"If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow
​ them to love the earth before we ask them to save it."
— David Sobel (Beyond Ecophobia)

This jumble of logs near our tipi (reminds me of the game 'pick up sticks') presents an interesting challenge to the kids each time we meet,being right on a path that either leads to the tipi or a 'hideout' spot. This week I realized that many of them are now scaling it with ease, woot woot! One of the principles of forest school--that children return to the same place over and over again--is alive right here! With so many opportunities to tackle the same problem, they're able to experience success and mastery. 

Ephemeral art--learning the practice of creating and letting go. Oh, how I enjoyed watching the careful selection of materials for this piece, the young artist learning about larch trees in the process, and revelling in the fall colours! 

The girls took great pride in their beautiful crowns, adorned with rosehips and snowberries...

 
Here are some children sitting in front of (yet another!) pretend campfire, this time 'roasting' apples on sticks and telling spooky stories. I feel like I say it every week, but this was a week of SO much imagining. Deeper into their play, more complex stories and astounding cooperation. 

Thanks to everyone who came to Canyon Park for our 'Family Fun Day.' The weather cooperated, and about 20 adults and kids came out to play. We enjoyed our hot apple cider, yummy popcorn and playing 'human knot,' 'tail tag' and hide and seek. We explored some collections of rocks, bones and feathers, and I was amazed at all of the questions that arose! 

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And who doesn't love a scavenger hunt? Everyone spread out around the park to collect smooth things, pokey things, animal things, letter-shaped things, cones and leaves and more...here they are spreading out their treasures for everyone to see. It was such a fun time, and we hope to see folks again in February for another Family Day (hopefully we'll have the fire pit back at the park by then!)

​ Hello!

Before this week began we made sure everyone would be prepared for rain, wind, storms--whatever Mother Nature might throw at us. I'm chuckling now, thinking back on how well the kids were dressed Tuesday morning (thank you, parents!!)--battened down in sweaters, rain coats, rain pants, gloves, wool hats...to greet one of the warmest, most beautiful days we've had yet. It was great preparation for Thursday, when the skies really did let loose. 

Even before we get to the forest, our mornings are active, We play running and jumping games to keep warm and be silly. Games are invented, constantly. Kids help tow the wagons. We balance on the slackline, sometimes. And then we hit the woods.... 

This week we were fortunate to have Kim volunteering, a local biologist who believes strongly in the importance of kids spending time in nature, imagining, climbing, learning as they play...A big thank you to Kim for bringing a collection of skulls for us to learn about herbivores and omnivores. Despite some initial 'I'd rather be playing' comments, the kids were quite interested to pass around the skulls, checking out jaw bones and teeth and the feel of smooth bone...

 
We continue to visit our special 'sit spots' most mornings, and this week introduced a candle to gather around after as children shared about their noticings...One child heard 'the ocean in the trees' and loved following a 'river of leaves' to get to her sit spot. Others enjoyed watching the clouds...

Active play follows quiet moments...a week of discovering new trees to climb around in, of chasing, running, and boisterous play. As facilitators we continue to notice the wide variety of types of play the children engage in. There is calm, 'sitting around' imaginary play, like pretend fires and there's pet doggy and doctor and vet and monsters and scary dinosaur and fishing with sticks. There is climbing around play to supervise closely and chasing play to keep up with.

 
​And there is play that we're continually reflecting on as facilitators, such as when sticks become guns or laser shooters or any other variety of imaginary weaponry. Besides our strict rules enforced (no poking, hitting, not in the tipi, no 'shooting' at someone if it bothers them), it is clear that the discussions and reflection with the children will be ongoing--is it bothering those around you? Do you have enough space around you to wave the stick? Would you like to make a target and practice aiming those sticks over here? Is that a 'water shooter' you have there? Can you help me put out this 'fire' with it? It is clear that boys (so far) just do this as part of their play (as any parent can tell you). At Nature School we're choosing to engage in ongoing discussion about this kind of play instead of enforcing a ban, as we believe that these kind of 'risk assessment' discussions will ultimately help the children to grow and make thoughtful decisions as they get older. 

"By it’s very nature this sort of play involves struggle, chase, competition, noise! It is often adrenaline -fueled play, there is a high level of thrill for the children taking part so it will be fast and loud. We cannot penalize children for that. If we accept that this sort of play is going to take place then we need to make provision for it..." (https://abcdoes.com/abc-does-a-blog/2017/03/11/i-hope-thats-not-a-gun/) 

And when the rains came, my camera disappeared (try managing 10 preschoolers romping in a driving rain and taking pictures?), except to capture two sweet shots of children deep in concentration as they practiced sewing. Over the cold/rainy months we'll have more quiet 'indoor' activities to offer the children if they feel like slowing down for a few moments. 

It's great to observe so much independence and growth developing in the kids.  During any given day their are many requests for help directed to the adults, such as 'I can't open this lid...' or 'can you help me put my pack on', and we are working on encouraging the children to help each other. 'Who can help Zoe with her lid?' 'Can anyone help with this heavy backpack?' and 'who would like to help pull this wagon?'  It's been a great week, and it's hard to say whose having more fun, us or the kids!  ​

'The big brown bear,
the big brown bear,
is sleeping in her cave...
The big brown bear,
the big brown bear,
is sleeping in her cave...
Please be very quiet (shhhh...)
Very, very quiet.
If you wake her,
If you shake her,
she'll get very mad!
ROAR....!!!!' 

