Backyard Fairies and Forest Friend Houses

The children displayed such patience waiting while those before them experimented!

Post by: Kylie Hamlin-Filkins

What an exciting day full of adventure for the Forest Kindergarteners. Our day began with an impromptu exploration of sound and vibrations using Sarah’s singing bowl. Without direction from adults, the children decided to take turns trying to figure out how to make the singing bowl sing! Each child patiently waited their turn to attempt to make the bowl chime using a wooden mallet. While cupping the bowl, some children struck the bowl forcefully, some quietly, some repeatedly, but the bowl wouldn’t chime. When it was Sammy’s turn, he set the bowl in the deck instead of holding it in his palm and it sang beautifully when struck. The children discussed what makes sounds and why they thought the bowl rang better on the deck (or a flat surface) compared to being cupped in a hand.

After our time at Ayeli, we hiked into the forest and made our way to Root World where the children began to climb trees, bake mud muffins, collect treasures, and further explore their abilities.

For snack, we circled around and enjoyed hibiscus tea and a cashew trail mix. Jess read ‘In the Tall, Tall Grass,’ by Denise Fleming and ‘Scoot,’ by Cathryn Falwell. Kylie read ‘Backyard Fairies,’ by Phoebe Wahl. The children really enjoyed the stories!

Larkin and Kylie made some bark rubbings with dirt.

After snack time, the children were give the option to join one of three groups; forest games with Jess, explore the forest with Sarah, or make bark rubbings with Kylie. There was a lot of back and forth for some children. I could understand it being difficult to choose just one fun activity! After some time, all the children ended up in Jess’ group for games. We walked around the forest trail making our way to the ‘Junkyard’ but taking time to play in small groups along the way.

In one game, each child selected a forest treasure to be their forest friend and built a teeny tiny home for them. The homes were so intricate complete with chandeliers, swimming pools and diving boards, fences, chimneys, plates and bowls. I was thoroughly impressed with how thoughtful each child was in creating the house for their new forest friend.

Rain clouds rolled in and the educators began to set up tarps and put rain gear on each child. The Forest Helper headed back to Ayeli to prep lunch, and while our attention was focused on caring individual children, two children quickly and quietly followed the forest helper down the trail! When the educators did a head count, we called ‘Pineapple’ since we didn’t have the correct number of students! As we got out the phone to call the Forest Helper, she called us to let us know the children made their way back to Ayeli safely and were so proud of their independence. It was a great teaching opportunity for all of us. As Sarah mentioned in an email to parents and educators, we are making safety protocol improvements so it won’t happen again. We are so thankful for the positive outcome of this scenario!

More rain rolled in as we ate lunch at Ayeli and listened to the rain on the tin roof and deck. It was nice to be dry inside.  As we finished eating and had closing circle, the children shared stories about how they had been a friend during the day. They were proud of sharing with and caring for each other. We are looking forward to another fun day together at Earthsong after Spring Break!

Practicing "STOP" - Deepening Friendships Sometimes Means Clarifying Boundaries

In the mornings, we start our day with our welcome song and a morning meeting.  Morning meeting is brief, but an important time for our entire group to sit together and discuss matters that are important to our group.  It is an opportunity for teachers and children to share words, thoughts and ideas and our morning meeting topic can be prompted by something the children have been talking about by playing or by something the teachers feel is important to discuss, based on their observations of the children at play. It is important for us to hear the children’s words and stories on different topics, and grow an understanding of how they internalize the rules and guiding principles of our group.  When we have a discussion like this, the teachers can start to how different children understand the morning meeting topic, and how we can help them as teachers grow to understand it more.

This week, morning meeting was about the word “stop”.  We asked the children what they though “stop” meant. The first comments went immediately to where they here the word “stop” the most, when we walk together out to our play site. We often play a game where children can run ahead to a specific spot (like, run ahead to the dandelions and then stop), and when they reach that spot they have to stop or freeze their feet.  They might pretend to be a statue and practice being as still as possible until a teacher tells them to go again. When it was really cold outside we pretended to be frozen in a block of ice and they couldn’t unfreeze until a teacher unfroze them. Playing this game gives them an opportunity to move their body the way they need to, some children run very quickly to the next spot while others just walk at the back, but can also draw their attention to landmarks and help them with mapping the space. Learning how to self-regulate and stop their body, even when they want to keep running, is also an important skill to acquire. Several children showed that they understand when a teacher says “Stop” during this game, they are supposed to stop moving and not run, walk or any other motion. But the teachers wondered if we ever use “stop” for other things.

One area we want children to understand is that if another child says “Stop” when they are playing, they need to stop the play.  This sometimes happens when two or more children are playing a game of chase. The children being chased might start saying “stop”, but still get chased. We want the children to understand that when they use the word “Stop”, it really means “Stop” and that they do not like the play and they want the play to end. We discussed using a strong voice to say “stop” and that if a friend says “Stop” we should stop our play.  We also talked about how the teachers are there to help, and if you say “Stop” to another child but what you don’t like continues, you can get a teacher to help. Some children gave examples of things they don’t like, like being pushed, and we discussed how we can tell a friend to “Stop. I don’t like being pushed, it hurts my body.” to help another friend understand what is wrong about the play. We also practiced saying the word “Stop” with a strong voice, and the teachers are carefully observing to see when children need help to play together and enjoy the play together.

Having discussions like this is all about getting to know one another. Seeing what the children play in the forest is another way to get to know each other. This week, there were several new play themes that emerged that gave us more information about the children and their interests.  The first was our mud kitchen being used by a new group of children in a new way. Up to this point, it has been used on occasion to make a few muffins or mud pies. This week, though, Felix, Sammy and Wendell used it for deep imaginative play for the first time. They settled under root world, and began creating several intricate dishes with ingredients like chocolate (the mud), mint (holly leaves) and orange (brown leaves).  The dishes had to go into the oven and bake, and they even made dinging sounds when the food was ready. Amy was close by during this time, and was told very seriously that she was not supposed to look at what they were doing because they were making a surprise for her. The boys had to work together to agree on ingredients for each dish and to agree on what they were making. Was it a pie or a cake, a popsicle or a cotton candy stick? Had it been in the oven long enough and was it ready to give to Amy or not? They had to negotiate these disagreements and decisions over and over during the play, but no pushing or shoving ever occurred. Amy ended up getting three very yummy dishes to eat.  

Not too far away, Mabry and Will were interacting with each other as Mabry attempted to climb a grape vine. She was having difficulty getting up the vine, and commented aloud about how she couldn’t get her feet to go up. Will stood by her side, and gave her an encouragement. He told her, “I know you can do it.”  It is special to see these moments when children hear the frustration of other children, and want to offer support. He was ready to help Mabry, and did not need a teacher to tell him to help her out.

When we left RootWorld to go to our junkyard, another new play emerged partly inspired by our snack time book, A Little House of Your Own. This is a very old book that talks about how every child needs a little place of their own to play, like under the dining room table or in a treehouse or under a big bush.  Some of the ideas are dated, but Amy changed those to be relevant to children now as she read. What was important about the book is that we do have so many “hidden worlds” in the forest where children might want to play quietly on their own or with just a few people. And sometimes that is ok. It is also ok for children to want to create their own special little house, and expect that the rest of the group respect and care for it. When we got to the junkyard, several children decided to build their own little houses. Will and Cristian worked on their own little house made of small sticks, while Charlotte, Ellie, Margaret and Eden made a little house together from the loose logs. It required patience and focus to build these houses, and children built a sense of pride in their creation.  Later, when some other children destroyed the houses without asking, we were able to have a discussion about how important it is to be respectful and take care of the things that others make. It is a hard talk to have, because children have many feelings about the things they make and what others make- and what they want to do, but it is important for us to discuss and keep discussing why we should take care of the creations of others, even if we don’t understand them, and to build among the children the sense that their hard work will be respected and honored at Forest Kindergarten.

A final note for the day- it is March and amphibians are starting to be on the move! We found our very first salamander at Earthsong. It was uncovered by our apprentice teacher, Kylie, who was able to show it to the children! Just like when we found the toad, we discussed how salamanders breathe through their skin. Children were asked to wipe their hands on mud and leaves before touching, so we didn’t accidentally get soap or lotion on the salamander. We all agreed that it would be gross to breathe in soap or lotion! Amy believes it is a species of Slimy Salamander, but just to be sure, she is sending the photo of the salamander to a herpetologist to see if he knows which species it is exactly! She will let you know once she hears back from him!

When the Unexpected Chill Arises

This week, teachers and children were faced with handling the unexpected. This is an aspect of Forest Kindergarten that is such an important piece of our learning together. We plan our days, have a general routine, and take many steps to be prepared for the outdoors.  Yet, we cannot predict every aspect of nature and it takes the ability to be flexible and open-minded to make quick decisions and manage the unexpected!! Children and teachers learn important skills like perseverance and adaptability when faced with an unexpected event during our day- and nature often gives us many more opportunities to handle the unexpected than an indoor classroom!

Our unexpected event this week was extra surprising because it had to do with rain, something most of our group are very familiar with and adjusted to! This week though, the weather misled us.  When we had morning circle, we reflected on the weather. Sammy brought up that it was foggy, and Amy asked what foggy was. Ellie described how fog was like clouds you could walk through that weren’t fluffy.  This brought up a conversation with the kids about how the fog clouds were not very solid and it even came up that we couldn’t have a cloud car with fog clouds! Our interest in the weather and thinking about it in real and magical ways is an interesting thread for the teachers and children to follow in the coming weeks, but the conversation did not take us into predicting how the weather would go throughout the course of our day!

