On Thursday’s walk in the sculpture park…
At the wood chip mountain:
Saige I’m on a mountain! I love that! Hey guys, I’m on a mountain! These are wood chips!
Earlier, on the playground, Kyla had stood on top of a big pile of wood chips, and said that she wanted the children digging at it to make it taller and taller. When we got here, she climbed up eagerly, calling it North Mountain.
On seeing the granite sculpture on the ground with holes in it, Saige comments that there’s a big hole and a small hole and tries to squeeze her feet inside the small hole. Others notice and want to try it too. Actually, it’s a boat, says Travers, and there’s a big engine, right here (on the other part of the sculpture). Back on the first piece, Cal says, This is our boat. Ahoy, matey! Travers echoes him from the other one: Ahoy, matey, we’re on a boat boat boat.
Meanwhile, Ian hikes up to the highest spot, a couple of rocks nearby, and Asha sees and joins him. Ian uses his stick to tap one rock and then another – perhaps listening to the different sounds? He taps the ground as he heads back down the hill, Asha following after. Is he making music…exploring the sounds it makes…feeling the vibration in the stick
Interestingly, we have seen Ian put the pipes in the classroom to his ear and listen for several minutes, and we wonder if this is an exploration of sound as well, as he hears the sounds around him echoing inside the pipes.
Someone discovers the brochures available, and Travers notices that the photo on the cover is of the granite sculpture we have just seen: Here, it’s the same one.
Heading back, we stop at Donut with 3 Balls, and as we’ve seen with other sculptures, there are cries of Hello!? Hello!? Thomas reaches up high, as if to see over the top of the donut hole: Hello, anybody up there? and Saige and Travers echo him. Children are drawn to tap on the sculpture – both the donut and the balls nearby – Ian again seems to be experimenting with sound as he taps the ball alternately with his mitten and his pamphlet. Some children want to pick up the rocks and put them or throw them up on the sculpture, and are reminded that we treat the sculptures as we would treat a person (likewise, we also ask children not to bang on the sculpture).
Seeing a red object beside the carriage house, there is some discussion about whether it is a sculpture, a fire manzer or a fire drill.
