Growing Up

It's not Spring, but thanks to a gift from one of the Alluem adult students I was able to coordinate a little lesson on taking care of plants and taking care of ourselves. We received a Paper White Plant Kit, complete with the bulbs, dirt, and a pot. The Alluem Little Kids were so excited when they found out it would be their responsibility to take care of it! We started off by talking about the things we needed to take care of ourselves to grow up strong and healthy- good nutrition, rest, fresh air, love, peace, etc. Then we talked about what plants needed to grow strong and healthy - water, light, temperature, care, time, etc. We noticed many similarities, which was obvious because plants and kids are both living things....we also noticed the differences. As one student pointed out, "We need orange juice when we get sick, but a plant may not like that very much." Cute.

We then talked about the growing process of the plant and acted it out through yoga poses. Starting as tiny seeds near the window in Child's pose, I covered them each up with a folded blanket to act as dirt. Sometimes plants can take a while to grow, so we took some deep breaths of fresh air and practiced our patience. I sprinkled them with imaginary water and watched them sloooooowly break out from under the dirt. First a small bud in Hero's Pose, grabbing on to their heels and sprouting up into Camel Pose. As I gave them some more water, they grew taller into Chair Pose, stretching their pedals up over their heads, finally growing taller into Mountain Pose, and onto their tippy toes! They danced around the room and called out what type of flower they wanted to be.

We danced over to our Paper White project and dug in! The kids did it all from moistening and breaking up the dirt with their hands, burying the bulbs, and giving it enough water so that it could grow. We then came into Flower Pose and practiced patience once more while balancing and waiting for the plant to start growing. One swore she saw the bud grow, but I reminded her that we probably won't see any growth until at least next week! We placed the plant by the window in the Meditation Room and they are very excited to get back next week to see how it is doing!