When we entered the forest it was warm and a light drizzle soon started.  We were able to easily start our regular play at Root World, and Sarah brought us tarps so we could set up some shelters.  All of these elements are our usual rain preparations. Even as the rain started to become more steady, we continued our play and mud play began in earnest.  The mud kitchen began to get used, the splats we make from the red clay for throwing against tree trunks were formed, and children enjoyed the challenge of balancing on the wet logs without slipping.  Teachers helped some of the children who did not want to be out in the rain, by showing them how they could play under the tarps. We were in our groove and ready to continue our day as normal, when the temperature dropped rapidly and our day suddenly turned to playing in the cold rain!

The warmth of the cloudy morning had caused us all to shed our warm layers.  We did not bring them out with us to the forest, because we did not want them to sit around getting wet.  But by 10:15 am, they were needed! The children do tell us when they feel uncomfortable, so the teachers began to think about how our day might need to be changed. We decided to have story and snack, with hot tea, to see if the children could warm up by taking a break from the rain. This strategy worked for a bit, but when it was time to go back out and play, there was reluctance among much of the group. It was hard to get back in the rain and cold! The teachers decided to go back and get warm gear from Ayeli, and see if we could play a little longer before probably heading inside.  While Sarah went back, Amy worked on engaging the children in play.

This meant directing the play much more than usual.  We had a “warming station”, which was Amy encouraging the kids to warm their bodies and rubbing their arms to create friction and heat them up. After visiting the station, they could go play for a bit! When the kids began to stand around just not enjoying the game, Amy pretended to be on a boat and wondered aloud why it wasn’t moving.  This entertained the children for a while, as they tried to convince Amy that it was not a boat but a log- and she kept telling them it was a boat. They would challenge her and ask her where her oars were, and she would pick up sticks. They would laugh and tell her those were just sticks, and then ask her where the engine was. This playful game between teachers and students helped distract us from the rain for a time, but ultimately, we had to recognize that today was not a day we were ready for the weather and we began to head back inside before our warm gear could arrive!

On our walk back to Ayeli, the children began again to be able to entertain and enjoy themselves. They found a mud puddle to jump in, and some were even ready for a choice to stay outside a little longer! While we were jumping in the puddle, we heard the call of a frog and Amy suggested we try to go find it in the garden.  She let the children reflect on how their bodies felt, and choose to go back with our Forest Helper to play inside or stay with her and visit the garden. Four or five children recognized that their bodies were ready for a break from the outside, while the rest decided they wanted to go searching for frogs. Going on this frog hunt emerged from our unexpected change in plans, and the children made the most of it.  When we got very close to where we could hear the frog, they all agreed to hide and be completely quiet to see if we could hear the frog sing more and not scare it away! While we did not get to see the frog, we were all excited for the opportunity and we can see if the experience inspires us to further frog hunts or other related activities at future sessions.

At the end of the day, we all got to enjoy playing inside a doing activities that are not our usual at Forest Kindergarten, like drawing with markers and using special crayons to draw on the glass doors! We got back into our normal routine with lunch, and our gratitude practice, and ended the day much like usual. It was nice to see that even with a big change to our day, when the unexpected chill arose, we were all able to adjust and continue enjoying playing and learning together.

The Power of Peer Learning

This week, several experiences encouraged the teachers to look more deeply at how skill building occurs at Forest Kindergarten. There are many opportunities for children to build basic skills through teacher-child interactions, interactions of children with nature, and interactions between children. At Forest Kindergarten, we want children to build the basic social-emotional, cognitive, and physical skills they will need to navigate their world.  This week, opportunities for building critical physical and cognitive skills emerged and teachers, children, and nature were all involved in the process.

One of the things I often hear from other teachers is how challenging it is to teach mixed age-groups. I don’t disagree, however I see the challenge as encouraging as opposed to discouraging. One of the wonderful things that often emerges in a mixed age-group is that children teach each other basic skills.  This happened twice on Friday at Forest Kindergarten (and probably more, but these stories are what I recorded!). During our play at Root World, Maddux became very busy working on his balancing skills on a large, downed tree. He would walk up the tree with his arms outstretched, and would concentrate hard to increase his pace without losing his balance. He did not need to crawl at any point during this process, and he was always able to catch his balance whenever he began to slightly lose his footing.  His face showed how proud he was of this ability. Amy felt the need to acknowledge his pride in his accomplishment, and told Maddux she could see he had worked hard on balancing and he had become great at it. Maddux replied, “I know, I am a really good balancer”. Not long after this, August, who is one year younger than Maddux began to work on balancing on the same spot. August had been working at Root World behind Maddux, and observed some of Maddux’s work. Observation of other children (and teachers!) is one of many ways children learn skills, and August showed how powerful observation can be. He too began to climb along the tree, practiced standing up and walking, just in the way Maddux had done.  August does love climbing, but it is hard not to believe that the observation of another child practicing a skill didn’t motivate him to work on the very same skill! Although the children did not directly teach each other during this interaction, it is an example of how interactions among children can encourage basic skill building.

Of course, children teaching other children is not limited to our older children teaching younger children basic skills. Younger children are also capable of providing important basic skills to older children, and children of the same age often teach each other, too.  In our second story of child interactions, Margaret showed interest in the activity Cristian had made up for himself using 3 small stumps. Cristian, who is 4, was enjoying jumping with two feet from stump to stump, working hard to keep his balance when they wobbled. He practiced over and over again, until he could successfully jump from one to another without falling off. His delight at this activity drew the interest of Margaret, who is also 4.  Margaret is our most recent addition to the Forest Kindergarten family, and Cristian was very welcoming to her. Margaret wanted to know if she could try, and Cristian agreed to give her a turn. When she moved from stump to stump one foot at a time, instead of both, Cristian offered to show her how he had done it. He demonstrated how he jumped with both feet, and encouraged Margaret to try again! Although she was hesitant to try it his way, Margaret was encouraged by Cristian’s support and gave it another shot. It was enjoyable being a teacher watching this interaction, and observing how the children used verbal and body language to express themselves and help each other!

The physical components of nature provided the space for these physical skill building activities to occur.  Nature also provides many opportunities for building cognitive skills and helping children understand more about the way the world works. The teachers have noticed different interests in the group, and work to bring in activities that will engage children in thinking about their world and wondering how things happen. One thing that has happened often is children being interested in seeds and how things grow. They have found maple seeds and tried planting them, and even wondered if the planted a dead bug if it would come back to life. Thinking about children’s interest in growing things has been part of our motivation to be more intentional about our composting work. Amy is looking for spaces during our Forest Kindergarten day when it makes sense to discuss composting and gardening.  During story time is one part of our day when it is possible to directly engage children in doing some basic cognitive skill building. Our first story this week was the classic, The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss.  When working with mixed ages, it is important to provide varied ways of engaging children’s cognitive skills that are developmentally appropriate. Our younger children enjoy story time as much as our older children, and are making important literacy connections when we read to them and choose engaging stories.  Amy chose The Carrot Seed this week, because we began our compost crew in earnest last week- and conversations about gardening had begun. The Carrot Seed, which shows a boy caring for the carrot he planted and patiently waiting for it to grow, opened a dialogue with several of our 4 and 5 year olds about what they know about gardening and growing things. They understood that seeds need water to grow, that weeds take up space and keep the seed from growing well, and that seeds need sun! The children also knew that carrots grow under the ground, and we talked about all the different colors a carrot might come in. This enthusiasm about gardening and caring for a plant makes our composting more relevant for the children.  Amy could begin to understand what children already know about the basic requirements for plant life, and can add in a discussion about why compost for a garden is important. Children know plants have to drink water to grow, and get sun, so it is an opening for us to discuss how they also need to eat! Children also understand that living things like plants need care, which is another reason we are composting. We want to teach children about caring for our space at Earthsong and the living things that are here. By introducing composting and caring for our good scraps each week, we are modeling ways children can care for the world around them.

Books we read at storytime:

The Carrot Seed, Ruth Krauss

The First Strawberries, Joseph Bruchac

Other good books about growing/gardening:

How Groundhog’s Garden Grew, Lynne Cherry

Planting a Rainbow, Lois Ehlert

The Tiny Seed, Eric Carle

The Curious Garden, by Peter Brown

Befriending Bugs and Befriending Each Other

We had a lovely sunny and warm day today! Our warmer weather day brought us opportunities to easily play in a variety of spaces, and to teach some basic skills and concepts to children.  The warmer weather makes it easier for us to find insects and other invertebrates, which was an opportunity for the teachers to share some basic life science concepts. We also played in multiple spots where spaces could be tight children had to learn some basic skills of expressing their own wants and needs, understanding others wants and needs, negotiating conflicts, solving problems.

The teachers want children to be able to talk about what they want during their play, and understand the needs and wants of other children. When we are all playing in the same space, this can be difficult and give us many opportunities to do those other two important skills mentioned earlier- negotiate conflicts and solve problems. It is important for us to remember that young children do not always have the words to express their needs or wants, and that our job as teachers is to recognize when direct instruction on how to develop this skill is needed. Today, Sammy, Wendell and Felix were playing in a tight space under some fallen tree limbs. They had carved out 3 rooms and were busy at work inside this hideout.  A complex game was developing among them, but they were also having to negotiate being almost on top of one another and feeling frustrated when on child got in the way of another child. Cristian noticed the play and crawled over into the space, wanting to join. A crowded space got even more crowded and the first thing the boys said was that they only had 3 rooms, so there was not space for Cristian. This was an opportunity for the teachers to help the children express their own wants and needs, understand another child’s wants and needs, and solve a problem! Amy decided that this problem was not one the children were ready to solve on their own, so she commented that it looked like their play area was very crowded, so it would be hard for four people to fit. But it also looked like Cristian thought they were playing a cool game and just wanted to know more. She wondered if there was a way to make the play area bigger, so they could get the more space that they really needed and Cristian could get what he wanted- a place to check out their cool game. The boys were not sure, and explained to Amy that there were only 3 spots.  So, Amy tried a different observation. She mentioned that at her house there were only two bedrooms, but she needed a third bedroom for when more people came to live with her. So- they made a third room on the house (we turned a small office into a small guest room). She wondered if they could build more rooms on their space to give everyone more more places to play, which is what they wanted from the beginning. The boys agreed that building a new room was acceptable, and started to find sticks and a place to make the new addition. Amy helped them find the sticks they were looking for, and they began a new type of play that required them to figure out just how to make an addition to their “house”.

