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We worked on looking closely at nature in the morning, gathering sticks and rocks and making patterns that the kids then recreated on their own.

We went to the Norski Trail and worked on using trees to build shelters. The children learned how to build winter shelters for warmth, and to build the opening on the east side to avoid weather and storms that come from the west. We talked about different kinds of trees and how to identify them, especially aspens and conifers. Six super hikers went around the whole loop while the rest of the group did a shorter hike and had fun playing and building shelters in the forest. We talked about the first, second and third succession within an ecosystem. This is when a disturbance like a fire or logging happens  – small plants and bushes are the first to grow back when a disturbance occurs,  aspens come next, and then conifers.   We saw cattle grazing on the trail and in the forest!

At the end of the day, the children reflected on what they had learned about trees.  We also talked about old and new friends, particularly our buddy from the day. It was a wonderful day!

Today both groups went to the Santa Fe Ski Basin. Despite the cloudy, cold weather, the Otters enjoyed playing in the stream and making their nature journals. The Bobcats wandered into Adventure Land where they explored caves and other exciting features. We ended the day with an exciting cow siting near the vans! Moooooo!

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Today we went to the wonderful Rancho de las Golandrinas! We enjoyed visiting the old colonial buildings, which included a mill, a blacksmith, a schoolhouse, and a traditional 16th century colonial house.

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Today we discussed shelter building (you want the opening to face east, how to build different structures and what situations those structures would be best). We headed to the trail and talked about the different floods that have been happening and learning about the land becoming hydrophobic. At the trail we hiked to our lunch spot and then practiced building lean-tos and teepees. This was so much fun and it was amazing to watch all the teamwork and imagination involved in the building. It began to thunder so we decided to head back to the vans. All the kids packed up and hiked out quickly – we were very impressed! Back at the museum we had a closing circle and played games with our buddies which was a wonderful way to build friendships! It was great seeing how much more comfortable all the children were today after spending more time together, playing together, and working together!

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Today was wonderful! We had a circle to discuss how we all want to act at Mountain Kids (leave no trace, safety first, and having fun)! Each kid traced their hand print on our group contract to show their agreement. Then we headed off to the ponds. We hiked in and sifted through the ponds looking for aquatic macroinvertebrates. We played games like camouflage and looked at fossils. We saw a red tailed hawk! Then we learned about beavers reading stories, talking about their adaptations, and even dressing two of the kids in beaver costumes! It was a great day.

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After our morning games and general drop off hub bub, we made a circle to discuss our day. We spoke about poison ivy (leaves of three, let them be), and about being careful with unknown plants. Then we spoke about maps.

We split into teams of 4 (two otters and two bobcats). Each team was given a map of the childrens museum with different areas highlighted. They had to use the map to find each location and collect an item at each location. Once they collected all the items, they got to have snack and a small prize!

We loaded up and drove the beautiful drive to Rio en Medio. We hiked to the river, ate, and then split into two groups: the super hikers who wanted to go all the way to the waterfall, and the river play group that wanted to play more than hike. The hikers headed off and the players went on a short hike to look at butterflies, stick bugs, lizards, wildflowers, and play in the river. They had the option of doing watercolor painting or games, but mostly they wanted to build dams (that were destroyed at the end) and play in the water. The hikers made it to the waterfall. They had a little time to play and then hiked back. We all met back up at the end to hike the remainder of the trail together!

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We began the day with some team building games and a circle of thanks. We read a book about giving thanks to the earth and our resources and went around the circle sharing what we were thankful for. Then we had snack and loaded up the vans! The Bobcats went to Base Camp (Katie’s property). Base camp is fully equipped for all kinds of outdoor fun including shelter building, slack line, archery, hiking, and making art projects! The Otters went to Shidoni. The open fields of grass with beautiful big sculptures also created a great setting for a lot of games and art. They used pencils and watercolor to paint the statues, and played games like ‘night at the museum’ and ‘frog detective’ as well as tag and hide and seek. We also played in the river bed, which, sadly, is all dry. The kids didn’t mind and jumped right in to dig in the mud and build with mud and rocks. It was a wonderful, cool summer day!