Monday, we had a later activity so we had our lessons in the morning, but first she had to tuck her toothbrushes and combs into bed. Then I introduced Esala Perahera. We found Sri Lanka on the map and looked at some images of elephants, people and landscapes in Sri Lanka. She thought it was really neat to see the people balanced on the bamboo poles. We saw some temples and some Buddha statuary too.
Esala Perahera is a 10 day celebration in Kandy, Sri Lanka. It is in honor of the Buddha's Tooth Relic. There is a parade with drummers, elephants and different types of dancers. The acrobatic dancers are the Ves dancers, which are considered the most important. Others dance with pom poms, tambourines and eve flame. On the final night, a grandly decorated elephant will carry the Tooth Relic of Buddha. A white linen cloth is laid on the ground so the elephant does not touch the ground. The festival climaxes around the full moon, and started this week.
Tobias took place in a psychology study, examining nutrition, the gut microbiome, and brain development in infants. They used an eye tracker to watch his eyes during three different visual activities.
Tuesday, we went to storytime and heard about stars. She created her own shooting star, then we listened to What is a Shooting Star. This was all because the Perseids will be best to watch this week, probably Thursday and Friday night. This year we are expected to see an extra large number of shooting stars. The Perseids typically are visible between July 17 and August 24, as Earth passes through the orbital path of the Swift-Tuttle comet. The viewing is best in early August, but it all depends on the moon. We aren't quite old enough to stay up to watch them, but it doesn't mean we can't celebrate. There is a nice Curious George episode about them as well.
Since Esala Perahera is a celebration around Buddha's tooth, we were talking about teeth Tuesday afternoon. Genevieve has been really good about brushing and flossing, both because of the app Chomper Chums and because she managed to get some broccoli out of her teeth when flossing, and that really amazed her. Since then, she has been listing the food she ate all day, saying how she's getting it all out. We talked about how we have different types of teeth for eating different types of food. The incisors for cutting, canines for tearing meat and molars for grinding. We watched Dinosaur Train and talked about what types of food the animals in the episode eat based on their teeth. We also looked at another owl pellet, examining the skull of some of the rodents that the owl had eaten. We read Bill and Pete, which is the story of a crocodile and its toothbrush. In the store, you see some of the different tools animals use as a toothbrush. We also read Arthur Tricks the Tooth Fairy, and she was able to guess what type of food the animals in D.W. sees at the museum might eat.
Wednesday, we went to dance class and talked about how a lot of celebration include dance. After we got home, Genevieve dressed mom up as an elephant and she rode in a "parade." The we painted pictures of elephants. I painted some elephants, and she decorated them. Then she painted a baby elephant of her own.
Tobias learned outside park signs this week like ball, swing, slide, outside, tree, leaf, flower, grass and butterfly. While playing outside, we explored more owl pellets and found a beautiful blue jay feather. We found another camouflaged leaf insect. She also found some butterfly wings and other seeds to add to her nature collection.
We ended the week talking about Obon and Japan. Obon is an ancestral Buddhist celebration, similar to Dia de Los Muertos. Families gather at the graves of loved ones and clean them. Since the spirits are said to be able to visit the graves, the family also leaves food. The holiday originated with a follower of Buddha named Mokuren. He found out his departed mother was suffering in the land of hungry ghosts. He made a sacrifice, and she was released. He danced with joy then, which was the beginning of the traditional dance with today's celebrations. The celebrations also typically include carnivals, fireworks, watermelon, and floating lanterns.We looked at pictures of Japan and found it on the map. Then we made a made our own floating lantern, using a paper bag to cut out shapes and aluminum foil for the base. It was a fun experiment to see what shapes floated best.
Genevieve also decided to build a house for her fairies out of balls. She was super excited to share it.
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