Spark Explorers took some time to appreciate one another’s art from the week at our display tables. We all left, excited, full of new knowledge, and promising to carry our love of nature and world culture back to Brooklyn with us!
And that’s a wrap!
Performance!
Spark kids were excited to find out that we would be putting on some plays! The group was split into two teams- Peru and Australia. Members of each team randomly picked out their own roles from bowls. Team Peru consisted of a wise turtle, a shaman, a talking tree, a boa constrictor and a sick … Continue reading Performance!
Bringing it all back home
During our week’s review during morning circle, it became clear that we have learned a tremendous amount about Peru, Japan, Australia and Mongolia! One of our kids summarized, "all the countries we learned about are really close and connected to nature." Spark Explorers discussed ways to bring that connectedness to nature into our lives right … Continue reading Bringing it all back home
Freeplay
While some of us made tiny nature terrarium pendants filled with mosses, dried flowers, shells and more, others created wood pegs dolls using felt and roving wool.
Building a Mongolian Yurt
In the afternoon, Kyle met us in the back yard to teach us a traditional Mongolian game featuring nomadic Mongolian horses (wooden clothes pins!). After an energetic game with lots of cheering, we set to work constructing our very own yurt, which is a nomadic house built from canvas and a wooden frame. While a … Continue reading Building a Mongolian Yurt
Mongolian Tuvan Throat Singing
Tuvan Throat Singing is an ancient Mongolian musical tradition. Not for the faint of heart, seasoned throat singers sing several tones simultaneously! Using ancient techniques, singers sing a drone in their resonant, chest voice while manipulating their throat, mouth and lips to sound overtones above at the same time. We listened to recordings of Tuvan … Continue reading Mongolian Tuvan Throat Singing
Making Mongolian headdresses
Taking a close look at traditional Mongolian dress, we found an explosion of color, texture and pattern! We used images of some of the traditional head dress styles as our inspiration as we created our own hats out of felt, gems and other goodies.
Music at Morning Circle
For our Spark Arts Studio song, we needed to quickly come up with some ideas for ways to reach Mongolia! Thankfully we had some inventive minds with us, and came up with a flying pencil, a half-cobra half-didgeridoo that can roll, a firebolt, and a glove that walks on the ground.
Exploring the Mongolian Culture
San Ban Oh! That’s Mongolian for “hello”! Today we travelled through one of the world’s highest countries, Mongolia, to learn about its fascinating culture and way of life. Like nomadic Mongolians, we moved through the vast lands to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, the Gobi desert, the grasslands and mountains. Mongolians have traditionally been nomadic, … Continue reading Exploring the Mongolian Culture
Freeplay
Playing with wool can be satisfying, and so can making bouncy felt wool balls out of shapeless wool! Our kids learned the process and science behind wet felting and rolled together colorful balls from loose wool roving (combed wool) and warm soapy water. We examined more objects under the microscope, wrote in our journals, glazed … Continue reading Freeplay