Squirrels, Oct. 2nd

The Squirrels were challenged with bringing a large hula hoop to our spot. It was tricky. They negotiated different roles and had to work with their bodies to not go too fast or too slow. Once at the top we settled down for a snack and a quick game of 'Would You Rather' before reading, 'The Bear's New Friend'.

Ready to move we played a few old and a few new games. We played Ferret, Ferret, Fox - a forest school version of Duck, Duck, Goose. We played our Hawk and Squirrels game and we learned a new game that was a hit called Forest Fire. Kellen particularly liked the game and could have played all afternoon!

The squirrels were busy today and had lots of energy so we set up the slack line. They practiced walking by themselves and then in groups. They also had some balancing games of who can stay on the longest. We also set up the hammock, which was used for acrobatics and a quiet game with stuffies.

Bringing attention to the tool circle, we worked for the first time with knives. For many this was a new skill and we went over safety rules and techniques. The Squirrels worked on whittling a stick and some went on sanding their stick and then wrapping it with wool. Something we will continue next class. We also worked with saws and explored the different tools in a Swiss army knife. Priya, Ariya and Soren were particularly helpful in taking out nails from our styrofoam blocks.

We had lots of help for clean up and even some keen volunteers who wanted to load up the wagon. Thank you to the Squirrels!

Once we had cleaned up we settled down for our beading debrief and shared with each other some of the emotions we felt before class, in class and after class. These guys are so good at expressing their feelings. The conversation was mostly about how feelings can change from nervous or angry to a good feeling and how sometimes we feel angry when we are nervous. It is amazing to see a group of children this age speak so eloquently about their feelings and how much they can feel in one 2.5 hour class.

We look forward to our next Squirrels class. Remember we have no class next Monday, Oct. 9th for Thanksgiving.