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Rainy Day Fun for Toddlers
It's Raining, It's Pouring, That Doesn't Mean It's Boring!
By Debbie Friedman
The Waldorf educational system actually works this concept into their curriculum. Sometimes teachers read a sad story to the children, or build a dark tent with quilts and card tables, on these stormy days. This is followed by an activity such as lighting a candle, to help children look forward to brighter days. They acknowledge that it is OK to feel sad and melancholy sometimes and that the light will always come again.
McClure created her own family tradition when her children were young. Every February, she would give them a basket lined with foil and filled with earth. The children would plant grass seeds and put the baskets near the windows. Everyday they could see the grass sprout and grow, and by the time Easter had arrived, the official beginning of Spring, the children had Easter baskets with real grass. "I think it helps the children look forward to the light, and know that light follows darkness naturally, it always will, and both fallow and growing periods are part of the nature of being alive," McClure says.
The snow will melt, the rain will stop and the sun will shine a little longer every day – eventually. Remember to look for the light, no matter how faint it might be. Look for it out your window, maybe a break in the storm clouds, and always as you take the time to make these wet and stormy days special for the young children in your life.
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