Hug's Fish Shop

After a lazy day where we sat on the pier at a local dock and ate chocolate covered frozen banana's in the sunshine (heaven!) we looked at the fishing boats & wandered into the fisherman's co-op.

Hug & I chose to buy some Tuna & Atlantic Salmon to cook for dinner that night & when we got home & during his rest time (we have a mandatory hour of "rest time" each day - Lovely still sleeps sometimes & looks through books when he doesn't & Hug can play quietly - & I get to regroup & save my sanity ;) he set up a fish shop.

I love that he must have been clocking everything when we were in the co-op; he had a selection of 'fish' on display & the wooden scales & an abacus for the register & white paper to wrap our orders in. The fish were made of different coloured papers (scrunched, I think, to give them 'form') which had an interesting variety of names which he'd invented.

This is an interesting converging of Montessori & Steiner theory me-thinks. Obviously, the experience of visiting the place was really stimulating to Hug on many levels (a very Montessori hands-on experience & stirring of curiosity) & then - seeing that we weren't able to head off on a trawler or start serving customers at the co-op - he came home & converted that information into a play situation where he could *experience* that role for himself.

I'd like to think about ways to "follow the child" & offer him extensions to this role-playing, be it in the form of learning some of the names of the different fish (we looked at a poster of the fish in the co-op) or taking him back to speak to some of the fishermen. What else might you suggest? {Edit: That's a rhetorical question really - just asking it made me realise how little he likes me to organise any activities around his learning. He likes to be in control! }

This is classic Hug. When his interest is grabbed he absorbs information on really interesting levels & spins off into Hug-tangents. Maybe that's all kids! but being my biggest it's fascinating to watch. I still haven't really worked out how to harvest this interest & work with him in a typical Montessori way with the ease that I find I can with Lovely & I think that's his age & the combination of our personalities...