A Thanksgiving Harvest

Lily sat quietly playing the other day. After I finished up what I was working on, I went to check in with her and found these beautiful mandalas. I asked her to tell me about them, and this was her story:

The pilgrim and the Indian were living in the same land, but they weren't friends. At first, the pilgrim was mean to the Indian, but the Indian taught the pilgrim to be nice. The pilgrim said he was just being mean because he was hungry, so the Indian taught the pilgrim how to plant his food and where to collect food from nature. They planted their food and waited all summer. All summer they were friends and splashed together in the river. In the fall all their food was grown and they had to get ready for winter. The Indian wasn't very strong and couldn't gather all of her food by herself so the pilgrim brought his truck over to help her. The Indian was grateful so she showed the pilgrim where he could collect watermelons and berries. Once they collected all their food they made these pretty harvest circles of all their foods so they would have something pretty to look at through the cold winter. 

The Pilgrim's harvest

The Indian's harvest

Each color of the gems is a different food. 

I love how she was able to narrate such a wonderful story from her pretend play. And I love how she can joyfully entertain herself acting out these little stories through play. I often catch her deep in her own little fantasy world and love these moments, seeing her caught up in a world of imagination and wonder, just being a happy, content child.