June 30
Previous Weeks
These little explorers loved hiking so much they wanted to do it again! This time our mission was to hunt down edible berries. We ate Saskatoon berries, buffalo berries, found some wild mustard and we hung out in the old mine while eating prickly pear and cactus. We spotted so many caterpillars today and even got “pooped” on by the biggest caterpillar of the day!
We finished the day down at the river, cooling off and learning about chlorophyll, and how we can use it to paint!
Wild day at the river, using tools, catching and making homes for tadpoles and minnows, playing water wars, throwing rocks and getting messy!
We ended the day with “the great river stick race”, relaxing with snacks, books, and counting the birds by their different sounds.
Prompting questions!
– What insect did we see on the trail to the river? How did it move?
– How many birds did you count when listening?
– Did your stick make it to the finish line?
– What is your favourite tool to use?
Your wildlings made the best of the heavy rain this morning! While pouring down rain we splashed in every puddle we passed. We picnicked under our tarp, made mud muffins, soups, had mud wars, and did charcoal face painting. Once the rain stopped, we watched in fascination as a colony of ants remade their home that had gotten damaged by the rain, and listened to all the birds songs start up again. We finished the day with a Blackfoot story of how the old man river was formed.
One thing that I loved was that they wanted to see the river so badly to see if it was raising from the rain :).
I am super impressed! A couple weeks ago we had a school come to learn survival skills. I had brought in a small new growth branch off my home maple tree for each of the kids in that workshop. Your wildlings have found almost every piece of small blended in stick left behind, paused, picked it up and made us see that they found something new! Wow! I told them nothing about it previously. It shocks me sometimes to see how truly observant they are. It’s beautiful to see that their connection to the land is growing so much that they are noticing the slight differences that are out of place.
Prompting questions!
– What friends did Napi have on the raft with him? And what were they trying to get at the bottom of the lake?
– Did the ants ever stop when rebuilding their homes? What were they carrying?
We were so proud of these kids as they hiked up to the top of the Coulees! We decided to stash all of our luggage in the bushes and head in the opposite direction that we usually go. As we hiked up, up, up we were able to see completely different plants and the kids were so excited when they found our Lethbridge prickly pear cactus! We saw the train cross the bridge up close, and got it to honk at us!
On our adventure back down, we played at the train bridge base, and ended up in, what im sure is, the muddist part of all the river! What a sensory explosion!
It really was an awesome day filled with superheroes and villain garbage! We set off on an exploring mission to find villain garbage, came back to homebase, and cooled down with a nature infused lemonade.
Prompting questions!
– What was one edible we put in our lemonade?
– What is something else we can do to help the forests?
We took to the river to cool down with our Dino’s, creating games and habitats, bathing them, and even playing, hide and seek with them!
We discussed picking edibles away from roads/pathways and where dogs bathroom. We then went out to pick dandelions, mix up a tempura batter and fry them. We had an 80% success rate for everyone liking them… which is a hit with wild edibles :).
Even with all the fun, the most memorable thing I think for all of us was the loud rushing noise that made all the play stop in its tracks, and made everyone run to the river to see what was happening and right before us. On the other side of the river, was a large rock slide! With large and small rocks, tumbling and dust clouds billowing it was a very new and exciting experience!
Prompting questions!
– What did some people do when they walked past the trail where the fresh rock slide took place?
– Indigenous people watch bears closely, what did the bears tell them about the lake one year?
(This was a memory that was shared to me recently by a indigenous knowledge keeper)
Some great memories were made as these wildlings took to the pond in a big way. We discussed water safety and discussed what they thought was a safe boundary line for the site, we all agreed before diving into play! They made up so many games, found a natural slide, cooked up lots of mud, transported pounds of rocks around and were in full conversation mode the entire time. We were able to learn about rocks being slippery when there is algae and to test a rock before stepping on it. Resilience was shown and joy was found as they took little notice to their uncomfort when it came to being in wet cloths or trekking around in boots full of water. We had so much fun at the pond they were all begging for just “one more minute!”
If your child mentioned, we did have visitors from local officers walking the park! Very exciting, they were asking if we know where any illegal fire pits are in the coulees, we told them of a couple we knew about. They hung out for a few minutes watching the kids engaging in nature and play while laughing and smiling. Then of course answered all the questions a few kiddos had for them :).
Prompting questions!
– What was your favourite game? why?
– Did you find any slippery rocks? What made them slippery?
– How were you able to stay cool in the heat?
It was fire day, and a full day of imagination, it was amazing to witness new signs of spring popping up and see a porcupine resting in the trees enjoying the day with us!
We learned to make fire ‘bird nests’ and worked hard to start them using ferro rods.
Which then helped to create our big fire where we made fire foods!
The wildlings worked hard at erecting a shelter that kept us out of the heat and was ‘wind powered’!
We played mud kitchen and used paints to colour the earth and a little bit of each other!
Prompting questions!
– What did we name the porcupine?
– How did we start fires/ what kind of nest did we make?
Imagination soared today, these wildlings jumped into play faster than ever. They were travellers, world bound on airplanes and poisonous snakes turning each other into snakes. They then worked hard to build a fort together and got fully engrossed in playing house, and figuring out where the toilet, table, beds… were, and what everyones roles were. They finished off the day of course as a bunch of monsters!
Nothing greater then the mind of a child. When children are in a make believe world, the best thing adults can do is step back and let it happen. Developmentally, the brain learns and processes so many things. Make believe play is vital for the development of a healthy adult. As they are make believing in a group, they are greatly increasing their social awareness skills, emotional development, language and communication skills, story building skills.. the list goes on.
Prompting questions!
– How does your “spidey sense” help you?
– What colour and thing did you pick as part of the group story?
