the work of the moment

Collecting horse manure is one of those Autumn jobs that we have on our list.

A local horse-riding school provides us with this gardener's gold; activator for the compost and the exciting first vegetable bed on the section up the hill.

The girls wait in anticipation for the next collection day as they love the chance to romp around in the hay bales.

Hide and Seek is a hay shed favourite as is general jumping, sliding and rolling.

Afterwards Sky will draw as is her usual practise when she arrives home from somewhere.

Sky draws while I pick hay from the wooly jumpers.
I catch myself at times being astonished by how creative expression flows so naturally from her. She owns it.

We have always prioritised an environment which invites creative exploration in our homes (as written about here) and the girls have had endless hours of engaging with different materials and practicing different ways of working with them.

In other words, they have spent hours and hours playing freely with various materials.

As Sky's drawings and creations evolve she uses those lessons learnt during free play to work purposely towards a specific goal.

She would never think of asking me how to draw something and I wouldn't anyway. It's one of the few rules we have, guided by the principle of always supporting the child to maintain ownership over their creative journey. She may need help with figuring out a bit of detail and it often only takes me to gently remind her of the experience she has had of the image she is creating.

What the hay straw look like as you jumped on it?

What did you see when you saw the back of her head?

And still the product holds very little importance.

Rather it is her internal process and how she engages with her work that I am excited by in the interest of her long-term learning. It is her ability to problem-solve, clarify, refine and experiment with the challenges as they arise.