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Saturday, March 24, 2012

Stones...

When it's not possible to get outside, it is always wonderful to get a little bit of nature inside!  Inspired initially by the awesome alphabet rocks over at I am Momma - Hear me Roar I went a little crazy over the summer and collected literally DOZENS of rocks and stones when I went camping by a beautiful river out in the Mongolian countryside.  I was fascinated by the qualities of the beautiful rocks I found, the different shapes and sizes, and how amazingly colourful they became once dipped in water!  I was like a child in a lolly shop!



With those stones I made my own alphabet set, and the children have explored them occasionally (considering the letters are those of a language other than their own- I recently made a Mongolian set too)

 

Around that time I also saw the lovely story stones that were made over at Pre-school Play and have been meaning to make some ever since, but just never got around to it.  So, this past week when the children came they found a stone drawing invitation laid out.


Monday we only had a small group, so we brought out the invitation again on Wednesday when we had a bigger group.  The children were quite interested in the notion of decorating, mark-making and drawing on the stones.


There was great concentration, and careful work...



And the end results were vivid and varying:

From the joy of making a mark...
drawing people...
creating connecting scenes...
and exploring literacy- Mishel wrote (by sounding out and invented spelling) the names of all of the children in the group on one of her stones!

Some children stayed for only a few moments, others stayed focused for quite some time, but everyone had time to explore and to pursue as they liked.  Here is the final roll call:


We will get to making stories with these someday, but for now the children enjoyed simply exploring and the opportunity for art making using another medium.  Have YOU tried drawing on a stone lately?  If not you should, it is actually very satisfying! J






5 comments:

  1. Great Creative work, Naomi. We are so proud of you and thankful to God for the gifts He has given to you. Love you much. Dad and Mum

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  2. Hi Naomi,
    I LOVE your blog, and I'm finding it very inspiring and engaging. I love following your journey as a teacher and learner. Thanks for sharing!
    Cheers,
    Sarah S. in Russia

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  3. Thanks Miss Sarah! Send me a link to your blog would you? I'd love to check it out! :-)

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  4. These are amazing - sorry to keep adding comments but I am loving your blog!! I just love the childrens' drawings & such a simple idea.

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  5. Don't apologise for adding comments- thanks for taking the time to read and comment!! I love the simplicity of this too. I recently presented the idea to some Mongolian kindergarten teachers- they were likewise quite taken with it and its simplicity... and the fact that it is so easy to come by stones here, and they are FREE! Yes... this is a good experience to explore time and time again :-)

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