April 14
We took a moment to reflect on our favourite parts of Forest School and it made our hearts warm that each Wildling is leaving this winter with memories they hold close. We were truly able to watch the seasons go from blizzard to green, and gain a greater appreciation for all Alberta weather, what a blessing!
Today was chefs in the making, cooking just about everything they would get their hands on. We also made real food… sort of… in the form of donuts, hot chocolate and s’mores! We apologize for sending them home sugared… the menu was requested by wildlings :). However we did make them all work (to start a fire) for their s’mores! There was mallet whittling, tug of war, and experiments going on, it was a wild kind of day!
On our last day we do a gift to the forest, often we have done ground murals, bird houses, tree faces…. however this beautiful group, one child suggested we hug the trees, all the kids excitedly said yes, that will be our gift! What a special way to thank the forest for all the joy and memories, and just being our friend.
Previous Weeks
After showing everyone how to use a compass, we used them to play a nature hunt game, making our learning come to life, helping it go into longer term memory!
We commissioned out the ‘pet egg’ challenge today. There were zip lines, transfer lines, and nests all made for the egg. Some were even figuring out the most creative ways to dispose of the egg. They were Cooked, sent down the river, wrapped up in clothing… creativity was in full swing!
Prompting questions!
– What does it mean to “put the red in the shed”?
– How did you keep your egg safe?
– What signs of spring have you noticed so far?
Shelter building day is a favourite for us, and these rattlers shared that enthusiasm for it 100%! Once we told them that we were going to test them with water… while they were in them… all hands were on deck! They were so excited to create something that would protect them from the impending rain that they worked incredibly hard on them for 1 1/2 hours!!!
They made up games and explored our ‘Lochnest site’, (our favourite risky play site) :). No one was ready to leave today, including us!
Prompting questions!
– What animals nest do we “mimic” while creating our debris shelter?
– How do you poop in the back country?
I spy many debris huts… can you?
This week many found new passions in whittling! Elephants, spears, bows and arrows were all carved and shaped the play for the day. Running around while communicating to make up games, building a snowman for target practice, soaking up nature on the hammock, playing in the mud, smashing rocks, and laughing our heads off as we built a story as a group. It was a full day of skill building, problem solving and communication!
When teaching knife skills and safety we use big words like “blood bubble” and “triangle of death”. These “serious” sounding words stick in their head better than anything else.
Prompting questions!
– What did you wittle?
– What is the triangle of death?
– What game did you play with your bows?
We couldn’t have been more proud of these kids if we tried! They were so resilient in the decent blizzard that ensued upon us. We learned about hypothermia and how to do a remote hypothermic wrap. Some children dove into working together to try starting fires in the snow. While others spent extra time putting each other into hypo wraps, and others enjoyed smashing and “selling” ice for sticks!
We went exploring and soaked up the beauty of the snow fall. We travelled to the train bridge where, lucky us!, a train travelled right over us as we drink hot chocolate and explored the grand engineering that went into building the bridge.
These wildlings endured though, learning what to do and not to do to keep warm in winter with smiles on their faces!
Prompting questions!
– What are signs of hypothermia?
– What indigenous game did we learn? (Video on instagram for that one 🙂 )
It was quite the lake that we had today at our camp site but that didn’t even faze these wildlings as a problem, just a richer environment for play! We skipped our usual starting group conversations and story, due to these kids being so enthralled into a world of their own, filled with exploring the area, building a fort and painting it, cooking/roasting/boiling/charring up spitz, found items, lunch foods….everything! There was lots of painting, reading with the chickadees and hammock time… it would have been just wrong to interrupt the magical play, self learning, and peaceful moments these children were wanting and creating around the camp today!
It was quite the site watching new relationships forming, shyer ones coming out of their shells and the rambunctious ones become leaders. We made roasted caramel apple slices and ended the day learning fire starting which captivated many and became a new obsession for some. It was also an opportunity to motivate them to problem solve and work hard… as starting their own fires would gain them access to marshmallows for s’mores!
Prompting questions!
– Were you fortunately or unfortunately during the story?
– Did you cook anything unusual over the camp fire?
– Did you paint anything? (Sticks, fort, leaves, ice, or snow?)
It was rope, bungee’s, pulleys, and tarps that set our Rattlers minds in motion this week as they embarked on self led projects, which led to much communication, teamwork, and problem solving. Mud pies were baked and rock smashing turned into an olympic event as they needed to see what was hidden in the depths of every rock on the shore, followed by digging to china, and hanging out with the very sociable chickadees!
These rattlers really do know how to dive into authentic, imaginative, full body play!
