Concrete Stepping Stones Part 1--It's The Journey, Right?

We are fortunate to have the school garden protected within a courtyard, the courtyard where children play, where they can look out upon through classroom windows and daydream as the seasons pass through the school year.  We are fortunate the garden is protected from cats, sheltered from vandalism...  Indeed, we are fortunate that we have a garden space at all.

I count blessings because by far the biggest challenge is to keep the kids from stepping on small plants as they struggle to grow from beneath hopping, skipping, and jumping feet.  This garden, after all, is the students' garden, their space to play and explore.

Gardens and children are a natural equation.  They just go so well together: I find children have that natural scientific curiousity and wonder for all life forms, be it green or blue, earthbound or winged.  In my observation, I have noticed the children intentionally avoid stepping on the plants in the courtyard garden--they make a game of it--but little sprouts just peeking  out from the soil are not easily seen, and most children don't even know they are growing there to even try to avoid them.

So, following the lead of Puntledge garden coordinators in the past, many volunteers agreed that stepping stones would be a good idea.

I found a diy stepping stone website and the whole process seemed simple enough, and research told me the project is fun to do with children.  There are many types of concrete you can buy, but considering we are a public school and on a budget, I bought the cheapest stuff available.  There was a warning: this type of concrete can work, but it is extremely pebbly.  Never mind, I thought, the pebbles will just add to the rustic charm of the overall project.

My husband said he would help me out with the stepping stones.  Once again, I had arranged to do this activity with Mme. Messer's pm kindergarten class.  The kids were to come out (we had set up just outside the classroom door) in groups of 4 or 5.

My husband and I decided we would pre-mix the concrete away from the children, by the car in the school parking lot, since the powder is an inhalation hazard (we wore masks and eye protection).  According to instructions, if we wanted to have the children write in the stepping stones, we should let the concrete set for about 20 minutes.  We only had time to wait for about 10 minutes, but even then, the concrete set so fast, children in the later groups had trouble pushing in the shells, marbles, and stones my husband and I had collected for them to decorate with.  The pebbles in the concrete mix didn't help either, and they couldn't really write anything in the stepping stones, unfortunately.  A few plant prints were made, but even then, it was difficult to make the prints look clear.

Despite this initial setback, the class appeared to have lots of fun!  They wore gloves and smocks to protect skin and clothing, but other than that, there isn't much difference between decorating a concrete stepping stone and decorating a mud pie!

However, for me, more challenges were to come, and more lessons learned.