Pinwheels at the Beach

It was an overcast 50 degrees outside today, maybe even cooler—definitely cold at Salisbury Beach. But, it was also a gloriously windy day and I knew the gusts would feel even stronger seaside. So this afternoon, after preschool let out, to the beach we went to play with the wind.

Giant rain clouds crowded each other over the ocean and the water itself was a steely gray with a whole lot of chop. The sea grass on the dunes bent so deeply in the wind that the blades looked like they were trying to bury their heads in the sand. I didn’t blame them.

Sadie and Henry were brave, however. They held tightly to the flower-shaped pinwheels we’d bought for our garden but had brought with us today to test the strength of the wind. The magical spinning possessed their eyes like a Fourth of July sparkler. I was surprised Sadie could even hold hers, it was whirring so fast. Henry presented his to the sky as if it were Neptune’s scepter, challenging the wind.

For fun, we held the pinwheels in different positions to see how the changes affected the quickness and direction of the spin. And we talked about how slowly the pinwheels had turned yesterday when there had been very little breeze in our fenced-in yard. The pinwheels continued to zip and whip. We touched them to the sea grass and to the tips of our fingers. Henry got a petal to the face once, but soldiered on. And believe it or not, we lost only one pink petal from Sadie’s wildly spinning flower.

When the two finally tired of clutching the pinwheels, we stuck them in the sand and huddled together to read “Flora’s Very Windy Day” by Jeanne Birdsall, which we had checked out of the Newburyport Public Library yesterday. It’s a story about a young girl who’s forced to play outside with her little brother against her will. She’s so perturbed that she wishes him away—and like that, the wind scoops him up. Flora, who believes her special red boots had grounded and protected her in the face of the wind, steps out of the boots in order to follow after her brother. Together they ride the wind on a journey that brings her to the realization she, indeed, wants to keep her brother.

It’s a fun story with sweet artwork and both kids, even with the three-and-a-half year age difference between them, were engaged in it. I learned it’s a blast to have story time outside! Henry wondered if it were really possible to be carried up to the moon by the wind—and suggested we try it with Sadie. However, we did not.

Instead, we spent the last part of our adventure running around on the barren beach (it was freezing, remember?). Henry kicked sand into the wind and watched the dusty clouds stop mid-air, turn back toward him, then throw themselves back at his feet. Sadie just went running into the wind carrying reeds and sticks, her hair blowing.

Finally, after Henry wrote his name in the brown-sugar sand in large, SOS-quality letters; we were ready to go. Our ears and cheeks were rosy and we were spent. Up on the dunes, the pinwheels turned and turned.

If you want to check out “Flora’s Very Windy Day,” it is probably available at your library or you can purchase it at Amazon.com.