A Walk Around the Sun

Bleu took her very first walk around the sun on Friday. She was so excited for it all week. This is a simple tradition in most Montessori preschools and a beautiful way to celebrate our littlest ones on their special day.


Typically the primary teacher creates an ellipse on the floor -- a picture, candle or any round object representing the sun -- and the birthday child is invited to carefully hold the earth/globe in her hands and slowly walk around the "sun" as many times as years she is. She stops on the month she was born. The walk coincides with a photo from each year and a discussion of the timeline of the child's life.


It reinforces calendar months and the science that the earth orbits the sun and takes one full year of time. The ritual also fosters a sense of community and celebration, as Bleu was surrounded by a captive audience of 20+ peers. I was lucky enough to sit in on Buby's walk last year and to get these snapshots from the directress immediately after Bleu's. I have a love/hate thing with technology. This falls squarely in the "love" category.