Children have a unique affinity to form connections with the Land. Each visit to Woodside National Historic Site is an adventure anticipated with curiosity, imagination, love, hopes, plans, and theories. To children the snowy landscape is much more than scenery to observe, or pass through; children view the world with a keen eye for complexities, details, connections, and relationships. Observing children touch, manipulate, describe, and at times taste snow opens our senses to the complexities of seemingly simple phenomena around us.
Throughout our winter explorations the children discussed the different textures, properties, and consistencies of snow. On Friday the children described the snow as being “powdery and crumbly”, however they devised ways of gently compressing the snow into molds and used cups to “drill” holes into their sculptures. Friday was a cold and windy day thus the children observed that the “food colouring did not spread in the snow very well” and the paint brushes froze quickly gathering clumps of snow, the crystals forming on the bristles were welcomed by curious observers. The children expanded on their interest and created their own experiment using transparent water bottles, due to the cold temperatures, large crystals appeared on the walls of the water bottles creating “patterns and long needles”.
Tuesday’s trip brought sunshine and milder temperatures, the children continued with their snow art explorations requesting food colouring and art supplies. They discussed the way paint reacted to the “packing snow” in comparison to the “crumbly snow” of our previous visit. Their imagination took us on a multidimensional journey into fantasy play. A large group of children created large maps in the snow and characters from The Wizard of OZ appeared in their fantasy play scenarios. The map grew in fantastic forms, textures, and colours. The texture of the snow changed as the children discussed ways of adding a third dimension to their massive art project.
“We need sleds to make mountains on the Map, and to make some parts flat.”- a group came to agreement. For us adults it was difficult to visualize this plan until it unfolded. The children pulled an educator sitting on a toboggan across the snow mural, and in front of our eyes flat surfaces and mountain ranges appeared: the children remembered that the grooves on the bottoms of the toboggans leave “small mountain range prints”.
A group of artists contemplated ways of creating more patterns on the surface of the map and found a fallen branch, as they pulled the branch, fantastic patterns emerged sparking more fantasy play, engaging more children in the exploration.
As the adventures on the “Land of Oz” unfolded the children took on the roles of Munchkins and Witches. As the landscape filled with the sounds of birds singing, the snow crunching, children laughing, the colours and textures emerging, we were reminded of the possibility of magic and the beauty of imagination. To honour the voice of the protectors of this Land, we listened to the gifts of Anishinaabemowin Speaker and Linguist, James Vukelich, sharing the words of winter with us. What are your inquiries regarding snow? How do you celebrate the possibilities of Winter?
