All Middle Years – Groups

Landmark #11 (Celebrate Each Season)

As the snow fell gently…where do you think we rushed to? “Let’s go check on the garden!” said B, her friends rushing behind her. The friends had noticed so many things changing in our yard with the snow-our puddle had grown again, the mud was more slippery, the butterfly garden looked as if it has been painted by a delicate white brush. I love that the friends were so eager to check on their beloved garden. Clearly they treasure this place, and will watch it carefully, even over winter months.

BabblingKids – Oct 27/20

Landmark #10 (Grow and Eat Food)

Today we used our senses to explore and plant garlic! How excited we were to visit the garden with a task in this chilly weather. How interesting that we can plant a new food at this time of year. This made us very curious! We dug and planted-we are very good at sowing seeds as you know. The soil was cold and we worried about our sweet little garlic bulbs being cold over the frozen season that approaches. We covered our plantings with a layer of smooth, delicious, dry straw. The potent smells of the garlic juxtaposed the sweet aroma of the honey coloured hay. The garlic made our faces crinkle up! As we carried the hay we buried our faces in the prickly but cozy material. The friends were proud and purposeful as the transported this blanket to their new garlic patch. What a wonderful way to spend our morning!

BabblingKids – Oct 26/20

Landmark #9 (Special Outdoor Place 2x/Month)

We love our path so much and visit it every day to see what we can discover! Yoyo gave Brookey a special observation guide for our trail and we have been enjoying using it to enhance our quiet adventures! Today our explorations began with a “nature noise scavenger hunt”. We closed our eyes and listened to chickadees, the winds song, and the hum of fall. What a peaceful way to begin!We followed our guide to identify leaves, moss, lichen and mushrooms. Hughey and Brookey were so careful to observe each treasure closely using their magnifying glass. Brookey undertook the important task of mapping out her trail! How wonderful to see her focus as she drew the Apple tree, the hill, the blue jay we saw, the leaves we observed.

BabblingKids – Oct 23/20

Landmark #10 (Grow and Eat Food)

We are reaping the rewards of our hard work! Whenever we are feeling hungry, we just pop over to our garden and grab a cucumber or carrot! It has been such a wonderful process watching the children all engage in the watering and weeding. And now everyone can enjoy these crunchy snacks!
BabblingKids – Aug 12/20

Landmark #12 (Nearby Plants and Animals)

Today we wandered in a new part of the forest off our trail…the moss was like a pillow and the breeze offered a peaceful melody as we balanced on squishy logs which housed many bugs and grubs. I love walking behind the group as they navigate and move through the forest, allowing each of them to take a turn in leading the up way. We searched for fairies and magic filled the air. P found a beautiful black feather and we wondered who had been so kind to as left it for us. We spotted mushrooms lots of holes in trees. Surely these findings were more proof of what we sought.
BabblingKids – Aug 12/20

Landmark #9 (Special Outdoor Place)

We visit our fort each day! It’s a very special place to us, as it provides such wonderful opportunities to problem solve as we build and engage in dramatic and imaginative play.
BabblingKids – Aug 10/20

Landmark #13 (Travel a Familiar Route)

On our adventure today we; navigated themselves through a familiar path independently, said hello in quiet observation to a beautiful fledgling they found on their journey, stopped to identify flowers and plants using their flower reference book, and celebrated this wonderful wild space that they visit each day together by using watercolour to illustrate the various types of crab and wild apples they found along the way.
BabblingKids – Aug 4/20

Landmark #4 (Favourite Outdoor Place)

Our favourite place? The most perfect climbing tree! This beautiful cedar tree offers us shade, a challenge an opportunity to play freely with our muscles and imagination! The children have become best friends with their climbing tree! It greets them each day with open arms and they thank it with joyful play.

BabblingKids – July 24/20

Landmark #1 (Explore Outdoors Together)

Biking is our new favourite way to get to our forest fort! This is a new skill and a new way to see the world. I can’t wait until our littlest friends begin to learn biking too. What wonderful adventures await!

BabblingKids – July 28/20

Landmark #11 (Celebrate Seasons)

Today we welcomed August by enjoying local corn, we husked and cooked ourselves. We used the husks to create lovely little corn husk dolls. What a wonderful seasonal activity that reminds us to waste not want not! Our creations will provide us with endless hours of imaginary fun, and allowed us to practice our tying and weaving skills.

BabblingKids – August 4/20

Landmark #2  (Animal Friends)

The most magical thing happened today! These tiny legs travelled all the way to Jackson Creek to see what we could find. We love visiting our own forest each day, but travelling somewhere new is a wonderful adventure too. On the way we spent many moments watching a momma Monarch feast on delicious milk weed. “She will leave her babies and die, but her babies will fly soon.” said H. How amazing that such tiny humans understand the circle of life with such precision and explain it in such simplicity.

BabblingKids – July XX/20