Placing their houses next to each other is a symbol of friendship for T and M.

M: We’re neighbors!

Z: Everyone’s house is the most beautiful, right C? 

C: Right! And we both used some Candy Apple red. 

Marie: I’ve made us something for our fairy houses. I am thinking kids can play with them and then we’ll take them to the garden on Friday. 

Lara: Where did these come from Marie? 

Marie: I made them as a kind of present for us. 

Last week during fairy house making L asks for more clay and puts together a person. Pictured above, once dry she selects a paint color for the body. This is an air dried piece, a bit too thick for kiln firing, but a wonderful jump into making other interesting things with clay…

I pull together additional materials to give her options for what she might want to continue the work on her person. 

Marie: Can you think of other things your person needs to have? 

L says hair, and eyes. Before our next meeting I pull together some materials for these options- maybe yarn, maybe fuzzy fabric scraps, maybe shredded paper? Hmm if those textures don’t speak to this maker I can offer the idea to paint in these details…When we look together, L is drawn to the fuzzy scraps and delighted to find pink and purple. She determines placement and today I work the glue gun to attach. We go through a similar process with eye options, a nose, and more fabric scraps to dress her person in clothes. 

L’s person feels complete to her and she likes my suggestion that we place it  in the display case in the entryway for others to admire. 

Marie: When you added the eyes you said she’s looking down at her golden nose. Should we put those words on the sign to tell about what you made? 

L: Yes! 

Word quickly spreads in the group. L made a person out of clay! 

Marie: Yes, and anybody else who wants to make a person can. 

T is inspired, we think about parts and secure attaching together. 

Marie: Remember how we let the base of your house dry for a few days so it could stand up strong? I think we can do that with your clay person too. We’ll find out! 

Then drawing people begins. 

T: This is a picture of Z. Next I will draw M. 

Looking through the “People Colors” on the shelf T and M ponder together, what color is M’s skin? Is this the right color? 

M compares one of the colors to her skin. 

M: This one. See? This is the color of me. 

T decides she’ll draw Ll next. What color should she use for his skin? 

They look together. 

Ll: I think this is the color of  me. 

He tries the marker out on a test paper to see more. 

Yes says Ll, this is the right one. 

Ll: My hair is black, see? So that color is easy. 

Checking to see 

M peers closely at T’s head. 

M: What color do I need for T’s hair? 

M: This color. 

M: This is me. With my friends.  

May 15, 2024

I share a letter to us from the Woodland Faerie Trail organizers.  

Greetings,  you are signed up to install your faerie home Friday, May 17th at 9:30 AM. You are located at number 22 Pixie Dust Path.  We have the name of your home as “Made by the children at Tigerlily Preschool”. 

The children examine this map with interest.

We circle our location, 22 Pixie Dust Path. I point out the parking lot, where we’ll gather on Friday with our grownups to install our houses in the garden. 

Children decide to make their own maps. 

L (looking at the trail map): Making the roads. 

Ll (also looking closely): And I’m making the numbers. 

R: I am showing the long way. 

I am thinking along with R about how his mark making might become more detailed to further represent the meaning he associates with a map now. I ask how will you show the start? 

He echos the numbers he and I just added when making out his requested play plan earlier this morning- first I will ____, second I will ____…

R: I am putting a 1. 

Ll: I’m using arrows. 

T explains her map. 

T: You start at the heart. 

M adds details to her paper too. 

M: A flower is the start. 

Ll: I did a lot of roads on it. Oh! I got to add the parking lot! 

R is thinking about the story of our clay work so far, incorporating that into his drawing. 

R: If you follow the road that’s where the kiln is. 

R: This will be my first time writing. I don’t mind if I write squiggle squiggle. 

Marie: If there’s a word you need, I can make that for you (on paper, to then trace himself or to copy onto his page).

R declines and says he will just make “the name of the house” himself in his own way. 

I print for people who want to see: 22 Pixie Dust Path

R, satisfied with his own effort: I’m writing it in my squiggle squiggle way. The maps are very important. I can not lose the map. 

Ll: Look, I did a P for Pixie Dust. And a compass. 

My head is full of the logistics of organizing our work, coordinating information for the families, planning for Friday’s installation day. It strikes me as wonderful that they’ve given the paths names this year and made a real map. It really must take work on the event coordinator’s part to figure out the plots and assign who goes where, placing all of us makers!

Marie: Aren’t maps interesting to think about? Maps are a way people can organize where things can be.