China reflections

I'd been looking forward to our China month because I knew it would get us out into our local community in Singapore, which is heavily dominated by Chinese culture.  We were active participants in the Mid-Autumn celebrations around Singapore.  We learned more about the foods that we've been eating since we moved here.  And we learned a couple new Mandarin words along the way. 

Did you find any resources in your local community?  A Chinese restaurant selling mooncakes?  Or a community center with festival celebrations?  A neighbor with a lantern in their window?

Just as The Whirl Girl and I have been discovering parts of our local community, Whirls and Twirls has been connecting with members of its global community.  In addition to all of our crafty-cooking-musical goodness, I've been working on trying to spread the wings of Whirls and Twirls to reach a bigger audience.

I get an almost daily reminder from The Whirl Girl about how Whirls and Twirls is changing her perspective.  When she's not asking to do another project - which she frequently is - she is remembering something that she's learned in our "travels."  It is inspiring to me as a parent, and as a global educator, to see how her worldview is expanding through our adventures.  And when you feel inspired, you want to share it!

This month, we made two steps in that direction.  We were featured on Modern Parents Messy Kids, one of my favorite crafty parenting blogs, in a thoughtful 9/11 post on raising kids with empathy and global perspective.  And I wrote a guest post on the Barefoot Books Living Barefoot blog about how we bring life to their fantastic books with crafts and cooking projects. 

These collaborations reminded me of one of the best parts about writing Whirls and Twirls - the discovery of new communities of people that share my passions for travel, creativity, and global education.

I've been sharing some of these amazing resources here and there in posts and by adding links that I find useful down the right sidebar.  From here on out, I'm going to try to be a bit more systematic about it.  Each Monday will feature a resource that I've found that relates to our efforts here.

If you are a like-minded soul out there, let us know what you're working on.  Or if you've found a website or organization that you think we should know about, please share it with us.  Likewise, please share our website with those who think might be interested in joining us for the ride.

But what you really want to know is where are we going next month?!  Without further ado, for October, Whirls and Twirls will be traveling to....

INDIA!

Peru reflections

We've now completed three months of Whirls and Twirls and it feels like we are hitting are stride. The months have started to take on a routine. We start with a trip to the library to exchange the books from our previous country for ones about our new destination. We make a collage on the first day, introducing the new country with photos, maps and discussions about what we'll be doing. We fill the month will all sorts of fun activities, and try to involve local friends when we can. And at the end, we find a way to give back by donating to a organization that does good work in the country we visited.

I'm figuring out what kind of research I need to do in advance and trying to get supplies in order so that we are ready whenever there is a free afternoon or a rainy day. And I'm getting a better sense of what kind of activities are right for The Whirl Girl and her age group, trying to find the right mix of being challenging enough but not too ambitious.

Best of all, The Whirl Girl loves it. Many mornings start off with her saying: "Mama, I have an idea. We could do a project today!" I wasn't sure how her 3 1/2-year-old brain would process the whole idea of "traveling" to these different countries. And while I couldn't tell you exactly how her brain visualizes the idea of a "country," it's inspiring to see that she understands that they are different places and remembers things that we did months ago.

Peru was, of the three, the country that I knew the least about. There weren't any specifically Peruvian cultural events in Singapore to guide our travels. We had to stretch ourselves and get creative. Friends shared their expertise and their ideas. I learned right along with The Whirl Girl. Note to grown-ups: picture books make a fantastic introduction to new countries. They are filled with evocative illustrations and stories, and often contain easy-to-read factual information about the geography and culture of their subject.

Adios for now to the Western Hemisphere, we are off to....

CHINA!

Malaysia reflections

It's hard to believe that I started off the month worrying if we'd have enough resources to fill up our month with activities. The last few days have been a mad dash to try to cram in as many ideas as possible before we move on to the next country, with a few that didn't quite get done.

It didn't hurt that we had a fantastic time visiting Malaysia. This was our fourth trip there as a family. We've been to Malacca, Langkawi, Palau Pangkor, and now Kuching in Borneo. Each trip has revealed a different side of the country, and each time we've left impressed by the genuine friendliness that we've received. It's a place that I knew very little about before moving to it's southern neighbor and I probably would not have ventured there if it hadn't been so accessible. But I'm so thankful that we have had the opportunity!

I'm not sure how much The Whirl Girl made the connection between "the Malaysia project" and "the Malaysia trip" but I think it must have sunk in there somewhere. I found it hard to integrate the project into the trip while we were traveling because it was just plain hard enough to be traveling with a 3 1/2-year-old. Free time was spent planning activities, making sure we were all fed enough, and resting. And we were cramming enough into one day without trying to add any crafts or other projects. But I found that making some of the connections after we returned - proboscis monkey puppet, orangutan donation - helped bring the project and the trip together. Plus part of the joy of travel is just taking it all in as it comes, and processing it later. No different for a little one than us bigger ones. Something to remember for future travels.

Also, this month I've been reading about other families who are traveling. Some blogs I've been following, in case you want a taste, are Almost Fearless, Four Dots on the Map, and Our Travel Lifestyle. I love that they share the highs and the lows, and the frustrations and the fantastics, of being on the road with kids. Be careful - they may just inspire you to drop everything and hit the road!

We seem to be settling into a Whirls and Twirls groove. The Whirl Girl understood that it was time to trade in the Malaysia books for the next set, as we travel to...

PERU!

Kenya reflections

About three days ago, The Whirl Girl told me she was ready to return her Kenya books to the library and get some new books. Perfect timing!

I thought there should be some sort of closure to the month so we sat down at the table together with all of her books. We started a "passport" binder where we can keep some of the crafts that she made. I put the Kenya sign in first and asked her some questions about the month to write down on the back of the sign.



What was her favorite book? (she started listing off all of them, and then eventually came to Mama Panya's Pancakes)

I started vague, which didn't get me very far. What did she remember about "the Kenya project" as we call it? (silence)

So I got a little more specific. Did she remember what we cooked? Did she like dancing to the music? What kind of tree did we make?


These elicited various responses, but I would say on the whole, I was way more into the idea of a reflecting up on our month than she was. She was more excited to punch holes in her crafts projects and put them in the binder. And to pack the books into a bag to take them to the library to exchange them for new books.

For me, one of the biggest highlights from our Kenya month was how well everything came together, in unexpected ways. There were baobab trees in the play we saw, in her books, and on her walls. The play's narrator said "Jambo", as did the characters in her books and the singers in the music that we listened to. She noticed how the hands on the cover of my book about Wangari Maathai matched the illustrations in her book, and we were both inspired by Wangari's work. And the animals - the Kenyan animals were everywhere! At the zoo, in her books, in her crafts, among her stuffed animals, in photographs.

It was a delight watching The Whirl Girl make these connections for herself, learning that these things were all related to Kenya. And it was amazing to watch how she saw these different pieces come together as part of a bigger whole.

In retrospect, we got a little lucky picking Kenya as a first stop. The children's book selection was fantastic - great stories, beautiful illustrations and diverse settings. The animals provided an familiar and fun entry point. And the crafts projects sprung out naturally from our activities. In planning for the next month, I'm discovering that all countries may not prove so easy!

Any Kenya experiences you'd like to share before we move on?

Next stop is MALAYSIA! Hope you'll join us!