Burrowing Owls, March 29

The Burrowing Owls have expressed an interest in learning survival skills so watch for a series of survival themed challenges and activities over the coming weeks!

This week we started off with shelter building, imagining that the Owls had gotten lost on a hike together and had to build a shelter with limited resources. Together they worked out roles within the group and began building a shelter that they could all sleep in during a storm. They tried out several different ideas and updated their plan as they worked. Stay tuned for next week when we will test how water and wind proof the construction is!

After a lot of building we had a debrief about who took the lead in the group and how everyone felt about the roles they were playing and the ways they were working together. The group gained insight that they appreciate it when they have a plan and someone takes charge to help them work toward it, while recognizing that everyone wants to contribute ideas and be heard.

We played some new old and new games and made sure we had time for our carving sit spot at the end of the day, although everyone wished we had more. We've been surprised and pleased by how much each child enjoys having time to work independently on their carving project - it's great to notice how much we all benefit from solitude in nature!

Connecting questions

• What do you hope to see happen with the shelter building next week? How do you want to contribute?

• Did you like the mouse hunt game and do you think it needs more predators or a different change in the rules to be balanced?

• What are you working on in your sit spot?