The warmer weather reminded Amy of a continuous theme at Forest Kindergarten: bugs.  We have several children that love to find bugs, and have learned to turn over rocks and logs or search under leaves for bugs and other invertebrates. An important thing Amy learned from reading research in environmental education is that solely imparting knowledge does not lead to children or adults who actively choose to engage in environmental behaviors. Instead, directly interacting with nature and having a mentor that helps you wonder about nature leads to people that behave in pro-environmental ways. This is one major reason that the teachers at Forest Kindergarten do not give children a worksheet to color about the life cycle of an insect or plan a circle time where they show kids pictures of insects and tell kids all about how insects have 3 body parts, six legs, etc.  Instead, we allow the cognitive learning about insects to emerge from our experience in the forest and build children’s understanding of concepts about insects by asking them open-ended questions when we encounter a bug. Amy has kept track of how interested we are in insects, and how several children always look for them and enjoy touching and holding them. They have different questions about how they live and what they do, and we discuss those. Today, Amy also brought out a book we had already read before to engage the children on the topic of insects and gauge what they remembered and where their interests in insects were heading. We read A Mealworm’s Life, by John Himmelman. (John Himmelman has a very lovely, simple series of natural science books for young children that Amy has found are beloved by children! She has been reading her daughter the books since she was an infant, and they are some of the most requested books we read at bedtime these days!).  The vivid illustrations and simple text capture children’s attention, and provide many opportunities for children to ask questions about insects and wonder about their life cycle. While reading, we wondered if we could find a mealworm. We wondered why the mealworm sought a warm place in winter, and why it became a pupa. We wondered if other insects became pupa- and some children new about how caterpillars make cocoons or chrysalises (the children knew these words) and then become butterflies. The next time we find a mealworm, we may wonder about what it is doing in its lifecycle. Do we think it is looking for food? What do we think it might be eating? Is it going to become a pupa? Will this mealworm become a beetle like the one in our book? How could we find out? As the weather works its way towards spring, we will probably find more mealworms and other insects and invertebrates to wonder about and observe, and we will continue to help the children develop their cognitive knowledge of these animals through active engagement and wondering questions!

Books we read:

A Mealworm’s Life, by John Himmelman.

Daydreamers: A Journey of Imagination, by Emily Winfield Martin

Suggested Book:

Use Your Words: How Teacher Talk Helps Children Learn, by Carol Garhart Mooney

Although this book is geared to early childhood teachers, Amy has found it invaluable as a parent. She also used it as a reference for much of this blog, since many of the things she saw today at Forest Kindergarten are outlined in the book. It is simply written and gives excellent guidelines on everything from giving directions clearly to ways to correct behavior and discipline children that are developmentally appropriate.

To have meaningful work is a tremendous happiness

This week, we focused on establishing our forest helper jobs for children. Every week of Forest Kindergarten, we look for ways children can contribute to the processes of making our day happen.  This could be as simple as stacking their bowls after snack to the more complex job we introduced this week of safely and responsibly putting out a camp fire. Jobs ensure the children understand the importance of their role in Forest Kindergarten, and also help them learn about different aspects of being outside and caring for the environment.  They also help build other cognitive skills, physical skills, and social-emotional skills! The jobs we focused on this week were our lunch set-up crew, and our fire clean-up crew.

It was so much fun to have a fire again this week! We were able to get our to our fire circle sooner, and there were still visible flames for children to observe. They noticed that the flames were orange, and Amy wondered aloud if there were ever different colored flames. Wendell commented that blue flames were the hottest, and a few other children agreed. Some children expressed surprise at this fact, since they associated blue with cold. But we enjoyed learning this new information about fire! When it was time for us to put out our fire, Amy selected a small group of 4 children to stay with her and learn how to make sure a campfire is completely out.  Maddux, Eden, Mabry and Ellie were eager to learn what jobs were required to safely put out the fire. They first spoke with Amy about why it was important to put out a camp fire. The children were not sure why we could not let the fire keep burning, or why we couldn’t just walk away from the fire. Amy asked them to think about if fire could ever hurt anything. Ellie came up with the idea that if we left the fire burning, a deer might walk through it and get burned because the deer wouldn’t know how to stay safe from fire. The other children agreed that if we left the fire burning in the circle, animals might fall in and get hurt. The children showed that they could make connections between how we knew our own bodies could be hurt by fire and that animals bodies would probably also get hurt by fire.  Amy asked the children if the fire could ever move out of the fire circle and burn the plants and leaves in the forest. The children were not sure if this could happen, so Amy explained that if we did not watch our fire or completely put it out when we left it, the fire could move out of the circle and catch our forest on fire. There were no visible flames now, so we put our hands over just the very edge of the circle and felt how hot it still was- even when we couldn’t see any fire! The children recognized that we couldn’t leave the heat, and wondered how we could make it not hot anymore. We then took turns with our fire jobs. Amy explained that the first thing we would do was pour water on the fire. The children loved hearing the sizzle and watching the smoke rise up after we poured water on the fire wood! After pouring water, Amy asked the children if it still felt hot near the fire.  It did, so we moved to our next fire job. We dug up cold, wet soil from around the forest and poured it on top of the fire wood. We kept doing this, and then mixing the soil in with long sticks, until the children noticed that there was no more smoke coming off the wood. Amy then asked the kids to only watch the last step, and reminded them that the wood and coals might still be hot. The last step was Amy gently touching the wood and coals to see if any heat remained. They were all cool to touch, and Amy then let the children touch them and test it too. Amy checked with the children, and we were all satisfied that we had put out our fire completely and it was safe to leave it. Amy let the children know she would return with one more round of water, just to be sure, but we had done a great job all together!

Lunch is another time when children can really help make our day at Forest Kindergarten run smoothly.  We are planning to take turns each week with different lunch helpers. Currently, every child is responsible for picking up their carpet dot and placing it in the circle.  Once children have placed their dot, they can sit down and get ready for the lunch helpers to pass out our silverware and napkins. Lunch helpers who get assigned the job of passing out spoons have to be able to make sure each child gets a spoon. They have to know that there is one spoon to be given to every one child, and have the patience to go all the way around the circle! Our napkin helpers have a similar task, and it is important for them to make sure every child in the circle gets one napkin.  If a child is in the restroom, and not sitting on their dot, the lunch helper must still recognize that they need to put one spoon or one napkin on that spot. Children who help will learn different ways to make sure they get each child a spoon and a napkin. Some may start to count and make sure they hand out 13 spoons and napkins (not forgetting themselves!) Others may prefer to make it a social activity, and ask the other children if they have a spoon yet. The teachers will continue to help and support the lunch helpers, and keep track of who helps each week. Every child wants to help, so it is important for the teachers to ensure all children get a chance at these important jobs!

A job we have mentioned to children that they have all helped with is making a compost bowl after we finish our meals. We have briefly talked about what happens to the food we don’t eat, and how we can use it to make good soil for growing new food. The teachers would like to continue to think about this job, and other ways to involve the children in composting! We will update you on how we go about this, and if you compost at home, we encourage you to talk with your children about how they can also do this at Forest Kindergarten!

Our First Fire and a Lunchtime Orchestra

Our day was defined by having our first campfire at Forest Kindergarten! Morning circle became a time to discuss the fire and how we could enjoy it, while keeping ourselves and each other safe. The children were full of ideas and eager to share their own stories about fire, being near hot things, or getting burned.  This new element to our day gave us a chance to learn more about each other and to hear about the children’s relationship to fire. It also encouraged children so share ideas with the group and work together for the first part of the morning, before splitting off into smaller groups for play in the forest.

Before going to the fire, we discussed what it would look like and how we should act around it. Amy let the children know it would be in a fire circle, with the wood and flames in the middle and a circle of rocks around it.  She let them know that they needed to stay outside of the rocks and not try and reach into the circle where the fire was, and then she asked the children if they knew why they shouldn’t go into the fire circle. Children were eager to share their knowledge.  Ellie explained that the fire would be very hot and if they got too close to it they could get burned and that would hurt. Several other children reinforced her response, and a few wanted to tell their own stories about getting little burns. Sammy explained that we shouldn’t run around the fire circle either, because we might fall into the fire.  It was a good reminder of being aware of how we play in different places, and understanding the environment around us. Children asked about putting sticks in the fire and were told that for this week we would not be adding new sticks to the fire, we were just going to look at the fire with our eyes and enjoy sitting near its warmth.

The walk to the fire required us to go further than we usually do for our first play site.  As soon as we hit the entrance to the woods, we could smell the fire burning. The children were excited and wondered when we would be able to see the fire.  We wondered if the smell would get stronger as we got closer, or if we would see smoke. It felt like such a long walk to all of us while we anticipated the fire, but having to wait so long to get to the fire had a positive side. The children were not sure of our end point, and could not run past everything to just get to the play spot. Trying to figure out when we would get to the fire caused children to pay attention to the landscape around us.  They wondered if the fire would be at the top of the hill, or if it would be after we passed the downed log. It was a great example to the teachers of how changing our routine could also result in changes to the way we view the world around us.

