BIG LEAVES, LONG LEAVES, SOFT LEAVES

Ashton loves to be outside. Being outside has the ability to calm him, excite him and amuse him for great lengths of time. We love to walk around the garden and look at all the different trees and touch the leaves. The more we go exploring the garden the more inquisitive he has become. He has also started interacting with the environment in a different way.

To begin with Ashton would just look around at all the trees and watch them blow in the wind, the movement of the leaves catching his attention. Then he began reaching out to the leaves and as most babies do, would automatically try and put them in his mouth. This he still continues to do to a degree but just yesterday I began to notice that the way he handled each leaf was slightly different. One particular tree has quite small soft leaves, and he would run his hand through these as though feeling them stroke his hand. Another tree has long, hair like leaves, (I call this the Pony tail tree.) This one he holds onto and pulls his hand down the leaves. The trees with spiky leaves or branches he is more cautious with and the leaves with big chubby, rubbery leaves he likes to pat and hit.

This development in the way he played with the leaves made me start talking to him about the differences between the leaves, using words that described them in a broader sense than just "a green leaf". Although it could seem (because he is not talking yet) that my efforts are premature... the theory behind this is that while I am saying these describing words, he will be using all of his senses and putting those words into context.

What could have just been a simple walk in the garden became an exploration of shape, texture, size, colour and nature. We became Science Seekers!!!