Summer Reflections
As Summer hit our shores, today me and B put up our Summer Nature Table.
For him who is just 4 years old, it gives him a better visual of the season we are currently in. For me and the older 2, it is now more a pleasure to see the beauty of nature reflected at home.
As Summer goes by, more Summer treasures will find their way into the nature table. These little pockets of nature at home, also bring serenity, as we put them into a central point of the house.
Our Summer books have also appeared!
We have a couple more that are not showing here! Again these books are aimed for the younger child (4-7 years), but I enjoy reading them and my older two still enjoy listening to them as well.
The books were carefully chosen to reflect the current season. I would read a book every week, with the story being retold on a daily basis. The activities I do with my younger, will also reflect the books we are reading.
This will continue help him, make sense of the different, changing seasons. It will help him identify the passage of time and how everything changes all the time.
Here is a list of the books:
Sunflower House by Eve Bunting: this lovely book tells a story of a boy who plants sunflowers and sees them grow into bloom. The sunflowers become like a house where he and his friends play all summer long. Eventually though they wilt and die, leaving behind more seeds. I think the most profound part of this book is summed perfectly in this sentence:
It is neat to think when something’s gone, a part of it goes on and on.
Summer Days and Nights by Wong Herbert Wee: the pictures are lovely and it depicts a girl as she goes through a typical summer day. Catching butterflies, watching fireflies, going to the beach, eating ice-cream. It is nicely written!
Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe: A sweet boy, sees fireflies while eating dinner and he goes out to catch fireflies with his friends. Eventually he does get his fireflies and goes home to have a piece of moon in his bedroom. The fireflies though, start to stop glowing and seem sad. Eventually he let’s them go again and he smiles as he sees them flying by the moon.
Summer by Gerda Muller: Is a lovely book of a set of 4 depicting each season. This book has only beautiful illustrations, leaving you open to discuss what you are seeing or inventing a story as you go through the pictures with your child.
A house for hermit crab by Eric Carle: Again, this book shows how changes are happening all the time, yet we must be open to possibilities. We go through the months with a hermit crab that is growing and changing its shell. How it decorated its home and felt unwilling to part with it at first but eventually did and it looked forward to finding a new home with all the possibilities that brought with it.
Summer Story by Jill Barklem: Is a sweet book, again its a set of 4 depicting each season. We go through the mice of brambly hedge, discovering nature according to the season and what the mice are doing. In this particular summer, 2 mice are getting married and we are wafted through the start of their love story, engagement and marriage and how the mice around them are reacting to these happenings.
Flower Fairies of the Summer by Cicely Mary Barker: these lovely books (again according to season) are beautifully illustrated! You have wonderfully written poems about the flowers you will see in each season. It is still relevant to our little islands and all children enjoy them so!
How is your Summer reflected in your homes?
