Wednesday Forest School – Cole Harbour

Although we were sad to have had to cancel our Tuesday climbing program this week due to a winter storm, the storm left us with the perfect wintery day at forest school on Wednesday.

Once again we were able to break out the sleds and the hot chocolate and spend the day playing in the snow; Thanks to Halifax Rec we were even able to try out some snow shoes!

I think I speak for all the students when I say the snow we had this week was much better sledding snow – our junior leader was even able to get some air over a jump on her runs down the hill.

But these are wild children…and you simple can’t keep them out of the forest. After a few runs down the hill,one by one, students disappeared into the trees below. They discovered a few great climbing trees with large boughs shielding them inside the tree fort.

Thursday Forest School – Bedford

This winter has been great at teaching us to be grateful for what we have and that nothing lasts forever, in the three program days this week we had a snow cancelation, a day of fun in the snow and then we watched it all melt away during our Thursday program. Fortunately getting to spot a few animal prints before they disappeared.

This Thursday was a generous eleven degrees Celsius and sunny. It was the first day of winter programs for this class ; it was a perfect day to be welcomed back into this beautiful forest.

We had a smaller class than usual due to the season and other commitments our students have. We welcomed one new student to the program, as well as, welcoming back one of our junior leaders and their sibling – both who have been students with Wild Child for many seasons.

We spent the four hour program hiking our way to Charles Lake, where we spent the day playing in hammocks, smashing ice and exploring the area more.

It was a very laid back first day of school (the kind everyone wants). We spent the day learning more about each other and catching up on the months we spent apart.

Before the students were “released” to explore the area we all gathered to connect with ourselves, as a way to honour one of our three forest school values. We did this by all taking three breaths together as a group. I explain that this practice is like hitting the reset button – it doesn’t matter how their mornings went, if they had a good sleep or a bad sleep, however they are feeling prior to gets put aside and we get to all restart on the same page. Big belly breaths in through your nose, filling your belly like a balloon: count of four; deep sigh out through your mouth, making an ooo sound if you wish: count of four. Once we finish our breaths I softly remind the students to spend the day looking after their bodies: drink water to stay hydrated, eat when they are hungry, rest if needed and always trust their bodies with whatever they are doing.

Teaching children ways to reset how their bodies are feeling with breathwork will help teach them to regulate and express what they need. This practice is for all ages and I encourage all our readers to finish off this blog with three, large, feel good, belly breaths.

In through your nose

1…2…3…4…

out through your mouth

1…2…3…4…

(x3)

🙂 Remember to take care of yourself today