Tresca Weinstein, Author at Flying Deer Nature Center

Roly Polys Cider Pressing Day!

On this fine autumnal day, we had our morning circle in Big Field, under the warm morning light, and sang our Good Morning Song. Red Oak helped us tune our senses into the elements, feeling the warmth of the sun on palms and closed eyelids, seeing if things smelled different with our faces turned towards or from the sun; when we knelt down to feel and smell the damp morning grass, we wondered if maybe the smell of dew could be called the smell of sunshine!? River Otter led us in a call and response song of deep gratitude—with the promise it would play into our lunchtime story. We had a game of Bat & Mosquito(es), which some students remembered from springtime: Red Oak and River Otter took turns playing the bat, who is blindfolded and has to rely on echolocation (“Bat!”) to locate the fleeing mosquitoes (“Mosquito!”) and eat them up!

Week One! Rain, Games, Sit Spot Cookies & Journey Sticks

What a wonderful first week of Forest Kindergarten! We had a lot of fun exploring our Woolly Bear site and getting to know each other, making new friends. After creating their wish rocks, the children found special places to keep their rocks as an offering and a way to have a piece of home to comfort them. We visited Grandmother Maple and heard the story of how the maple saved all the animals of the forest.

Gratitude and Friendship at semester’s End

We have been packing in so many special moments these last few weeks! At the beginning of the week, instructors Raei and JJ both set intentions for leaving lots of space for friendship and being present to these final days together. Those intentions really guided our time together and allowed for a very special week together. For these young children, and in the greater context of living through a pandemic for the last two years, it feels more important than ever to support their social and emotional growth and the precious gift of friendship, especially after a time of so much separateness.

Harvesting wild edibles

This week was the perfect alchemy of warm spring weather and rain. That special combination that really makes the spring buds burst and flowers come to life. We continued our wild edible interest from last week with a focus on an equally beautiful and delicious wild food: violets!

On Tuesday morning, we noticed the dandelions had finally sprung to life and offered our gratitude to a clump growing in the middle of our morning circle. It was a sweet scene watching each child come up and tenderly whisper their thanks to these cheery spring flowers. Gratitudes are such a grounding part of starting our days and it’s always fun to see what new types of practices we come up with throughout the year.

Kites, salamanders, and Kelpies

Our day began and ended with breezy overcast conditions, and as luck would have it, that’s just what was needed to kick our day off with some kite-flying! The winged contraptions were up and soaring as some campers watered our plantings from a few weeks back, and others investigated turtle-shell rattles and tiny drums.

In our morning circle, we whispered our gratitude to our neighbor, and around the circle it went in utter silence. Then we sang a new song, and a couple campers volunteered improvised verses. We were surprised with some amphibian field guides and introduced to what would be our adventure for the day, and we played a game called Amphibian Freeze Tag, where all of us little frogs sought to escape the forced hibernation of winter (and could be “thawed” by the hug or high-five of another frog).

Teamwork and Tool work

Have you noticed the chorus of critters singing in the swamps and marshes these days? All week long from our campsite we could hear the call of the peepers living on Fairy Island and the hiccup-like croak of the zombie Wood Frogs. This time of year is so exciting! The rain and next week’s warm weather mean the plants and buds are going to start popping! Our spring curriculum is guided by these changes, and we’ll be following the rhythm of the season with our upcoming projects and explorations including wild edibles, bird language, and amphibian life cycles, to name a few.

Deer Ears, Fox Feet, and Soggy Worms

The weather today proved typical of March’s twists and turns, and gave us Roly Polies (the Thursday Forest K group) a sometimes chilly, somewhat damp, but ultimately rain-free overcast day. As campers arrived some immediately set out to practice their balancing skills along the fence, and some self-organized pocket games of chase or tag, warming up for the day!

The 3 Rs: Respect Yourself, Others, and the Earth

The 3 Rs guide how we play, learn, and treat each other at Flying Deer. They stand for: Respect yourself, Respect Others and Respect the Earth. Early Tuesday morning, we asked the Woolly Bears how many earths there are and they exclaimed, “One!” We told them they have an important job as earth guardians and the 3 Respects can help guide them on their journey.

The Woolly Bears can be a microcosm for the type of culture and relations we hope to embody in the world. The culture of respect we build together here has the possibility to imprint an important sense of belonging, acceptance and care our world sorely needs.

Maple Fest!

Have you heard the Red Winged Blackbirds yet? Perhaps you may have seen them hanging out in the marsh on top of cattail stalks? Either way, they are telling us that spring is here! Say hello to bare feet on the land once again!

This week was Maple Fest! During the morning circle, we made a giant maple tree formation. Some students created our heartwood, others the sapwood, some parents and students created our cambium layer, and others created the phloem and outer bark! When our counselor Violet came around as the sun, the sap started moving! And as the sun left and temperatures dropped we all began to freeze again.

Learning Knife Safety

What a beautiful spring day! The air was full of excitement and the warming signs of the changing season. The kids were generally some level of wet all day!

We started our day playing around in winter’s last bounty in the big field—laughing and playing and happy to be back all together for the spring semester. We made our way to Little Field for morning circle. After our song and some animal forms, we finished our circle off with a game of Terror of the Stump, where ants try to steal food from the fast and territorial tiger beetles stump. If they don’t move fast enough, they get paralyzed until an ant friend frees them.