Once we got to the fire, the children were interested in it and wondered again about putting more sticks on. We decided not to, since we were still in our large group, but if we do future fires this could be a task for a small group that is well supervised by a teacher to help learn about fire safety and how to properly handle a campfire.  Additionally, helping us put out the fire responsibly could be a task for a very small group of children with a teacher and remind children about how important it is to tend to a fire outside and never leave it alone. These are important outdoor skills for children to understand, and build a healthy respect for fire and its combined comforting and destructive abilities.  The children definitely learned about smoke today and wind, as they had to keep moving to get out of the way of the smoke that would switch directions! They also learned how much a fire can do to warm up a space, as we ate our snack and had story time by the fire. None of us were cold, and the children whose backs were to the fire noticed how much heat was being given off and were ready to take off their jackets.

To play, we had to depart our fire circle.  We really appreciate our forest helper, Rocio, continuing to tend to it while we played in a spot nearby.  Keeping the fire going was a nice option, if children got cold further away and wanted to go visit again to warm up.  In our first play spot, moss growing on a tree became a very interesting play thing for many of the children. Amy wonders if it was so engaging  and inviting to the children today, when it has been overlooked in the past, because the bright green color stood out so well against the brown and gray backdrop that was everywhere else.

In our second play spot, the moss was left behind because we made a return to our junkyard.  Just like last week, the junkyard ignited children’s imaginations. This pile of sticks and downed limbs makes children feel challenged when they try to move through it, and they love the sense of accomplishment they get when they manage to navigate to the spot they had their eye on.  Like last week, too, some children preferred to think of the junkyard as a jungle and this time a family of tigers moved in. This particular spot has so many different ways for children to play in close proximity to each other, while playing completely different imaginative scenarios. We definitely want to come back and observe more of how the elements in the space challenge children physically, socially, and cognitively.

Because of the time it took us to get to our fire and enjoy it, we did not have time to get to Root World this week! A few children mentioned the absence of going to their favorite place but were satisfied with the idea that we could return to it the next week or the week after. They were also full of ideas from their junkyard play, and so they handled the disappointment of missing their favorite place well. We will return to Root World, but it was a positive development that the camp fire forced to make us change our routine.  We might discover new ways to play at Rootworld, inspired by our time playing in our new spots.

On the deck of Ayeli, Sarah and the children had an impromptu discovery, initiated by the children’s own questioning about sounds. As children finished eating they banged their metal spoons against their metal bowls. Ellie noticed that the sound was different when different people banged their bowls. Sammy piped up with some suggestion of what might make different sounds, “It could be different food in the bowls!” When pressed to come up with more and deeper hypotheses the children talked their ideas related to the amount of food inside each bowl, what material the various spoons and bowls might be made of, how hard they were tapping, where they were tapping, what was underneath the bowl, and more! It was a beautiful example of inquiry-based learning and the teachers plan to revisit it to encourage more hypothesis testing! When the banging got too loud, Sarah held up her hands and said “I’m your conductor, watch my hands!” and amazingly, the closed fist turned out to be a universally understandable signal for quiet! The children enjoyed their lunchtime orchestra rehearsal for quite some time, practicing following the conductor’s hands over and over, with great success!

Climbing Challenges, in Community!

Our second week back was all about continuing to reestablish our routines, both old and new, and introducing new opportunities to play.  We began our day again at Ayeli, playing in the woods surrounding the porch. From there, we moved to Root World and played in some usual spots and new spots we are discovering.  During small group time, we found all new ways to play at an old spot just above Root World. And once we got back to Ayeli, we enjoyed our second shared lunch and continuing our routine of reflecting on our day and being grateful to the nature all around us!

At Root World, several children have discovered a “harder” place to climb that we only used a few times during the fall.  This area, which provides many tree limbs of differing heights and thicknesses, is an exciting way for the children to challenge their ever-increasing tree climbing abilities.  Sammy, Wendell and Felix are starting to seek out new spots on the trees that will be harder to climb to. Sammy tested several different approaches to getting to a seat on a new tree limb. He tried to approach it from several different angles, and although he didn’t succeed at getting where he wanted to be, he tested the limits of his climbing abilities multiple times and showed great persistence and problem solving abilities! Another interesting development arising from this becoming a popular climbing spot, is that many of the children are drawn to try climbing here.  Will, Ellie and Mabry also visited, as did Cristian and Maddux. Cristian, who has only had two chances to try climbing here, was determined to try and climb to new spots today. The other children, who had more experience climbing in the area, were able to coach him on where and how to try and start climbing. It was fun to watch the kids start to help one another in their endeavors.

During small groups, we moved up to our mud kitchen area just above Root World.  Although we have been to this spot before, the loose logs that exist there have not been used quite so extensively as they were today.  Children tried building a house out of them, discovered they needed more logs, and eagerly went to collect more. Eventually, some of the children who went to collect more became more excited by all the downed limbs that were on the site and began playing in this area that they referred to as a “junk yard”.  Others continued to build with the logs and eventually created a pretend fire!

The “junkyard” idea was a new one that really came to life and drew many kids! As Wendell, Sammy, Felix, Cristian and Maddux found limb parts to use for their rocket packs, others began to explore the junkyard like it was a jungle. August came crashing through the jungle, enjoying the sensation of breaking through the limbs and looking for places to climb.  Charlotte and Larkin dove deep into imaginative play, and became a mommy and a baby elephant. They played this game for the rest of Forest Kindergarten, finding places in the jungle to sleep, to talk sweetly to each other, and to find food! It is interesting to see how one type of play can inspire another!

The children got to practice our routine of reflection and saying thank you to nature at the end of our day. We’re working on introducing the concepts of ritual and symbolism by bringing out a candle to close each session. Since this was our second time with the routine, more children knew what to expect and tried it out on their own. We will continue this routine next week, and watch and see how children respond as it become integrated into the fabric of our Fridays at Earthsong!

Greeting a New Year with New Friends

Today we reacquainted ourselves with Earthsong and with each other! Spending a sunny, but chilly day outside was the ideal way to welcome the new year, returning friends, and new friends!

Our Forest Kindergarten group has grown, and we welcomed 5 new friends on Friday! We are thrilled to have Charlotte, Cristian, August, Larkin, and Ellie join us to play in the forest. The teachers are excited to observe how new ideas and ways of play will emerge as our new children interact with our well-seasoned returners! We also anticipate the many ways in which our returning students will get to share their rich knowledge of the forest with our new friends. It is an exciting start, with so many opportunities for us all to grow.

When we got to Root World for our first hour of play, all the children quickly found a place to play. It was wonderful to see our new students quickly finding ways to play and making new friends with our returning students. Luke and Charlotte particularly took the opportunity to learn from each other. Luke found a way to ask Charlotte to play with him and showed her how to slide down a muddy bank. Charlotte encouraged Luke to keep playing, and took his advice on how to climb back up the bank using a tree root as a rope. They both delighted in this shared experience!

Much like our group, Root World was familiar to us but a little bit different and a little bit new after our 3 week break. While we sat on the trail eating snack, Amy asked the kids to look at Root world and see if it looked different. This was meant to help us get reacquainted with the place, but also notice things that were there that we had never seen before. We could see more of the sky, since the leaves were off the trees. We also noticed that some trees still had green leaves- our holly, or “power berry”, trees! We talked briefly about how some trees lose their leaves in winter, but others keep green leaves year round. Amy wonders how making these observations might impact how children perceive the place as it continues to change through the season.

After snack, some children wanted to continue their play at Root world with Amy while others took a hike with Sarah. The teachers are excited to have small group experiences with the kids after snack each week! It was fun for Amy to see how all the children in her small group eventually ended up playing together in the same small space. Sammy, Wendell, and Felix wanted to build a machine and fly on it amongst many downed limbs. Maddux and Cristian wanted to join, and the boys worked out jobs and seats for everyone on the machine. Eventually, Will, who had played on his own near the group  was drawn to the play and found his very own seat to ride on with the group!

We began a new ritual for lunch, having a shared meal of rice and beans together this week. We also began to establish a ritual of reflecting on our play time in the woods, and being thankful for the nature all around us. Eating and sharing together at Ayeli was a special feeling, and we are eager to see how this ritual grows with our group.

Winter is an interesting and wonderful time of year to think about growth. There is so much happening under the surface of things that we do not see. Perhaps, in the next few weeks, we will notice that there are buds on the trees that lost their leaves, hiding and protecting the new leaves growing inside. Or maybe we will discover a hidden world of insects hiding under leaves and bark, getting ready for warmer temperatures. Whatever our discovery might be, winter reminds us that even when we can't see it, growth is happening. The teachers know that there is so much unseen growth happening in the children at Forest Kindergarten. On our first day back, we got to see the start of new friendships and children re-learning the spaces and places of Earthsong. But we look forward to the many weeks ahead of us, and discovering what hidden growth has been happening amongst the children that has yet to reveal itself!

Last AFK Day of 2018 - in pictures

Our last day was a whirlwind of memory-making, celebrating Isla’s last day with us, having our first shared lunch, reflecting on what we’ve learned, what we’ve loved, and how we’ve grown. Amy and Sarah don’t have their usual in-depth summary but here’s a pictorial record of the last Forest Kindergarten Friday of 2018.

Morning Ant-ics!

We began the morning with some “ant-tics” —- seeing ant piles, counting how many, curious what happens if we poke them. Children noticed that the ants exited the hole when provoked. They quickly made the connections that it was the ants’ home. They hypothesized that the ants were either angry or going out to try to fix their home! Will brought over new dirt for the ants to use to repair.

In the woods, we stopped at site above Root World first. We visited our favorite mud kitchen site. Mabry’s interest in holly berries continued. Today she collected them for making ice cream for birds.

