The forest was quite saturated with water today, but the rain had ceased. While we waited for students to arrive, we played a complicated version of the tag game known as “Fire in the Forest” and then raced over to our circle of tree stumps and had a short circle as well as a brief salutation to the things the children chose from the forest and their imaginations to greet. We made our way to our new site looking for imaginative clues of hidden dragons, snakes and serpents on our way. The children spent a great deal of time constructing dams, rerouting small rain streams, building, and collecting as part of their imaginative scenarios. Some deep sludgy downstream mud tugged at the children’s boots and soon everyone was once again wet through and through. After some drying off on the tarp and some changing of clothes we had our snacks and conversation together, and eventually read a book about mindfulness (Mindful Monkey, Happy Panda) which paved the way for a discussion about listening as a skill (like tree climbing and making a fire) and how talking in circle might be different than everyday conversation with regards to taking turns to talk and listening to everyone’s voice. The children revisited the many options of ensuring people talk one at a time such as raising their hand, saying “excuse me”, “I have something to say” as well as the possibility of using a talking stick, and expanding that to any item chosen for that day. Today we used a talking twig which led to a tiny misunderstanding as to whether sticks could talk and also the very cool stick bugs that occasionally appear in our gardens and yards. We returned to much more sedate water play in the last of our dry clothes, and after gathering everything, made a very quick exit out of the forest and back to the visitor’s center for a delicious lunch and a hasty close out to our day. We saw some good negotiations and emerging leadership skills going on today with some of the kids taking the initiative to include someone who might have been formerly left out. It was heart-warming to see.The forest is still very wet, as were the children, but the day turned into a pretty one and flowers are just starting to emerge everywhere partially hidden under the forest leaves.