Hello Nature School families! The weeks are flying by and we've been gifted with some beautiful weather. A gift as the kids adjust to being in the forest for the morning, waving goodbye to parents, learning to carry their own packs, keep track of their belongings, grow as a community of friends and mentors....before we know it, we'll be adjusting to winter gear, learning how to keep warm in the cold and exploring the a frosty forest...

Laurel Ewashen came to visit us on Tuesday, bringing her friend Raven, and a story about how our forest is like a garden. The children sure had a lot of conversation to add to Laurel's story. We love our enthusiastic bunch!! As she was leaving, we could hear Raven's cousins, the crows, calling out...

Last week was about construction--this week, deconstruction and transformation.  It's easy to get stuck on adult ideas about right and wrong--I felt uncertain and a little sad as our first lean-to shelter was 'deconstructed' with great enthusiasm, and had a good 'a-ha' moment as it was transformed into a 'wood shop,'  a campfire, a dinosaur hideout...Lo and behold, no one was upset (one of my worries) to see the shelter dismantled.

Thank you to Mr.Mitchell's Gr.6 class for being good sports, great mentors and role models for our young ones. The 20 'big kids' came down for a scavenger hunt, and armed with buckets, magnifying glasses and a list of things to find ('something shiny, something rough, something from an animal, a letter of the alphabet....) Small groups of big/little kids headed off into the forest, good vibes all around as there was very little shyness/hesitation from the Nature School kids. My heart was warmed to hear snippets of conversation ('Which cones do you like--should we take these or these?' and 'Can you help me pick some of these leaves?') Everyone shared their treasures at the end....Here's to more multi-generational learning/sharing with the Canyon School kids! I hope I didn't mortify them by asking them to be acorns... ) 

(make yourself small and round on the ground)

'I'm an acorn small and round,
laying on the cold, cold ground.
People always step on me,
That's why I have cracks, you see.
(Jump up and crack open!)
I'm a nut (rap on head). I'm a nut (rap on head. I'm a nut, I"m a nut, I'm a nut.

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Also this week, scary dinosaurs could be found roaming our forest. Kids started to help-- pulling the wagons across the field, with great energy and determination, and setting out mugs for tea. Bugs were spotted crawling on the tipi, enjoying the warm sun, and examined closely. Kids enjoyed looking at the animals in our new field guide, sparking all kinds of conversation.

​Here are some questions that might provide some sparks for your children about their week: 
What is Raven's name? (The Ktunaxa word for Raven...)
What kind of white berries does our group love to collect?
Can you sing the bear song?
What kind of treasures did you collect with the 'big kids' ? 

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If you haven't seen 'I Love Creston' this month, we're featured!

What a great second week of Nature School!

Tuesday brought about great excitement, as there was the surprise of a tipi waiting for us at our regular “base camp”.  The kids loved sitting on the stump stools inside the dwelling, smelling the cedar boughs that lined the floor, and looking up and around to notice all the shapes the structure was made of (triangle, circle, cone).  We talked about how the door faces East towards the rising sun, and shared with the curious children about the First Nations people.  Their faces lit up as we sang each of their names in our welcome song, and then it was time to go out into our forest and explore.  

The kids were content to stay close to our base camp and we saw imaginations expand with lots of collaboration and focused play; one group was digging and working out how to raise their own tipi out of sticks; another group spent a good hour tying rope lines between trees, creating a giant spiderweb.  It takes a lot of concentrated effort and patience to tie (invented!) knots and join rope lines with others, with a few superhero interactions along the way! 

​​Other children were busy balancing on rocks and logs while reaching into the bushes to collect snowberries and elderberries into their buckets (not eating these kinds), content to just enjoying the meditative act of collecting and picking.  Yet another group of young explorers headed out on a bear hunt!  At our closing circle, Lois shared her spider collection and we played our bear den game which is already a favourite with the children (ask them about it!)  

​Thursday had very different energy than Tuesday.  The sun was out and we sure played hard!  Our day in the forest opened with circle time in the tipi and the forest salad/morning name game; we are still learning each others names, but despite this new friendships are emerging each session.  We introduced a new routine called“sit spot”, where each child picked their own special spot in the forest (within sight of us, but apart from others) and sat quietly for 2 minutes with eagle eyes, coyote ears, and noses like a bear, silently observing their surrounding.  We loved hearing afterwards about the joy of discovering tiny creatures around them, birds singing nearby, the sound (and curiosity!) of rustling leaves, and using their imaginations as they reported such events as eagles playing tag overhead. 

​The kids were keen to really go out into the forest on Thursday, and one group spent much time and hard work on building a stick lean-to shelter, with kids bringing sticks of various lengths from all over, leaning them up against the frame, while others were simultaneously building pretend campfires, collecting snowberries, and helping 'weave' in fir needle branches to cover the walls...this project went on for a good long time!  Meanwhile another group went to a different area of the forest to weave another spiderweb out of ropes and happened to witness two squirrels playing tag, which led to trying out our own “squirrel chatter” with the animals in the tree seeming to talk back!
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​The children are becoming very comfortable with their forest trails and junctions, and already growing leaps and bounds in independence.  As they explore more areas of the forest we will continue to discuss “how do we play safely/have fun while being able to see each other and an adult?”  Thanks for all your parental support, enthusiasm, and feedback, we love spending this special time with your kids immersed in nature.  See you Tuesday! 
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