June 7
We can’t believe it was the last day, 10 weeks went WAY to fast!
Today we found a treasure map! The excitement over it was tangible, some were convinced we found a genuine pirate map! Building our map reading skills, we followed x’s that took us to some of our favourite places, searching for a riddle to answer at each place, and the last place ended at our treasure… s’mores ingredients! (Those pirates know the right food for a party ;)) We settled in at one of our favourite places along the river to cool down, roasting up our s’mores over the little stove, playing in the mudkitchen, and dressing up for a hero and “baddies” game.
We ended the day talking about how some trees last forever turning into fossils, and we gave thanks to the forest and said goodbye with tree hugs.
We are going to miss these guys and all their story building games! From snow, hail, rain, wind, and sun …we experienced it all! We couldn’t have asked for a funner group of wildlings to spend our spring with!
Thanks for everything wild families
P.S. the rocks they picked are petrified wood :).
Previous Weeks
We spent the day exploring and playing at “the pond” where they became extremely invested in making bamboo aqueducts and poison soup… and you know what I was super impressed because they actually DID make poison soup and they knew it!! Haha. The tricksters found a ton of joy in also tricking us into thinking that someone had eaten a poison flower and was not getting up :). They have incredible acting skills! And sorry to anyone that their wildling colour themselves in the blue paint! Worst washable paint ever…!
We kicked off the day working together to find dry, easy to ignite loose parts in the wet woods then worked together to start the community fire. A few wildlings decided to come along for a foraging walk, collecting edibles for our wild lemonade. We came back to camp and mixed up our blueberry bannock and placed them all on the fire.
After that we jumped head first into play and never stopped till the last second! These guys branched off playing everything from camp queen, painting on the large art board, playing with the tea set… we finished off the day having a bear visitor! Giving us first hand experience to cover bear encounter safety! They all took turns being rolled over by the “bear” and learning to roll back on their belly fast :).
Sorry about the lack of pics today! It was all hands on deck :).
Oh this was a day that challenged us all…. and our clothing! With no rain in the forecast, 15 min in on our journey to the “mini forest” it started pouring on us in a flash 10 min downpour! As exciting as it was it created some wet bodies and so some of our time there was limited. We quickly erected our shelter and got our bodies moving with games and climbing! We spent the last half of our time out of the wind that chilled our wet bodies. We stayed at the mine shelter running and playing, reading books, telling stories, and having lots of group conversations about the wild weather and watching the lower clouds moving very fast!!
After much debate we took a vote, and beating the heat by the water won! After traveling to “the island” we settled in and cooled off throwing rocks, wading, exploring the land, playing in the mud kitchen, erecting shops, and rock cleaning businesses… we even found a frog and with everyone gathered around the frog choose that moment to jump right onto one wildlings shirt! (We got a video…. you can watch it below… but its a rough one 🙂 )
With pickles as our companion in the trees today and the sun as our companion in the sky we settled in for an extremely relaxing day!
We got right to it collecting fire nests and working together to start a fire, chopping vegetables to make our veg soup and making banana boats. That soon turned into them being fully engrossed in story building, including full body, big laugh play every second (I’m not kidding, they couldn’t get enough play in today!)
They were loving the rough housing today! So we paused for a demonstration of Nikayla and I rough housing and using our safe words to respect boundaries :).
We finished the day guessing “what’s in the bag” as a way for them to be excited about learning about our local history… and it’s amazing fossilized algae and plant mineral… coal!!
After reading about patterns in nature, we went in search of patterns up close with magnifying glasses! From spots, strips and swirls to symmetrical shapes these wildlings were so invested in finding and sharing their finds with each other.
It turned into rock hounding, looking up close at many rocks, finding the hidden treasures within. Finding one rock with fools gold (pyrite) sparked much excitement and the gold hunt was on! Which turned into rocks being painted to look like gold!
Wow this crew did amazing! With excitement leading our charge we headed to the lookout. Up up and away… with zero complaints! On our way down we collected some prickly pear to snack on while visiting the mines. We ended our day at the “mini forest” playing with the sounds of the train bridge and the wildlings making up an evolving story game.
Fire day! We started the day foraging for a homemade “birds nest”, searching for things in nature that are easy to ignite with a spark! Using ferro rods these wildings persevered till they started a fire of their own! We mixed up and made funnel cakes, and baked apples over the campfire.
These wildlings stretched out doing what calls to them the most. Many spent much of their time using hammers/nails and drills. Playing on the slack-line and hammocks and mixing up all kinds of soups and potions in the mud kitchen!
We later went for an exploring walk and came across a large skeleton. With much excitement from everyone we speculated and read clues to figure out what it was!
The first day is all about connection, connection with the land and spaces we will spend our time in. But mostly we focus on building a good connection amongst the wildlings and each other, finding similarities, sharing laughs and building stories together. Making a space that all feel comfortable to grow.
We discussed risk and listening to our bodies, then allowed our feet to guide our path letting the children explore the land in a way that excited them! We traveled around finding interesting things and recognizing signs of spring! Then gathered at our favourite coyote site for snacks, play, getting muddy with the mud kitchen, reading books, and many of these little wildings even felt inspired to create a play! Mostly resembling the “Big Bad Wolf.” They spent much of the time together discussing, planning, rehearsing and then performing! It was fantastic seeing the delegation, story building, and advanced communication skills going on!