As usual the children gravitate toward climbing on downed trees. The children love to pretend that downed trees are vehicles. The Educators both noticed that the children are doing big and important work on learning how to navigate shared space on these vehicle trees. Eden showed new and inventive climbing skills on the trees, using her hands and feet creatively and other children mimicked her to experiment with their own bodies.

Our Forest-Helper today, Graham, discovered an interesting spider. Although privately she expressed her own dislike of spiders to the other adults, it was helpful to the children that she encouraged them to explore it further. All the children liked it but especially Will! He wanted to touch it, hold it on a stick, and watch as it created silk to anchor itself to the stick.

Felix: Found “helicopters” and wanted to play with them.  His interest caught Mabry’s attention and she became curious about what they were. Felix didn’t call them seeds, but knew to plant them. When asked by Amy what he was doing, he told her he was planting them. She asked if he knew what they were, and he said they would grow into plants! Mabry joined in this activity, and thus learned about plant life cycles from Felix. The recognizable “lesson” in this is simple and straightforward from our adult vantage point but think about the magic of piecing this together as a child, or learning it from a fellow child! Social Learning Theory helps us explain why such a peer lesson is more valuable and typically has more longevity than an adult-directed lesson on an adult-directed timeline. Tying learning to an inherently joyful and reinforcing experience with peers is powerful.

Today we came back a different way at the end and got to look for the ducks and the chickens in the garden.  Kids liked pretending to move like ducks or chickens as we went back to Ayeli. The beauty of an unstructured program is being able to follow the children’s lead and start lunch a little late because we got caught up moving like ducks! It’s a joy to quack with each of these children.

Finding Their Strength, Finding Their Niche

It was our chilliest morning yet at Forest Kindergarten, but our Forest Kindergartener’s were prepared for the cold! Several layers, boots, and their rain suits meant the cold was not the focus of our morning. While we still felt the cold, it was not the main focus of our morning.  Instead, it felt like the cold simply influenced the choices we made when engaging with the forest. We slowed down a little bit, sought out spots in the sun, and played in a not-quite-new spot!

After drop-off, we took a very leisurely walk to our first site.  The cold weather has motivated some of our neighbors at Earthsong to cut firewood, and there is a lovely opening in the forest just a little bit above Root World where scrap wood and logs are gathered.  The small logs and leftover pieces of cut wood make wonderful loose parts for children to play with. Loose parts are open-ended materials that children can engage with and manipulate in thousands of creative ways. There is not set way for loose parts to be used, so children get to be as creative as possible.  The teachers respond to how children use the loose parts with questions, discussions, or simply observing and documenting children’s actions. These observations, photos and writings help inform the teacher’s about what children are learning during their play and what paths of further exploration and discovery we may want to pursue with the children in the future. It was incredibly interesting to observe the several different ways children ended up interacting with the logs!

Isla discovers her strength!

One of the first children to take in interest in the logs was Isla.  She was very interested in moving some of the logs up the hill and making a bigger log pile.  In a short amount of time, she assessed which logs were small enough for her to manage on her own and which ones she needed help with.  She was proud to show Amy how strong and capable she was to move a log, and first tried to pick up two of the smaller logs at once. When she was unable to manage to get both in her arms, she asked Amy to carry them for her. Amy asked Isla if there was a different way she could get the logs to where she wanted on her own. Isla assessed, and decided to move just one at a time.  She showed Amy that it was still a little bit of effort to pick up just one, and Amy acknowledged the weight of the logs and encouraged Isla to keep up the heavy lifting! In the span of less than 10 minutes, Isla had a chance to assess and push her own physical abilities by setting a goal for her play with the loose parts and seeking ways she could attain it on her own. She was able to move several logs to a play area where Amy had previously set up our mud kitchen wares. Other children were also interested in the mud kitchen area near the logs, and began to set up their play in this spot. Will, Eden and Maddux  joined Isla in this spot, and a different use for the loose parts logs began.

Will showed a great deal of focus with the combined elements of the loose parts logs and the mud kitchen.  3 logs of about equal circumference and height were lined up side by side, and Will placed a cake pan on one that he carefully filled up with dirt.  Once the pan was full, he proceeded to do something very interesting to the teachers. He carefully poured out nearly even amounts of dirt on each stump! To do this, Will had to estimate the volume of dirt that was in the cake pan and then have the fine motor control to carefully pour out a small enough amount on the first stump and second stump so that he would have enough dirt left for the third stump. That he was able to fairly successfully divide the dirt into three equal parts without having to go get more dirt or wipe some off of each stump, shows that he is creating the building blocks of some very important math skills! After he had his dirt piles on the stumps, Will continued his play by patting down the dirt on each stump and adding leaves to it. It was exciting to see his attention to his play and to symmetry in the mud kitchen products he made with the dirt!

We had a smaller group of 6 children this week, which meant that we were able to stay for a longer period of time in areas that usually feel too claustrophobic for our larger group.  Sammy and Wendell responded to the smaller group by finding a small climbing area up a tree where they could sit and talk to each other. The cold temperatures may have also contributed to their desire to have a quiet morning up in a tree! It is interesting to think about how group size and temperatures impact our play, and change the dynamics of what we do and how the children interact with each other and the forest. The weather certainly felt like good snuggle up in a cozy spot weather, and Sammy and Wendell took advantage of it!

Wendell and Sammy climbed to an area where they can get lost in conversation and imaginative play.

One of Amy’s favorite moments that came as a result of the weather was when we exited the forest for the day! There is still a decent amount of leaf cover, and the mature trees provide a lot of shade in the forest. The temperatures remind very cool all morning long, but when we crossed the threshold from forest to the grass covered and sunny parking area- we all immediately felt the difference! Children listened to their bodies and lay down in the sun almost immediately! It felt so good to feel the warmth of the sun on all parts of our bodies, and just to stretch out and enjoy feeling the energy of the sun recharge our bodies.  It is hard to think of a better way of growing an understanding of how powerful and important the sun is to our daily lives. It was also a chance for the children to share in a group experience and see how we can all have similar bodily and emotional responses to an environmental stimulus! Maddux helped us finish our “cat nap” time by checking in on each child and helping encourage them to get back up!

The children instinctively “recharged their batteries” in the warm sun after a morning in the shady, cool forest!

We will continue to pay attention to how the changes in weather impact our play and how our bodies feel. Thank you, families, for dressing your child in layers and helping them wear the gear they need to manage different environmental conditions. As we learn more about how the children respond to different temperatures, the teachers will communicate if your child needs more or less layers or other gear to continue their active play at Earthsong!

Third Time's the Charm - Making Rainy Day Experts

Our dialogue with rain continued this week, although it might be more accurately described as a dialogue with mud! 3 Friday’s of rain in a row has resulted in a very muddy Earthsong! During the previous two weeks, the teachers observed that children in the group actually have many different dialogues with the rain and mud at Forest Kindergarten. Some children are ready to cover themselves head to toe in the mud, others a more drawn to puddles and keeping the mud to their hands and feet, while still others prefer not to feel muddy at all.  To provoke each of these groups to have a different experience with the mud this week and expand on their dialogue with the mud, Amy brought supplies for a mud kitchen to set up under one of our tarps. Then, we watched to see what would happen on this third muddy, rainy day!

Among the mud kitchen supplies were metal and wooden spoons, cake pans, and muffin tins. Spoons were immediately picked up by children and utilized for digging in the mud. They were a popular tool for all the children, no matter what dialogue the child using the spoon had with mud.  Children who wanted to be covered in mud used the spoons to help them dig up more mud for bigger mud splats. Children who preferred to experience the mud less immersively could use the spoons to dig mud and fill the muffin tins and cake pans. Some began to make cakes and cupcakes, but others were content to try and fill the pans to the brim with mud.  Later, when we added our used snack bowls to the mix, the children remembered how they had filled the bowls with water and began to do the same. They could then add the water to the mud in the pans and make super sloppy pies!

Chances for creative thinking and social-emotional growth also took place when using our mud kitchen.  When all the spoons and pans were in use, there arose opportunities for children to think about alternative tools or ways to use them together. Children who did not have a spoon but wanted one became open to the suggestion of using a rock or a stick like a spoon. The teachers wonder if they will continue to use rocks and sticks in this way on future Forest Kindergarten days. Since there were only 3 muffin tins, children had to negotiate their use amongst themselves. When one child was using a muffin tin and another wanted to join their play and use the same muffin tin, each child had to use words to express their feelings and come to an agreement.

While the mud kitchen was a source of new interest with our mud play, children also showed their growing resilience to the rain.  They discovered even more new ways to play as the rain continued. We came across some recently split fire wood and stumps, early in the day.  Children were immediately drawn to these loose parts, and began balancing the split wood on the larger stumps. The rain and the slipperiness of the wood increased the challenge of this activity, and gave the children an even greater sense of achievement.  They also collected saw dust in this area to take with them down to Root World, and some of it ended up in our mud kitchen cakes and pies. Children’s increased comfort in the rain suits and rain gear also seemed to result in more explorative activity all around Root World.  Several children returned to the mud slide area, but several others explored slightly further away looking for new ways to play in the rain. At one point, Will began to walk away from the group and when Amy questioned where he was going he let her know he wanted a vine. Will ended up trying out several vines until he found one that was the acceptable size to bounce on, and was joined by Eden at one point, too! It was enjoyable to see how comfortable the children had become being active in the rain and feeling comfortable moving further away from the cover of the tarps.

The children dawdled in puddles to delay going inside. Fine by us <3 We love to see this!

