How many of us really hone our senses like the pigeon who detects the earth’s magnetic field. Kids love to engage their spidey senses in games like predator sneak. We place a blindfolded prey in the middle of a circle of trees (kids) and choose a predator to point with hunting intention at the prey. The prey circles around and tries to point towards the threat. Interesting way to stretch our senses. Ask about your child’s experience in the game, could they find the danger lurking in the forest?
Kids come alive in big spaces. They love to seek out objects in an open ended way like: find something with a texture, smell, colour or that gives you a happy feeling. Exploration awakens our brains and strengthens that sixth sense, intuitively finding our way and being aware of the world around us. Looking inward also helps us develop outwardly in terms of social skills like trust, empathy, as well as cooperation and teamwork.
Our hunt today used sensory words and left so much up to the imagination. Teams listened for harmonious or interesting sounds, objects which smell or have a pleasing texture. We loved hearing the conversation during this wandering journey about topics like what was really the most fascinating colour to add to the collection. See if your child can describe all six things they found, and why they were chosen. Praise the use of ‘juicy’ words (prickly) and have them match the object with one of their senses. Wandering brings about new discovery.
There is a huge spruce tree that came down in a storm. This was the perfect place to practice our camouflage skills to avoid the large raptor swooping along the flyway. Hiding is our way to practice for upcoming sit spot reflection time, where quiet and stillness brings the forest around you to life. Request a retelling of this game, did you get caught, where did you hide, what made this easy/hard for you?
You don’t often get to describe the library as a sticky place, but today we did! Mrs. Eastman was prepared with maple syrup boiling on the stove and fresh snow in the fridge. There is a story to tell here, so see if you can get all the details. Thanks Mrs. Eastman for dreaming up this yummy activity and sharing another beautiful story by Jane Yolan. We also just love to hang out with a friend and enjoy books in our favourite library space!
No snowy winter day is complete without tobogganing. This afternoon it was truly a team sport; who made the longest run, speed bump, wondering trail through spruce trees, or most people on the toboggan. Such happy sounds and rosy cheeks today. Ask about this part of our day to get the ‘kid version'. I'm sure it will be so much more fun than the adult one!
Back to the hall to build up our vocabulary around making maple syrup. Our game of concentration led to matches between pictures and words. Here is the list for those away to add to their journals. Next week, more about the equipment used and the inside story of the tree. We look forward to making a human tree with all parts working together to move sap from roots to branches and leaves. This process is a very tasty one and filled with learning about changing states of matter!
Can't wait to see you again around the snowy pond Forest Friends:)
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