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Ant Tag and Hot Chagalate in the Forest

We enjoyed many kinds of activities and many kinds of weather today in Saturday Explorers! We began our day in the big field by sharing a word of gratitude and yelling it into the sky together, then stretched our bodies and did a few summersaults. We then stretched our minds with a riddle: What falls but never breaks, what covers but is not solid, what can you hide behind that is invisible? (The answer at the bottom of the page!).

Fire-Making and Skill-Building

Another beautiful day on the land at FOREST today! The Arctic Wolves started their day off with a fun fire challenge. Counselors had to start a fire blindfolded with only verbal assistance from non-blindfolded instructors. Amazingly, they were able to do it with just one match!

Then the kids broke into small groups to practice their fire skills. There was some success and some lessons learned along the way. They showed great teamwork, too!

Eagles and mosquitos, Cougars and Coyotes

Another frosty morning to chill our bones and get us winter ready! We made our way up to the frosted forest. As we hiked, we played “Camouflage!” The Cobblers have to scatter and hide in the forest before the eagle counts down to zero. They scramble to completely disappear from sight, round after round, hiding closer and closer to the eagle.

While a fire was lit, we sat down for snack and prepared for our flint and steel challenge! Student were broken up into four groups, and each had a chance to practice their flint and steel skills and get a fire together. Fires were lit with only a little bit of coaching and many successes.

A PACKED day in the forest

We were greeted today by clear skies, warm sunshine, and quite a few migrating hawks. To start off our Wild Ways morning, we shared a bit of gratitude with a partner and created a movement or pose to represent what we were grateful for and shared it with the group. Next, we practiced some positivity with the Yes Game, using only “yes” to encourage a student to complete different tasks. Before heading to camp, we warmed our bodies with a game of skink tag, in which students try to protect their bandana “tail” as well as steal tails of others.

Our Garden Grows

We’ve been really blessed by the weather on Thursdays this fall! Yet another beautiful autumn day today. Thank you for letting your child have the opportunity to spend it outside! We had fun with them today.

Our FOREST day started with some running tag games to get everybody moving. The children played Camouflague, learning and practicing different elements of camouflaguing like breaking up form, dead space, and sink and fade. They then played several rounds hiding themselves along the trail and instructors Black Walnut and Raccoon tried to find them. Many were not able to be spotted! The group also prepared a fire for lighting just before lunch, and Scout Sticks was played. Some students are catching on to this awareness game!

Meeting Trees at the Cobble

What a beautiful day in October. The sun was shining leaves and needles rained down from the trees and mushrooms filled the forest floor. We sang a morning circle song:

Let the sun shine down and warm my bones,
Let the birds and the bees come and take my clothes,
I’m a wild one now, made of wind and rain,
I’m wild and I ain’t coming back again!

A new Wild Semester Begins!

Our first day of Wild Ways was soaked in beautiful sunlight. Some students got a crash course in dogbane processing for cordage in the morning, a skill we will continue to develop (or teach for those who don’t know how yet). After introduction and our sendoff, we got some energy out in the field with a game of skink tag. Skink tag is based on the defense mechanisms of skinks, dropping their tail. It’s a great game of agility and awareness.

Turning Lemons, Lilacs, and Ivy into lemonade

In the morning, our FOREST groups fanned out to collect plants for a delicious cool drink to create for parents’ visits later in the day. We used Lilac flowers, Mint, and Ground Ivy from the land, then sliced lemons and filled the jugs to “sun brew” over the course of the day. We also added maple syrup that we had boiled down at the start of the semester, when only the first hints of Spring were upon the land.

Gratitude At Semester’s END

We are officially done with the Spring FOREST Semester! Wow, it went fast! It was not too long ago that we were boiling down maple syrup and still feeling the nip of frost in the air, yet today we were sipping on Lilac Lemonade.

The Spring semester has been full of great experiences, great camp crafts, lots of naturalist discoveries, and our epic campout! This group has been full of energy and wonder.

WANTED: INVASIVE PLANTS

Today we spent time tending the land, with a Wild West twist! Sheriff Wood (that’s Josh) handed out wanted posters for a few outlaws (invasive plants, to be precise). Barbara Berry and Colonel Garlic Mustard were wanted dead or alive—but preferably dead.