Welcome to Day 9 of homeschooling my triplet nephews, who are four years old, using a Waldorf inspired kindergarten approach! We are continuing to find our rhythm, and today was filled with baking, watercolor painting, imaginative play, and a very special addition to our kindergarten space.

With our front yard still being landscaped, the children entered through the side door before heading into the kitchen to check on our little seedlings. Some of our plants are doing beautifully, while others are struggling a little, so we gave them some water and will continue caring for them for another week before sending them home with the children to plant in their backyard.

After a little free play, we returned to the kitchen for our first activity. Today, my 15-year-old daughter is leading the children in making a delicious apple crumble! She prepared the apples while the boys were playing, and then invited them to help add the remaining ingredients, including sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and flour.

I gave my daughter very little instruction other than suggesting that she divide some of the ingredients into smaller cups so that each child could have a turn. She did such a beautiful job guiding them through the process, and I was especially pleased to see how patiently the children waited for their turns.

One of the things I have noticed with the triplets is that everything needs to be either the same or completely different! If one child receives something that the others do not, little disagreements can arise. But today, even when they were not all doing exactly the same task, they understood that everyone would have an opportunity to participate.

This is one of the reasons I love bringing cooking and baking into our kindergarten experience. These simple, meaningful activities provide so many opportunities for developing fine and gross motor skills, following directions, paying attention, practicing patience, and learning to take turns. All of these skills help establish the foundation for later academic learning.

Once the children finished preparing the apple filling, they added the crumble topping, and we placed our dessert in the oven. I love baking fall inspired recipes during this season, even though it is still about 85 degrees outside here in Southern California! There is something so wonderful about having something delicious baking in the oven while the children are playing. The beautiful aromas become part of their kindergarten experience.

While our apple crumble was baking, I began preparing our materials for wet-on-wet watercolor painting. My sister-in-law and 11-year-old nephew helped set everything up while my daughter continued engaging the triplets in imaginative play.

Today was only their second wet-on-wet watercolor experience, and we introduced the color red. During our first painting session, we worked exclusively with yellow, and now we are allowing the children to experience red on its own. My 11-year-old nephew also participated in the same single-color painting activity, although he approached his work a little differently.

The children are doing so well with their watercolor painting! One of the things I want to establish early on is how to hold and care for their brushes and how to work gently with the watercolor paper. Young children can sometimes press too hard or use their brushes in ways that damage the bristles or paper, so I want them to become comfortable using these materials correctly from the beginning.

Of course, the experience is not simply about technique. I want the children to enjoy the beautiful qualities of each color, experience how the paint moves across the wet paper, and develop a natural appreciation for the materials they are working with.

If you have not already, I encourage you to check out our live kindergarten vlogs, where you can hear the children's actual voices as they participate in these projects. It is such a different experience to hear their conversations, questions, and interactions as our homeschool day unfolds.

Once our watercolor paintings were finished, we set them aside to dry and gathered together to enjoy the apple crumble. My daughter did a wonderful job leading the baking project, and the children really enjoyed the delicious snack they had helped prepare.

They also spent quite a bit of time engaged in imaginative play today. Although I did not capture all of their playtime, I did get to see the wonderful little space they created for themselves. Our teepee needs a little repair before we can set it up again, so the children found another way to create their own cozy space.

I have noticed how much they enjoy these small, enclosed spaces where they can gather together, hide away, and create their own imaginative games. It is lovely to see them becoming more engaged in this kind of play as our kindergarten experience continues.

We also received a very special package for our kindergarten room! I ordered a beautiful wooden play structure from Head, Hands, and Heart Boutique, and today the children helped me unpack it.

My 11-year-old nephew began opening the package, and then everyone participated in carefully removing the wooden pieces. The structure has a beautiful natural finish, and I was especially impressed with how wonderful the wood smelled! The pieces are both durable and lightweight, making them easy for the children to handle.

This is such a beautiful addition to our Waldorf inspired kindergarten space, and I cannot wait to see how the children incorporate it into their imaginative play. My 20-year-old son will be helping me assemble the structure since we will need a drill, but the assembly itself looks quite simple.

Once again, our time together went by so quickly that we did not get to our story! I even had some little bees ready to introduce alongside our seasonal story, but those will have to wait until another day.

The children gathered their things, put on their shoes and socks, and headed out through the side gate to say goodbye.

Another beautiful kindergarten day filled with meaningful work, creative experiences, delicious food, and imaginative play. I am especially enjoying seeing how naturally the different ages come together, with my daughter and older nephew participating alongside the triplets and helping create such a warm, family-centered homeschool experience!