It’s been another wonderful week in the forest at AFK! These late summer weeks have such a relaxed feel, one we can sense in the air as well as in the group.

As connections strengthen and our rhythm becomes more intuitive, the teachers have been excited to introduce a few special invitations for the children. The magenta Amaranth we harvested a couple of weeks ago curiously produced a golden-yellow end result of our dye project. This week, the children were shown how to wind the wool yarn we dyed into a ball so we may use it for various projects. They were so interested in this simple task! After much excitement, the small group of children organized themselves into a line without any interjection from the teacher. This allowed them to take turns slowly winding the yarn for the better part of an hour! With the continuing interest in fiber arts, sewing was introduced this week, and the children really took off with it. Kylie invited the students to join her in sewing on burlap with large tapestry needles. You may find a piece of burlap with careful stitches sewn onto it in your child’s backpack :)

Shelter building, restaurant and mud kitchen play continued to be running themes throughout the group this week. We are really noticing such wonderful connection taking place and forming in the group. As carers, we view connection and relationship as the foundation of our work in this community. We are so grateful to see the children building trust with the adults who care for them during their school day, as well as with each other. Social-emotional growth and exploration can take place when children feel secure in their environment, and we have observed such meaningful connections and collaboration taking place.

Thank you to all our co-op helpers this week, Anna, Graham, Clarke, and Anastasiya, you are appreciated! We wish you all a restful long weekend, and look forward to the week ahead!