Forest School

Our first forest school experience of the new year presented us with our first frosty temperatures. Decked out in our finest cold-weather layers, complete with hats and mittens, we traveled back to our familiar Cliveden location. With the sun shining bright in the winter sky, everybody managed to stay warm while they explored the changes brought by the new season.

As always, there were plenty of new experiences to be had. The kids started by searching for the most interesting frost-covered leaves and soon moved on to erecting a new and more tent-like tarp shelter among the trees. Some highlights from the rest of the morning included the discovery of a dead squirrel that was frozen solid, the creation of a map of the area complete with names of the various locations provided by the children, and our second round of learning how to use the hand saw and hand drill. After our noon-time sharing circle we headed back to school for lunch, though several children were still so enraptured with the place and their activities that they would have stayed all day if they could have.

The kids investigate patches of frost on the ground.

Setting up a new form of tarp shelter

Hot tea from the thermos

Changing layers

The kids find a dead, frozen squirrel.

Making our first map of Cliveden

The kids add new locations, names, imagery, and color to the map.

Skye and Joan use the saw.

Gil getting the hang of using the saw.

Izzy and Joan use the hand drill on a newly sawed wooden disc so that it can be strung on a necklace.

Nyasiah could saw discs all day.

Zion has a turn.

Dontrelle kicking up "sawdust" as he learned to call it.

Sylvie and Skye map out "Middle Tree," one of the new locations to be included on our map.

Turtles all the way down?

Our last forest school experience of 2015 also marked our first time in the Wissahickon valley, or the "real wild" as some of the children put it. Surrounded by woods and boulders on a fairly mild December morning, we made our way from the drop-off location down to the creek. Upon arrival at base camp, the children lost no time in finding things to do. Literally within seconds the children were captivated by the shallow flowing water and rock-covered shoreline. Some of them quickly discovered how their rubber boots allowed them to stand in the water without getting wet, though there were varying degrees of success in using this technique. Others got to work building things in the sand, and a giant boulder turned into a slide. Another activity that emerged was skipping stones across the creek. Several of children got the hang of it and watched as James' mom, Louise, found the perfect stone and managed somewhere near a dozen consecutive skips.

After a snack break complete with hot tea from our new thermos, we all left the creek and headed up towards the woods for a hike. Just as we were getting started, two horses and their riders crossed our path, and we had a chance to greet the massive creatures up close. As we continued on, many of the children found walking sticks to carry or drag with them. After noticing the marks the sticks made on the trail it was discovered that if you spun around with the stick on the ground it made a perfect circle, much like a compass on paper. Leaving behind several circles, we took a turn onto a smaller trail that led us up higher and away from the creek. After an impromptu break for some rock climbing and to look at some bugs we continued on for about 1.5 miles in total, looping back around to base camp for lunch. We concluded our day with a sharing circle, and after some last-second splashing at the water's edge, we headed back out of the valley to be picked up.

It is truly amazing to watch the growth among the children. Their curiosity and drive to explore have only strengthened over the past few months. I am constantly surprised how engaged the children become in the activities they choose to pursue, and how eager they are to dive into something new. This first trip to the Wissahickon was also the first forest school experience with genuine discomfort for some of the children, which provided a unique opportunity for genuine learning. Getting through this discomfort took some patience and trust in the adults as they demonstrated how to respond to being damp and cold while out in the woods, but by the end of the day, the children's fortitude had surpassed my expectations as I saw the smiles on their faces and listened to them reflect in their own words on their experiences. I look forward to all the good things to come in the new year.