On our way back to Ayeli, we had our most obvious display of comfortable dialogue with the rain and mud.  The accumulating rain from the past three weeks had created giant puddles in the parking lot area. Even after spending the entire morning in the rain, the children wanted to spend time splashing through these puddles.  The wide-open, flat space created room for children to run and then take big jumps into the puddles. Huge splashes were made, and the children laughed and ran back through the puddles again. We got back to Ayeli later in the day than our past two rain days, very satisfied with all the physical activity we put in playing in the rain and mud on our third rain day in a row!

Lunch and a story to wrap up a good day!

A New Relationship With Rain

It may have been another week of rain, but the story of our day is so different this week than last! Higher temperatures certainly influenced the change, but also our increased knowledge of place.  We have met Earthsong in the rain before, and this week was a second meeting! We were able to remember how the space looked, felt, smelled and sounded in the rain this week and build on our past memories to make new ones!

A rainy day miracle! All nine forest kindergarteners in an unstaged photo!

This week, we returned to Root World to play in the rain.  The teachers are able to set up tarps here, where children can take a respite from the rain and where we can all sit together and eat our snack! It also offers a variety of play spaces for making the most out of the mud.  Rediscovering these spaces was the theme of our morning. We climbed on and under Root World again, and enjoyed the continued challenge of making it up a slippery, muddy root ball! Making mud splats, just like last week, was also a renewed activity.  This time, though, we built on the activity by trying to throw them to new places. The mud was more pliable this week, and we could dig in more to make more mud splats! There was also a tarp right below Root World, and some of our mud splats ended up there. The mud on the tarps also drew our attention to the water that was collecting on the tarps. Every child in Forest Kindergarten enjoyed the water that collected on the tarps this week! We stood under the tarps and punched them, and as the water ran off we giggled and searched for more ways to get it to fall off in waterfalls!

Eden’s tarp experiment, pressing from below to create a waterfall above.

Wendell’s deep attention on filling his bowl.

One of the amazing things that happened as we played with the waterfalls coming off the tarps, was children began to collect the water into our used snack bowls. They had to carefully maneuver their bowls to be able to catch the most water possible, and it took patience to wait for enough water to fill their bowl. They could then use the water to make more mud, or to fill up a muffin tin that the teachers brought.  It could also be used to wash the mud off our jackets, hands and bodies! For children who were getting uncomfortable with the mud, this additional water was a relief and helped us extend our play outside. Some dramatic play even came out of it, when Mabry decided to use her extra water to start to wash off Amy’s clothes. Mabry’s washing idea turned into a car wash, and children lined up under the tarp where Mabry was for their own wash! It was a moment for us to play together and share in the new play that the rain made possible!

The warmer-weather rain also created an opportunity for small-group play.  We had a group of children who wanted to be covered in mud from head-to-toe, and another group that was enjoying splashing in puddles and exploring the forest but didn’t want to be as muddy. So for the second half of our day, one group stayed at Root World and expanded their play to mud slides and active play at Root World while the other group went for a rainy day walk.  Last week, we needed to be inside and warming up for this part of our day but this week we were able to look for new rainy day opportunities! The group that stayed behind, discovered they could slide down slopes very quickly once all the leaves were removed. As their play ramped up, they began to pretend they were action heroes and decided to run around an large expanse of Root World chasing each other.  To help support and develop their dramatic play as action heroes, Amy noticed that they were mentioning needing power. She suggested they collect “power” mushrooms and “power” berries. They quickly began looking for mushrooms and red holly berries, so that they could have enough power to continue their action play. As they sought more berries, they had to help each other look for them and began to learn what type of tree and leaves to look for. They noticed the leaves were spiky and green.  They also had to identify ways to get to the berries that were too high to pick. They would point out places to climb up to reach higher berries, and began to learn new places in Root World that they could play!

The explorers who went walking with Sarah covered a lot of ground! Following the lead of some of the smaller children, she thought they might want to stay closer to the familiar areas or desire more guided activities but quite the opposite happened. They went along the path and then veered off on their own to examine some unusual tree stumps off the trail, newly impervious to the drizzle that made them uncomfortable just a few minutes before. Truly a testament to the power of child-led experience.

A second week of rain offered us new chances to explore our place, by building on our experiences from the week before.  The warmer temperatures helped us extend our time outside and develop our rain play more thoroughly, but the teachers also think that our prior experience built some resilience among our group and allowed us to discover new ways to enjoy the rain and create an interesting dialogue with a rainy Earth Song.  We can reflect back on our blogs and notes from these two rainy day experiences on future rainy days, and see how future interactions with a rainy Earthsong develop and are influenced by our prior experiences!

Our First Rainy Day

Rain, pouring rain, cold, more rain. Today was the type of day that jumps into almost every adult’s mind when questioning the outdoor emphasis of Forest Kindergartens and Nature-Based Preschools. And for good reason. There has been enough messaging in our society romanticizing nature and the outdoors that it is hard to think that a cold, rainy day could possibly hold any enjoyment! Perfect sunny days, with butterflies and bright flowers, and no sounds of airplanes or cars or leaf blowers are wonderful to experience.  However, so are rainy cold days that make our bodies feel less than comfortable. As many seasoned Forest Kindergarten educators will express, being uncomfortable and even allowing ourselves and the children to feel miserable for some time is how we grow our connection to nature and our understanding of what our bodies and minds are capable of.

The children experienced so much wonder and cheer about the elements, thanks to the positive messages of parents dropping them off for a day of rainy adventures.

But, there is no getting around that there were miserable moments today during Forest Kindergarten. The combination of rain and cold first challenged the teachers. How could we prepare for a day that produced so many obstacles to our regular schedule and routine? Would children’s rain gear hold up to the conditions? What if the children themselves were overwhelmed by the conditions? It was important for us to remember one of the important values of the Reggio Emilia schools, the image of the child as an active citizen within the community with all the interests, preparedness, curiosity and desire to construct their own learning that we all have. When we remember this, we can accept that the children would arrive ready to negotiate and experience the different environmental experience alongside the teachers and that what we needed to do was create a space that would continue to allow us to learn alongside each other.  

Nothing brings people together like getting out of the elements for a nice warm snack! We’ve witnessed new friendships blooming with the break in routine the rainy weather has brought.

So, we set up tarps for taking a respite from the rain and we made hot tea and soup to warm our bodies. Then we immersed ourselves in the day and observed the children to learn how they would navigate the new conditions. And they did swimmingly- although, we did stop short of swimming in all the rain! Children discovered the puddles and puddle-stomping and splashing ensued.  Isla stomped in almost every single puddle we encountered and came back to Ayeli with the cleanest rain boots because of it! While puddle-stomping, the children wondered why puddles were in some places on the trail but not others. We tested what made the puddle areas different by jumping back in the puddles, and recognized that the puddles existed where there were holes on the path. We wondered if we could make our own puddles, and Mabry helped Amy dig a new hole with a stick. We were amazed at how quickly the hole filled with water, and made a swimming pool for frogs according to Mabry!

At Root World, children discovered that being underneath the tarp was not the only place to find shelter from the rain.  Root World itself acted as an umbrella, and Sammy, Wendell, Felix, and sometimes Maddux, set up shop under the overhang of Root World and made “mud-splats”. These new creations were made by using the fantastic red-clay mud and wrapping it around small rocks they found at Root World.  The splats could then be thrown at a tree, and make a delightful sound and sometimes stick to the tree, much to the children’s satisfaction. In the shelter of Root World, this incredibly sensory activity which coated the group from head to toe in mud, engaged children’s imaginations and attention for nearly 45 minutes. They endured the cold, rainy weather and discovered a new way to interact with the world around them.

Isla warms up with a bowl of tea.

Under our tarps, children also discovered that there can be great satisfaction and comfort in taking a break from a rainy day.  Gathering close together under our tarp lean-to, and enjoying bowls of warm tea or soup was a comforting and connecting experience that we could not have shared together in the same way on an “ideal” sunny day.  The smile on Luke’s face as he enjoyed his hot bowl of tea confirmed just how much facing adverse conditions can help us enjoy basic comforts even more!

We did not spend our entire morning outside today.  While we wanted to learn what our bodies could handle,  it was just as important for the teachers to recognize when our preparations for the elements and the children’s ability to negotiate the environment had reached an ending point.  Our first truly rainy day came with cold temperatures, and our tarp preparations and clothing preparations were not yet up to spending the entire day outdoors. The teachers will work on creating more effective tarp shelters, and providing all our families with more information on how to dress for rainy and cold weather. This will help us enjoy and endure the cold weather to come! As it was, the second half of our morning was spent at Ayeli reading books, singing songs, playing games, and drawing pictures.  Some children even made their own animal costumes, Sammy created the wings for a dragon from construction paper and twine! The drawing choice seemed to be the most attractive indoor option for many of the children, and we may try to find ways to weave this interest into our outdoor explorations!

Sarah arrived at noon to find these “animals” hiding in their blanket caves all over the room playing a game together!

In parting, Amy and Sarah just want to say thank you so much to all our Forest Kindergarten parents for enduring the cold and rain, too! You may not have been outside with us, but you got your child ready for the day and your relationship with your child helped them be ready to navigate the day with us! You are our partners in this endeavor, and we appreciate the active role you play in your child’s learning experience!  

Cozy Nests and Bowls of Tea

We have some cozy things to reflect on after a chilly Forest Kindergarten day! As we progress more into the colder months, the teachers wonder what new activities will emerge or be provoked by the temperature each morning or by the changing appearance and feel of the forest. This morning, the temperature provoked pretend fire making while another find in the forest got us building our own bird’s nests!

