I can shake my hands like this
And shake my feet like that

The toddlers have been talking about how their families include pets. The children have an array of pets which include fish, cats, dogs, chickens and even cows. Of course everyone in the crèche has part ownership of our pet Fallabello horse – Oreo. The children have been colouring pictures of Oreo and have been busy making horse puppets. All animals take a lot of looking after and we have been practising this in our role and small world play. We sure have an imaginative bunch of toddlers!

Thank you for all your donations of cereal boxes. The babies have been making good use of them this week. Activities using these simple boxes have included:

• Building towers – cereal boxes are a great, lightweight material. This means there are no injuries in the event of a building collapse.


• Mark making – the boxes have been opened out, chalked upon and painted to make several masterpieces.


• Dominos – lined up in rows the babies have been giggling as they tumble.


• Dress-up – a cereal box can make a good hat for a baby!


• Transporting, filling and emptying.