Going camping is a highlight of many childhoods, add in a pajama and stuffy theme and you have a 'skies the limit' recipe for fun! After a full day of tenting out, campfire building, mayfly catching, scavenger hunting and marshmallows; your child might be asleep before you get this blog post. It was that AWESOME!
Many skills were reviewed and new ones introduced such as; using flint and steel to light a small fire, matching senses with a menu of instructions, storytelling, partner collaboration, and predator/prey relationships. Start out by asking for a demonstration of ‘direct register’ walking like Fox does. It’s tricky! In our opening games, skunk was on the defensive and used keen hearing to detect a silent stalker.
Off to our campsite where the kids divided up seamlessly into happy teams to set up tents. What was your particular tent design? How did you set it up? What materials were in the tent bag and how did they fit together? Each tent group had a unique vibe, even a mascot and name for their tent. Ask about your child’s tenting experience. What did they do inside and how was it special?
Fire lighting is a real skill, but keeping the fire going is the tricky part! Thanks Wolf for being a great wood collector, and hooray to our flint and steel group with so much patience in the process of getting that spark.
Just when we needed to stretch our legs, we set off on a sensory scavenger hunt. We are now so generous and kind with partner work, sharing the lead, helping younger ones, and focusing on the journey rather than the destination. Using our senses was familiar as we focused on all our senses last week in our poetry day. What were some of the things you needed to find using sight, sound, touch, smell and taste? Was there a prize for each section? YUMMY!
We took a break to check out the crayfish area and Chickadee caught a record-breaking sized crayfish. This is well worth a ‘fish that got away’ type story. How big was it really? Think back to our learning about crayfish, how old might this one be? Was it male or female? This might be worth some follow up research at home.
Back at the campsite it was time to add our experience to journals. Your child may want more time to add detail, colour, or include text about this experience. I would encourage writing a sentence or paragraph about our camp out day.
Closing up camp takes all hands on deck. We had the BEST group for this work and were loaded up for the trek back in no time. Thanks to Raccoon for all the help zipping up tent bags. It’s harder to put them in than take them out! Ask what is the last thing we need to do before leaving any campsite? (do a sweep for any trace we were there). Frog even kept track of time for us!
We always love seeing the funny collection of furry critters at the farm!
We say so long to BIG Raccoon for this year as he heads off to Saskatchewan to visit family. Daisy will be watching over us next week again. We couldn't do it without these caring volunteers!
Our final day of nature school 2022/23 is next week and we will celebrate with a western theme and loads of horse fun. We invite parents to come at 2pm for a personal tour and to say our final goodbyes.
You might notice some HUGE changes in the barn next week! Any guesses? Keep the camping spirit until next week Forest Friends:)