The children enjoying bowls of berry tea to warm up

At drop-off, we continue to look for a space and provocations to attract children’s interest and imagination.  This morning, the temperature itself served as a provocation to make us want to move and also think about warm things.  We found a little nook in the drop-off meadow, where a semi-circle of raised earth made a natural space to gather and to investigate.  To help the first two children who arrived engage with the space, Amy suggested we gather materials to make a fire. We pulled up grasses, found some interesting and fluffy lichens, and invited other children to join us as they arrived.  An open-ended activity like building a fire has the potential to invite children with many different skills to play together, and to all feel that they contributed to the play. Amy saw some of our younger Forest Kindergarteners circle the area where we were building the fire and touch some of the materials. They could easily pick up a matching material and pile it onto the fire, or just enjoy observing what other children and teachers were finding! Some of our older Forest Kindergartners were interested in the real questions behind building a fire.  Amy picked up a stick and asked if it would be a good one to add to the fire. In response, Sammy acknowledged that the stick would be good for the fire but brought up the point that we didn’t have anything to light the fire with. Amy asked what we needed, and Sammy mentioned a lighter or a match. Since we didn’t have those, Amy wondered back to Sammy if there was anything we could find in the meadow or woods that would help us light the fire without a match or lighter. Sammy wasn’t sure, but the fire activity provoked an opportunity for him to think creatively about the materials we find in nature and new ways they might be used. As the weather continues to cool, building imaginary fires may be an activity to build our fine and gross motor skills, become more familiar with the properties of the plants in our forest, and to challenge our minds to think about ways we could make the fire real!

Eden’s precision feather circle

Nest building was another unique activity during our day, and one that made Amy think about warmth and comfort.  The activity was provoked by our discovery of numerous very brightly colored feathers on the forest floor. The dry brown leaves of this time of year made the vibrant yellow and black feathers stand out, and once we had spotted one, we just kept finding more and more.  Amy recognized the feathers as coming from the Northern Flicker, a type of woodpecker. Isla, Eden, Sammy, Felix and Maddox immediately wanted to hold one- and we certainly found enough for every Forest Kindergartner to hold onto! (By the way, it is safe to pick up a bird feather. Check this information from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology) Since we were on the way to Root World, Amy wondered what we could do with the feathers. Isla, Will and Eden were undecided about what play they wanted to do at Root World, so Amy suggested they build bird nests since we had found the feathers.  The children began to pile leaves in a circle, and Isla and Eden asked for the feathers that Amy was now holding. They arranged them in a circle inside the circle of leaves, and continued to build at least two other nests. But it was Will who took the bird play the furthest. Once the cozy nests were built, he became a baby bird! He told us that he was a baby bird and requested food. It was a great way to keep other children engaged in his play, and they could bring objects like acorns and berries to his nest to feed him.  When he wanted to leave the nest, he flapped his arms like wings, and he even tweeted to the children and teachers once they knew he was pretending to be a bird. Pretending to be an animal like this, gives children the opportunity to learn much more about the animal they are playing and to start to develop an empathy for that animal. Teachers can support the play by asking children to think about what the animal might eat, or where it might sleep, or how it is feeling. If we see the real animal, we can encourage children to observe it and mimic its movements or sounds!

Will, as a bird, waking up from his birdie nap.

The teachers will certainly observe and identify opportunities for encouraging children to develop animal allies, and learn about animals by actually becoming those animals!

One last note from our day- we found a scorpion in a decaying log at Root World!! It was smaller than Amy’s thumb, and we all got a chance to observe it safely through the plastic of a water bottle. All of the children were very interested and excited to see this animal, and they noticed its pincers and its stinging tail! They made the excellent observation that it could hurt on both ends, but that meant it was ready to keep itself safe.  The species of scorpion we found was the Southern Devil Scorpion. If you would like to know more, you can read about them here.  There is one other species of scorpion in Georgia (currently), and you can learn more about both species and a third that might be moving into south Georgia here. For Amy, this has been one of the most exciting animal finds of our Forest Kindergarten experience, simply because she hasn’t come across a scorpion since she was a child!! It brought back memories of childhood play, and she certainly hopes that the memories the children at AFK are making with the plants and animals we encounter each week will stay with them into adulthood and make them think fondly of nature!

A beautiful impromptu moment with the children “charging their batteries” in the sun. As we left the shady cool forest and found the meadow bathed in sunlight, they all spontaneously dropped to the ground and lolled, took yoga poses, rolled, and sprawled in the warmth.

Learning Interdependence

Our apprentice teacher Jess subbed for Amy while she was away at a conference. I asked Jess to write up some of her reflections about working with the children for our blog. I was drawn to this theme of interdependence that she touched upon so I offer this selection from her writing to share with you here! Thanks for your thoughtful presence with the children and your close attunement to their intricate development, Jess!

—-Sarah

The air was crisp. The ground was covered in leaves. The spiders, grasshoppers, and caterpillars that usually greeted us at drop-off were out of sight. As the kids arrived, they zipped their jackets, sipped warm tea, and Sammy announced, "It smells like snow!" While it wasn't cold enough to snow, it was noticeably cooler than our first five weeks. Fall was here, hopefully to stay.

After welcoming everyone to the woods during morning circle, we headed down the upper trail to our first play site. Quickly, the kids dispersed. The kids’ energy level mirrored the energy level in the forest. Maybe it was the cooler temperatures, or maybe it was the quiet of the forest. The kids moved more slowly than normal. But as the forest came to life, so did the kids.

Students can choose to either hike alongside the teachers or take a “challenge” to a pre-determined point. “Those who want to run ahead of me, your challenge is to go to the grassy patch in the path and make a chain!”

Some of the kids were busy building. Wendell and Sammy were using sticks as saws to pretend to cut down trees. Maddux was collecting sticks. When his arms were full, he would head to one of the holes he was using to display his collection. He would arrange the branches in his hole as if he was arranging flowers in a vase. He proudly announced, “I’m building trees”. Maddux approached Sammy and Wendell and said, “I made a surprise for you. Come see.” Sammy and Wendell followed Maddux. When they arrived, Wendell asked, “What are we supposed to do with it?” and Maddux replied, “Anything you want to do with it. I made it for you!”

A lot of negotiating went into Maddux joining Eden’s tree shaking but they finally settled on a place for him to put his hands and each of them beamed even brighter than when they took turns!

Luke discovered some bright green moss near the base of a nearby tree, climbing about a foot up the trunk. Luke stroked the pillow-like moss with his hand. He squatted down admiring the moss. He sniffed the moss. Occasionally, he would call out “Come smell the moss.” At some point, each of the kids stopped by to check out Luke’s find. When Will, Eden, Mabry, and Isla came to see the moss, they too seemed mesmerized. They stroked the moss, smelled the moss, and commented on its fern-like pattern. The moss was so soft, they thought fairies might sleep on it at night. Some of the kids started picking the moss and holding it up to their cheeks like tiny pillows. Distraught, Isla said, “Don’t pick the moss. You’ll kill it.” The kids tried to patch the moss back together. Every time they set the moss back in place, it would roll down the trunk to the base of the tree. They tried again and again. Frustrated, they asked an adult for help, “Can you put it back?” Collectively, they pieced the moss back to together. The kids huddled around the base of the tree smelling, touching, and looking at the moss without uprooting it from its home at the base of the tree. Isla’s observation changed how the kids interacted with the moss; a profound example of both the power of peer learning and the ease with which behaviors rooted in kindness sometimes catch on.

In the forest, the kids are learning about how to interact with each other and the natural world. In the first story above, Maddox is trying to invite Sammy and Wendell to play by making them a gift. In the second story, the kids are finding ways to interact with the moss, a living thing that calls the forest home. Isla’s observation prompted the kids to reconsider how they were playing with the moss. Not only did they stop picking the moss, they tried to replant it on the trunk of the tree and find ways to play with the moss without hurting it.

—Jess

Jess accepted Mabry’s invitation to be her baby; here she was taking a nap!

Muddy provocations

In Reggio Emilia schools, provocations invite children to explore and express their ideas.  A provocation may come in the form of something set up by a teacher, and can be very simple, like setting out colorful threads on a table. Teachers then observe how children interact with the provocation, and listen to the thoughts, ideas, questions, and discussions provoked. At Athens Forest Kindergarten, provocations are an important part of how we think about early childhood education in nature. Nature is a provocation, and the teachers are constantly observing children to see the thousand and one different ideas, actions, discussions, and interests that will come from the children. As each child in our group interacts with a rock, acorn, fallen tree, leaf, or insect they come across, we the teachers learn something more about their unique interpretation of the world. This week, we had a new provocation that Amy in particular has been eagerly anticipating- mud!

Movement and stillness, provoked by mud!

Mud is such a delightful provocation. It invites children to immerse themselves in it, and it can be manipulated in so many different ways that mud play never gets old. One of the first ways we encountered mud was noticing how it changed the way we moved. When we arrived at Root World, some children went right to the ravine where we build stick bridges and slid down! Suddenly, a physical activity that they had mastered became more challenging. If children wanted to go back up the slope of the ravine, they had to change the way they were climbing. The mud provoked children to come up with new ways to climb a hill. Some decided to crawl up, some children provided a helping hand to others, and still other children used sticks or vines to grab hold of and pull themselves up. Children who did not enjoy the feel of mud on their hands and arms simply found new places to climb up where leaves were still covering the slope and could provide more traction.

Mabry discovers that the log is a great tool for cleaning her hands.

Children are not expected by the teachers to love mud or want to cover their bodies in it. Several children had to manage feelings of discomfort with having the mud caking their hands, or being on parts of their bodies where they did not want it. Provoking feelings of discomfort and dislike is also a part of the Forest Kindergarten experience. As children learned ways to clean the unwanted mud off their hands using wet leaves or tree bark, they began to understand that their bodies could handle being uncomfortable. Even though some mud remained on their hands, they managed to continue playing and enjoying themselves. The mud provoked children to build resilience!

