Around the World: Namaste from India!

 Namaste from India! It's hard to believe we've "traveled" to ten amazing countries in this unit and we are dwindling down with just a few more stops before we return home to the United States at the beginning of next week and then move on from our Around the World unit. I wondered at the beginning of this how my toddler would do with a learning theme I had only taught to four and five year olds before. We've both learned a lot! For me, I have really seen how adaptable this subject matter can be to toddlers--especially if you include toddler-friendly methods of exploring it. We used a lot of multi-sensory exploration, kitchen activities, dramatic play, building materials to teach about architecture, repetition of familiar songs, some arts & crafts and a lot of opportunities to look at great library books--both fiction and non-fiction. Having a variety of approaches really helped keep things exciting and interesting for us and ensured that if one type of activity was not a real winner, another one would be.

Repetition of predictable routines was also an invaluable tool. Every time we've "traveled" to a new country, we've done so with the same songs, a bit of airplane dramatic play and a stamp in our passport upon arrival. This is not something that gets boring for children, but rather something that is familiar and ignites interest and enthusiasm. For most of our destinations, I've also provided a non-fiction book to leaf through so my son can see photographs of familiar concepts in a novel environment. He especially likes to see pictures of other children, food, transportation and animals. Including select children's fiction in the mix also enhanced our experience. My son loves helping in the kitchen and was really interested in the colorful photographs of food and spices in our book about India. I was very excited to offer him a hands (and nose)-on experience of painting with spices!

I am never sure exactly how my son will respond to any activity. He can display a great deal of excitement only to remain with a project for a few minutes and then move on. Other times, he may be hesitant to try or begin something, but sit with it at length. I was really impressed with how long this activity held his concentration and interest! It encouraged a lot of language development as well as he initiated conversations about using spices in cooking and what he was painting about (in this case, "robots" and "snakes," as my husband had participated a bit in our homeschool activity by showing our son a video of snake charmers in India and a robot used to help catch snakes!).

To set up our activity, I filled a plastic tray from our recycling bin with a variety of colorful and aromatic spices: turmeric, paprika, cinnamon, ground mustard, dill weed, and chili powder. You could use any spices you have on hand. I wanted at least some of the scents to be familiar (like cinnamon) and some to be particularly rich in color (like chili powder and turmeric). I also wanted to include a little texture variety (hence the dill weed). I also filled a recycled plastic container with school glue that I added vanilla extract to for scent. It did not take on quite as rich of an aroma as I'd hoped but I didn't want to use too much pure vanilla extract in glue! We started the activity by setting out the spice tray and a magnifying glass. I allowed my son to observe the spices up close and notice the different colors and textures. I did not dissuade him from touching them either! Next, I explained that we would now be using them for some artwork and making a spice painting. I set out the glue dish with a brush. He hesitated a bit primarily as though he wasn't sure what to do. I demonstrated dipping the brush in glue and "painting" it on the paper (we actually used a thick matte cardboard that was recycled from a frame shop). I pinched a bit of one of the spices between my fingers and sprinkled it on top. That was all the instruction my son needed and he went to town!

Many times, my son does not like the feeling of his hands getting sticky or to have his hands dirty. I provide a wet washcloth next to messier projects so he has the option to wipe off his hands without having to leave an activity. This time, he mostly wanted to wipe them on his shirt! If you're concerned about staining, you may want to use a smock or cover-up! We did cover our work table with a disposable tablecloth so we could easily shake our finished work over the top and then roll it up and toss it. My little artist had fun sprinkling spices on glue, sprinkling them in glue, painting with the now very colorful glue and exploring the different textures as it thickened with spices in certain areas of his artwork. Then, he went back to sprinkling spices over the top. It was incredible to watch his concentration and curiosity in action. This was truly process art at its best. I was not focused on the end result and he was totally focused on the experience.

When I taught my son the way to greet others in Hindi, "Namaste," he recognized the word from our yoga activities. yoga would surely be a part of our visit to India. We love the Cosmic Kids Yoga series on YouTube for home yoga sessions. We've also checked out some wonderful DVDs for children from our library and even come across or created some routines at home through online resources like Pink Oatmeal.

My little yogi!

Lastly, we took to our kitchen to make an adapted version of this simple recipe for Indian Rice Pudding. I'm hopeful that my particular eater will want to actually try it, but if not, I definitely think it is a suitable breakfast food for me!

That's all for this leg of our trip. Join us in Israel next time where we will try our hands at replicating the Israeli flag with playdough, making our own homemade "Dead Sea" bath salts, playing about farm life at the kibbutz, juicing oranges like the ones that grow in Jaffa, making hummus from scratch and tasting some of our favorite Israeli cuisine. See you there--and until then, happy playing!