Engineers at Work
Recently I read an article about the importance of fort building. Kids learn problem solving skills (“How do you make the corners stronger?”) and they practice using their motor skills! (tying string). Well, this week in Forest Dreamers our children got to complete a structure that they started the previous week using materials they found in nature! (minus the string)
What started as a project for a few children became a group project. We hiked to the sunflower meadow collecting strong sticks for the corners. As we walked across the meadow, children gathered dried out stalks for the walls and roof. When we arrived at the side, several children took shovels and started digging holes while another collected rocks to help reinforce the corners.
This truly was a group effort! We had scarfs that became roofs. Several children collected flowers to decorate the finished structure. Sadly, the wind on Monday was proving to be to strong and after a group shot inside the structure, we reenacted the “Big Bad Wolf” and everyone participated in “huffing and puffing and blowing the house down!”
Our furthest trek yet!
Our children can become VERY comfortable in the Glen. This is fine with us but they had expressed an interest in visiting some water today. Knowing that this would entail a hike, we gathered our crew together, sang our good morning song, and set off for the back ponds.
We were heading to the spongy kitchen! Only two of our children know the spongy kitchen and they were eager to share this place with their friends! As we approached the dock, the children were excited for snack and to begin exploring.
Everyone dropped their bags and set off in search of algae. It is all about the algae in this kitchen! The down from the cattails, when combined with algae, became some delicious pie.
Some phrases we heard today:
“The shapes in the water are like squares.”
“This is my boat and my moving thing!”
“Algae Pie!”
