Tresca Weinstein, Author at Flying Deer Nature Center

A Forest Thanksgiving

On Tuesday morning, hearing we were going to head into the woods to build a shelter made the children screech with excitement! After playing a game of Blind Ninja, we headed up to camp to make a fire and eat a snack. Afterwards we headed into the woods to find a space to build a shelter—with one major challenge, to enter the woods blindfolded!

The children lined up with adults in front, behind, and on the side of them to help guide them safely. On our way we nearly bumped into a doe feasting in the forest. The children took off their blindfolds to observe the deer, only to realize it was the exact location where they wanted to build their debris shelter!

On the Trail of Deer

We started our week with tracking, tracking, and more tracking! The children have shown a strong interest in tracking animals this year, especially deer, as they are abundant and come close to us frequently. Many days, the children have had the opportunity to sneak up close on a deer munching on plants. Today we decided to track any animals we could find evidence of, and surely, deer showed to be the most interesting animal to follow!

Tending Little FireS

Our morning circle in Little Field was surrounded by new things to notice with our senses, from bird calls to new blossoms on shrubs that had survived the frost, to the sound of the creek slightly softer than last week. We sang our Good Morning Song to it all, moved our bodies around on the wet grass like so many animals (cat/salamander/snake/frog), whispered our gratitude into our hands and flung it into the sky, and played two raucous rounds of Fire in the Forest—both led by students—before heading to camp for snack time.

A Week in Spring with THE Woolly Bears

With the early flowers blooming, the bees buzzing, and the return of the sunshine, we had a fantastic week of learning and exploring! We started the week off on Tuesday with learning about the life cycle of a frog. Each child created their own life cycle with a cut and paste exercise, followed by a wander in the swamp to find the frog’s life cycle in real time. We found a cluster of eggs while we explored!

Roly Polys on stage!

Today the Roly Polys Forest K group joined up with the Woolly Bears! Our morning circle in Little Field felt HUGE, everyone was so full of energy, we sang a resonating Good Morning Song, we shared things we were grateful for and a movement to go along with it that everyone could do together, and we played a stellar game of Blob Tag!

Thanksgiving in the Forest

So grateful for yet another beautiful day for our outdoor programs and especially nice weather for our Thanksgiving Feast. It was a glorious day for a morning circle. All were comfortable and shedding layers even as the day was just beginning. Today was a day to acknowledge the land and the people that came before us, celebrate with a feast, and share some stories of our ancestors.

To start our circle off, we shared what we were grateful for, did a little movement to express that gratitude and sang a little song about gratitude. (Sensing a theme?) The riddle was a tough one today and eluded most of the kids until the end of the day.

Creativity everywhere!

Today we welcomed the day with gratitude and a silly song. Osprey led us in a game of fire in the forest before we split into guilds.

The coal burning guild continued work on their bowls. It’s hard work to finish a burn bowl but some of the older students helped out and everyone is on their way.

SATURDAY PUDDLES

We arrived at the Cobble this morning nervously looking at the sky and bracing ourselves for a day of wind and rain. Suited up in waterproof layers and wool socks, we tried to determine the depth of the huge puddle that now takes up most of the parking lot!

We came together for an opening circle, and decided to stay together for the day as a big group. We sang a rain song and figured out a silly riddle before heading up to camp.

Treetop Homeschoolers Make Fire!

We had some lovely time this morning in the teaching barn finishing our favorite plant projects and timing ourselves with the times tables. Isaac gave a riveting lesson about Hanibal defeating the Romans by sneaking up on them through the Alps on Elephants. The children finished off the morning with some games in the field and snack.

Then we headed out to our campsite where we carried stumps to complete our benches for the fire. Some kids helped drill the screws into the bench tops while others made leaf piles to jump in or tried out the vine swing by grandmother maple.

Crafting Guilds Begin

Today was the start of our crafting guilds. These 4-week focused morning sessions give everyone an opportunity to really get into a craft/skill and follow it through to a completed stage.

Today we had kids learning one of the oldest hunting methods, sling, accompanied with historical stories of their use around the world and fun games to learn how to use them. We also had folks wandering and gathering materials for both natural ink and paint and tinder materials.