Joyful Beginnings Hummingbirds: March 10-14, 2025

Mar 14

Dear Joyful Beginnings Hummingbird Families,

Last week began wet and chilly, giving us just the opportunity to get busy in the mud kitchen and splash in puddles. We stayed cozy indoors for the rest of the day, reading books and making pancakes, telescopes, worms, and snowmen with homemade golden playdough.

The following day brought bright, sunny weather, and we had a wonderful time celebrating Ollie’s birthday with his lovely family. Thank you for the delicious berries, Ollie’s family!

We noticed that the turtles and other forest friends were waking up. We saw turtles on a log by the pond, a little lizard friend in our planting pot, and chipmunks.

When the warm spring sun comes out

Turtles wake and crawl about

Oh, how happy they will be

A springtime world for them to see

We stayed active throughout the week, preparing pots for planting and stretching and moving our bodies to stay warm and keep growing - especially after the time change (daylight savings) over the weekend. We were all a little tired and restless, but we supported each other with steady rhythms, warm hugs, fun activities, and plenty of understanding. Any change in sleep rhythms can be tough on all of us, particularly the little ones. For support, we turned to a wonderful article titled “The Importance of Sleep” by Dr. Susan Johnson, a behavioral and developmental pediatrician who is also a certified Waldorf teacher. The insightful article explains how the liver follows the sun’s cycle and its key role in children’s sleep, emphasizing the importance of going to sleep early - between 6:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. - for young children.

Sleep is such an important issue, especially for children under the age of 9, and rhythm plays a crucial role in supporting the foundation for healthy sleep. If you're interested in articles about sleep or would like support on the topic, please don't hesitate to reach out to us.

Children may have also excitedly shared with you how the leprechauns caused quite a stir by messing up our entire platform at the Hummingbird nest the other day! We had to tidy up the space before circle time. They left behind a glittery, shiny trail, and we were able to track down a few shamrocks and two pots of gold they had hidden! We brought our treasures back to our Hummingbird house and decorated our shamrocks with the shiny finds. Leprechauns are quite busy this time of year, while the little gnomes with pointy green hats are very shy and hide behind trees and rocks, but they do love shiny objects. One even visited Gloria, the gnome in our story!

And last but not least, a big thank you to Ki Derek and the community members for all your hard work, bringing us plenty of sand for the sandbox and soil for our spring planting!

Announcements and Reminders for Hummingbirds:

Spring is almost here! Please start packing insect repellent and sun hats in their backpacks.