Tuesday Homeschool Program – Cole Harbour
It was a spook-tascular day in the forest with the morning droplets tracing spiders web scattered in the treetops. On our walk to the look-off, to see what this wonky fall day weather would bring us on the oceanfront, we encountered a tunnel under the pathway and our favourite rock bridge. Today we also explored past our normal boundaries of the look off to extend down another trail. We weren’t able to go too far on this day, but the sporadic rock pathway made for a great game of “the floor is lava.”
We were also followed by little floating ferries (blue ash aphids) through our travels.
Once at the lookoff we were eager to set up the ninja line and swing the afternoon away. All students were eager to help setup the line and some students spent their day practicing their knot tying skills.
We are always so proud to see our students concentrating hard on a task and putting their new skills to practice. When’s the last time you’ve learned something new? Tie a knot lately? Give it a try – these kids would impress you!
Wednesday Forest Pups – Kiwanis Park
The ninja line has been such a hit lately with all the classes we figured we would bring it out again for another day to enjoy. On this particular day, it also doubled as a rain shelter when the skies completely opened up. The morning started out damp but we confidently spoke about the unlikelihood of dealing with rain… we spoke too soon. The last hour of camp sure was a wet one. Some students enjoyed running through the rain, but they all took breaks to make clay sculptures under our rain shelter.
If anyone knows how to make the most of a rain day its these tiny humans … oh and fungi.
Thursday Homeschool Program – Bedford
The ninja line Sega continues! This week was the first time this group has had the privilege to play on the ninja line, as the location isn’t ideal for lugging in such a heavy item. Through a little bit of compromising, we decided to spend our day at a new base camp (closer to the parking lot) , allowing for a whole new realm of adventures, and an easier access point to bring in the ninja line.
Hammock time was definitely a favourite on this day, as a new camp meant all new trees to hang from. Our students enjoyed making bunk beds and attaching their hammocks horizontally together (even perfecting synchronized summersaults from the tree tied sides in towards the center tie), and hanging river side.
But even with all these great benefits that this new site brought us, nothing quite compares to the pond. To paint you a picture, this site has two waterways running through it (within a supervise-able range). One with a small running stream that often has a frog or two ; the other being a small muddy pond – often empty in the summer months (note back to the mud monster of the summer, this was the same “pond” he played in).
Well when we came across this pond the urge to jump into it feet first from the little wooden bridge was the first thing on “Anaconda’s” mind! And so, full rain gear (though I don’t think it kept him very dry), he jumped into this pond, again and again and again! Slowly persuading another student to join.
Swimming in a pond the last week of October … not too often we can do that! … well comfortably.
PD Day – Bedford and Cole Harbour
Normally we spend our Friday’s in the woods with toddlers, but a few Friday’s a year we host PD day Programs. On this day we ran two programs, one in Cole Harbour and one in Bedford. The Bedford students spent the majority of their day working on completing the crows nest fort that the Thursday group started a few weeks back. Thanks to one of our students for his commitment to the project we were able to create a one person platform in the tree tops; assessable by rope and tree ladders.
I am most amazed on these students ability to work at a problem; independently and together. Every student was able to take out, attempt to put up, take down and fold away their own hammocks – without the help of any leaders. This is a tricky task for the younger age range of this class and we were very impressed; especially since many PD day students are often not “regular” students throughout the season so they aren’t given the opportunity to practice such skills.
The Cole Harbour class had just as much fun (questionably more) swinging and paddling in their hammocks. This full class had many friends new and old. The students spent the day hanging out , climbing trees and playing games.
Both classes on this day coincidentally had a student leave with an injury mid-day; reminding us of the importance of staying up to date on our first aid skills and that playing in nature always comes at some risk. Fortunately, both students recovered quickly and were eager to join us outside again at future dates.
Saturday Nature Explorers – Cole Harbour
We couldn’t have asked for a better end to October with our Saturday explorers and our first family hike!
It was a perfect day to wear your costume ( or not ) and spend the day with us in the forest. Many students were eager to try their hands at whittling some spears – its amazing to see how much these students have progressed in their tool use over the seasons.
And sometimes we just spend our time in the forest amongst the trees.
We finished this season by letting it all out … literally … just as the trees let go of all they have before their wintering, we ran into the end of the season with a powerful cry.
The game of “Spartan run” involves seeing who can run the farthest , yelling as loud as they can, on ONE breath. This game let out many screams of different pitches , and a gaggle of giggles.
What are you letting go of before your wintering begins? Maybe you need to try out a battle cry or two before you can be sure.
Saturday Family Hike – Cole Harbour
As the day, week and month came to an end here in the park we finished on a high note, hosting our first ever successful family walk. We met in the parking lot at Cole Harbour Heritage park in the early afternoon and spent about three hours touring the park and all the hot spots we occupy in our every day forest life.
During our hike we found a large (unoccupied) paper wasps nest, an eagle, some ocean creatures, many mushrooms and so many potato bugs! The walk was enjoyed by family members of all ages from multiple families; both previous and new wild children to forest school. With all that we discovered in such a short period of time I think the highlight of the day was the time the children spent climbing around on the iconic climbing tree.
We are so thankful for the families that are eager to join us in our adventures and are so excited to be hosting monthly family hikes on the last Friday of every month in the new year!
(keep an eye on our social pages and website for future information).