A Day With Us   

🌻It is a sunny spring day and you roll into the parking lot at 10:30, excited to have some extra time to enjoy your coffee while the kids play on the playground. Slowly your Forest School Family trickles in within the next 45 minuets. The middle kids are playing on the merry go round, the youngest kids of the group are looking at bugs under the tree, and the preteens and teens are congregating in the pavilion to talk todays plans. You lay out on your blanket with your coffee having friends join you as everyone shows up. 

 

🪺Around 11:15 everyone is packed up again excited to go to the creek! The group walks through the tree grove - across the bridge -and down the path to the creek. It is boat racing day and most of the kids have made boats at home with recycled materials, even the teens join in and everyone spends the late morning sailing boats down the creek 

 

🐝Over time sailing boats turns into splashing around to cool off in the creek. Some of the older kids have made their way down the creek to look for fish and crawdads and another group is looking for fossils. After awhile the older kids return to show everyone a crawdad they find, it is very exciting! A question is asked, a parent pulls out a phone to google, we all take a moment to learn about crawdads as we take a closer look.

 

🌞The crawdad is returned safely to its home and many are now sitting on blankets eating picnic lunches, adults chatting as kids play. Some families with the youngest kids start heading back to the playground or home for naps but some stay , not ready to leave on such a lovely day. 

 

🌼The day turns even more relaxed as the kids settle into their own groups with friends, a small group stays tell 5:30 even after most have went home… enjoying conversation while the kids play tell everyone notices the time and hungry bellies ready for dinner. Time to go home !

🪶it is a chilly day and you roll in at 11:10 after a morning of trying to locate a coat. By the time you unload your stuff it’s 11:20 and todays leader is ringing the bell letting you know it is time to start the activity so you follow the rest of the group to the tree grove right away.

 

🪲Everyone drops the supplies they brought to share on a blanket, some kids deciding to get a group together for a hike instead of taking part in the yarn craft while others join the circle excited to craft. The leader of the day sends everyone to find the perfect two sticks and choose a yarn, your kids run back to you excited that they found two perfect sticks and their favorite color of yarn. 

 

🪨 The leader teaches everyone how to do the craft and you spend some time helping your kids do theirs, when you get hung up others help and soon all the kids who took part are running around showing their friends their creations . . After awhile the kids get up to go climb the Tree Den tree with friends and you decide to do the craft yourself now. Most the adults follow suit and soon your all crafting while cuddled under blankets. After awhile the hiking group comes back and goes to sit in the pavilion to talk.

 

 

🪵 The day is still very chilly and most of the kids are ready to go home by 1:30 today, excited for hot chocolate and a warm home. 

🍁You roll in around 10:30 with a coffee in hand and stretch out under the tree next to a friend watching as the little kids run around finding nuts on the ground. The older group congregates on the picnic table out in the tree grove in the distance and over time more people show up. It’s a pretty fall day and everyone lingers at the playground a tiny bit longer while some head to the pavilion to set up the nature class that is being taught today. It is one of those days where we do not start the activity tell 11:30 between deep conversations and a longer setup. 

 

🌾Soon everyone is called in and gathers around the picnic tables under the pavilion, they are covered in different examples of leaves with papers showing everyone what each type of leaf is. The leader for the day does a short lesson using her visuals and examples and the kids all ask a ton of questions. By the end of the lesson everyone, including the adults, are left feeling they learned a lot ! 

 

🐌Some of the kids are excited to put their new knowledge to use and a nature walk group is quickly formed, heading off to find all the leaves to ID. A preteen/teen group sets off to go work on their fort they have been working on. Another adult has offered to have a tree themed story around noon and most of the little kids stay behind to look at the tree books that were brought, listen to a story, play on the playground, or run around the fallen leaves in the tree grove. The rest of the afternoon is spent like that- different groups enjoying friends and outdoors in their own way.