Today, while Bugz was outside playing, she decided to plant a tree. I stumbled upon her project while routinely checking in on her play, after hearing silence for a bit too long.
In her sandbox, Bugz had placed a tree branch, with about a dozen small branches attached. She was shoveling sand at the base, piling up her tree’s foundation. She asked for seeds… I found some dried berries/buds from various bushes in the yard and provided them to her. She planted them at the base of the tree and asked for another tree.
“I’m plantin’ a tree so it can grow, mama.” She says, to my rather obvious question of, “Well, what are you up to?”
I’ll attach her video tomorrow.
From this experience, she demonstrated awareness and comprehension of the following:
Biology – plant life, beginning/growth/foundation/root system/seed development/structural aspects of the trunk and soil
Physics – balance, proper foundational support, angle, depth (of trunk of tree) of insertion for steady support, and soil distribution for foundational support (she knew to put the new dirt/sand at the top of the pile, spreading it out around as it fell into place, from the center where the stem had been place, to the edge of what she deemed an appropriate circumference for her tree’s foundation
Math & Geometry – dimension, quantity, angle, weight distribution, distance (she planted three trees total, each equally distanced from the other, with seeds at their base)
Care and Nurturing – she tended to them. The first tree was placed for the purpose of the “Holly Bugs Tree House” – a place for the bugs and the White Fairy to live. She indicated where the bugs could reside (on which branches), how it would be compatible for the White Fairy, and even how they could play. She incorporated leaves (dead/piles from the fall) into her scene as well. She made (I think) beds at the base of the trees with the leaves for the various woodland creatures, found a branch cluster with some leaves still on it, and I think she may have buried some leaves near the trees – indicating the leaves were nourishment. Then, she stated, “All they need to grow is some sun and oh, yes, the water.”
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