In general,  the mud provoked feelings of pleasure and displeasure alike amongst all the children and the teachers. It was both fun to go down mud-slides, but also scary when you were not expecting to slip and go down the hill on your bottom! Putting mud on faces and hair was very funny for the first few minutes it was there. One child even stored a mud-ball in his hair for later. But as the mud dried, children felt how it could make their skin feel itchy and tight, and the child with the mud in his hair did not like it when it got stuck like chewing-gum and pulled out a few of his hairs when he tried to remove it! Yet, pleasure and satisfaction were what dominated the day. Children had evidence of how hard they had played and how much they had challenged their body when they wiped the mud from their hands, or noticed their pants were now red instead of blue! Mud seems to be unparalleled in provoking us to take pride in being dirty!

Getting our first taste of how mud can change our Forest Kindergarten experience this Friday was exhilarating! Now that we have been provoked by mud for the first time, the teachers are excited to see how our second encounter with mud will go! What new actions, ideas and questions will the mud provoke and what will children remember and want to repeat from their first experience? Our curiosity makes us look forward to the next rainy day!

Animal Encounters

It was not hard to decide on the blog post for this week. The animals we encountered throughout the day were captivating and gave us an opportunity to practice our observation skills and develop a deeper understanding of the world we immerse ourselves in each Friday.

We have seen spiders every Friday. Their webs have been part of our play, we uncover them under logs that we roll over, and we get to duck under them as we make our way to Root World and our other play spaces. Today, we caught a spider during the first part of our morning and put it in a viewing jar Amy brought.  Having the spider isolated in a container changed how children observed the spider and spoke about it. Prior to this, we had not spent much time watching spiders. Yet, once the spider was in the jar children began to notice its shape and color, ask questions about how it was moving, and even began to personify it. They added a second spider and wondered at the differences in color, and how the two spiders would interact. A story of the spiders was beginning to emerge, but we were at a point in our day when we needed to transition from morning drop-off to our morning play and we made the decision to release our spiders. As teachers, we make note of developing threads of interest. This particular thread is important because when children observe the small things and make an effort to tell the story of their life, they grow empathy with things that are not like themselves. Teachers will continue to look for opportunities to grow this thread of “a spider’s life”.

Everyone who wanted to have a turn, held the turtle! All the children wanted to name the turtle different things and so they did! It’s very hard for children this age to have peers playing differently than them so it was impressive to watch them get comfortable with “Turtle-y” also being called “Batman” and “Fancy Turtle”, but they did!

Most families probably heard something about the other captivating animals we encountered during the day.  The eastern box turtle and the copperhead snake that passed through Root World were captivating in a way that was different from the spiders. Since it is less common for us to see these types of animals, they do capture our attention in a different way than the spiders. For the teachers, our attention is on how to guide children into an interaction with these animals that is safe and meaningful for the children and the animal. In the case of the turtle, Amy has years of experience working with and showing children how to touch and handle box turtles. The teachers chose to provide children an opportunity to touch and hold the turtle, and learn about it from this hands-on observation. We ask children to take care of each others’ bodies during Forest Kindergarten, and we extended this concept to interacting with the turtle. The children were able to regulate the excitement in their bodies and show an ethic of care for the turtle by gently touching it and carefully cradling it when they held it. When it was time for us to let the turtle continue on its journey, the teachers and children had a discussion about how we should release the turtle. The children wanted to let it go nearby and watch where it went, but agreed to be still and just watch it move on its own without following it. We wondered where the turtle would go, if it was just visiting Root World or if Root World is its home, and we marveled at how fast a box turtle really moves. The box turtle is now our neighbor at Root World, and we all wonder if we will meet again!

Our copperhead encounter was necessarily different, but also provided an essential learning opportunity for children and teachers. The copperhead was first spotted by our adult Forest Helper, Jess, when making its way toward where we were playing at Root World. All the teachers quickly agreed that the priority was to move children out of the area because a venomous snake is a hazard of the forest. It was an absolutely stunning snake, with many of the characteristics that attracted us to the turtle. Like the box turtle, its camouflage was incredible, capturing the feeling of dappled sunlight on the leaf litter of the forest floor. It moved gracefully and easily through the forest, just like the turtle. Yet, while children may have felt a bit risky touching and holding the turtle, the same type of interaction with a venomous snake would have been a hazard. Teachers are careful to identify hazards vs. risks, and recognize that hazards are things that can cause a child to be seriously ill or injured whereas a risk may cause a small scrape or bruise. Once we had removed children safely away from the hazard, we had a discussion with the children about what had happened. It is important for children to understand that teachers keep them safe at Forest Kindergarten and the methods teachers use to keep them safe. We use the word “pineapple” when we need children to stop what they are doing and come to a teacher. Children know this is a word for the adults to say, and we continue to work on making sure they respond immediately. We reminded children that we used this word when the copperhead was spotted, and that it was important for them to go to the teacher who said it because the animal we saw was one that was not o.k. to touch. We spoke about what to do if they see a snake, and one child let us all know that the best thing to do if anyone sees a snake is to leave it alone, back away from it, and let a teacher know. We all agreed that snakes were not o.k. animals to touch, and the teachers showed children the picture of the copperhead. We will continue to help children know what is ok to touch and what is not ok, and be vigilant as teachers in identifying risks vs. hazards.

Some of the older children were excited to help Amy lower a small dead tree in the new site we explored.

This is a longer blog post, but before ending it reflecting on these different animal interactions is important. All of the animals we encountered during this session are part of the life and health of the forest. We are able to interact with them in different ways and children are learning how to distinguish these. Being a little afraid of the snake, or the spider, or even the turtle is o.k. Yet, as we support children in the learning process we want to avoid creating an unnecessary fear. Teachers will be firm but calm when ensuring that children understand not to pick up or touch snakes or other animals we identify as hazards. We will help children learn that they have a responsibility of care to the animals that they do touch, and we will continue to discuss with children how they feel about the animal neighbors we encounter in the forest.

New Explorations and Establishing Traditions

In many ways, our second Friday together was just as full of new experiences as our first Friday. Our relationships with each other, and with the forest, are still so fresh that everything we do feels new. Every log we pass, every path we take, every interaction between children is something we have not yet experienced. This Friday, the newest of new things we did was venture out to a new play space in the forest! As we continue to get to know each other, we will try out spaces and discover the different ways children play in different environments. This week, the first new thing we wanted to do was play in a new area!  

Mabry and Maddux lining up to walk up the wiggly tree, the children’s own discovery.

We teachers wanted to try a new play area, that could provide opportunities for play that would be different than Root World. We preselected a space that we thought might encourage children to build shelters, forts, or fairy houses. We eagerly welcomed children to Earthsong in the morning, and let them know we were headed to a new space. We hit the trail, and walked excitedly towards the play space. And then, we were reminded just how exciting new can be! The children saw a downed tree near the path that looked perfect for climbing up. It was not located at the new site we teachers had chosen, but it was definitely a new play space. The downed tree was on an incline, and as one child quickly observed, it was “wiggly”. Successfully climbing up it required balance and precise footwork. Each child who managed to scale to the top exuded pride in their accomplishment, and many children wanted to test their abilities multiple times!

Felix hard at work trying to fell a tree.

In another area of our new play space, children discovered several dead trees that were still standing. These “snags”, as they are called, are often the homes of many different kinds of organisms and are an important part of a healthy forest. The children were interested in them because they could bend some of them back and forth, and also use other sticks to “saw” the dead trees. They even found sticks of different shapes that could work as different types of saws. Each saw had a different name, and they eagerly showed me how they worked. As they did so, they began to notice ants climbing out from under the bark. We pulled off a few pieces of bark from a dead tree, and the children noticed “so many bugs!!” coming out of a hole in the tree. The tree was full of termites, and they were streaming out from the uncovered hole and crawling down the tree. I observed that it looked like a road they were traveling on, and the children agreed and then took my observation further. They pointed out how many different bugs we found at various areas of the dead tree, and that it was like the tree was a whole “town” or “city”! It was exciting to see the children discover how a dead tree can be like a city through their playful investigations in the forest!

There was an impressive amount of negotiation that went into these these four sharing tree access to examine the “bug roads” they had discovered. I can’t imagine such successful sharing if it the object of their fascination had been indoors, or human-made! The complexity and expanse of nature brings out the best in us all!

During a day of new discoveries, we did return to the familiar to round out our experience. Even the familiar can hold the potential for new play. At Root World, children took dirt showers and ventured further up the exposed root structure than last week. They are becoming more comfortable with immersing their bodies in the outdoors and with the physical abilities of their bodies. They also took a new interest in the spider webs the decorate the maze of roots, and took to twirling the webs around sticks, much like cotton candy. At one point, the entire group was playing together in an imaginary game of “hide from the dragons”. We discovered that the dragons ate leaves, and that it can be fun to play at being just a little bit scared, sometimes!

Sarah here writing this caption—-Amy is exhibiting one of the subtle skills of helping children “just play”. Knowing when to jump in and re-direct play and model social skills takes child-led education to the next level. When the dragons got TOO deep into their characters (as 4 year olds often do), Amy joined the game and helped the “deer” feel safe and empowered in the game as well!

When we wrapped up our day by placing new treasure on our almost familiar treasure tray, we teachers could see how the new and the familiar will begin to complement each other throughout our Forest Kindergarten experience. The new treasures on the tray made children excited, while the familiarity of a repeated activity resulted in children sharing more fully about their treasures than last week. As we continue forward, it will be this mix of the new and the familiar that will be where some of the most interesting learning occurs. And the outdoors will always bring us new, no matter how familiar we become, so we know we have a lot of interesting learning to do!

We ended the day with one of our closing rituals, giving children a chance to contribute an item to the Treasure Tray and share a story with the group.