foraging in the forest summer camp

Repetition is Good!

Why Repetition Matters in Nature-Based Learning

At Mountain Kids! camp, you might notice that certain themes, stories, and activities reappear from year to year—like building survival shelters, exploring insect habitats, or learning how to purify water. This repetition isn’t just tradition—it’s intentional, and it plays a powerful role in your child’s development.

Here’s why children thrive when themes and experiences repeat in outdoor education:

1. Familiarity Builds Comfort and Confidence

Returning to a familiar story or activity—like hiking a beloved trail or learning how to whittle—gives children a sense of security. In nature, where so much can change with the weather or season, predictable rhythms help children feel grounded and safe.

2. Mastery Through Repetition

Each time a child revisits an activity, they deepen their understanding and build new skills. Whether it’s identifying birdsong or safely using hand tools, repeated practice allows campers to grow more capable and confident each year.

3. Deepening Learning Over Time

Nature is a rich teacher, and repetition gives children the chance to notice more details with each encounter. A frog pond visited last year becomes a deeper source of curiosity this year, revealing new layers of learning as their brains and interests develop.

4. Emotional Connection and Joy

Familiar activities carry emotional memories. Singing the same campfire song or walking the same morning trail evokes joy, creates traditions, and builds a lasting bond with the natural world.

5. Pattern Recognition and Seasonal Awareness

Repetition in nature—like watching leaves change color each fall or tracking animal tracks in the snow—helps children recognize natural cycles. These patterns foster ecological awareness and support early scientific thinking.

6. Lifelong Learning and Transferable Skills

As children repeat and refine their outdoor experiences, they begin to apply what they’ve learned to new situations—understanding how weather affects different ecosystems or how teamwork improves a group project. This generalization is key to lifelong learning.

In Nature, Every “Repeat” Is a New Discovery

Even when we revisit the same activities, nature ensures that no two experiences are ever exactly alike. With each return, children notice something new, grow a little more, and deepen their connection to the world around them. That’s the magic of learning through repetition—especially when it’s rooted in the rhythms of the natural world.

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Willow: Early Buds for Bees, and Sustenance for Many

By Carmen Harris

As we begin our warm-cold dance & windy journey toward spring you will inevitably notice periods of time when the weather is so fine and fair that our bees can be seen flying about in search of sustenance. I’ve already noticed them on our warm days sipping on the resin of wood that I’ve been cutting while I work outside, doing their best to seek whatever they can during this ‘fallow’ time in the plant world before buds break open in Spring. What are the early foods that our bees can eat to sustain themselves at this time of the year? 

Willow, one our earliest budding shrubs, will open their catkins or ‘pussy’ buds at the end of February to early March, displaying delicious pollen for our bees to sup on. Beekeepers will often place their hives of bees near stands of willow for early foraging and for the health and wellness of their hives.

Let’s take a wee look at the willow who so kindly buds early for our bees. The term “pussy willow” refers to several species of willows that get furry gray catkins. Generally, the first spring “pussy” buds, often have a lovely silken, soft grey fur about them – like a cat or a rabbit. Later, the fur disappears and is replaced by either male or female flowers, depending on which type of plant you have. Pussy willows are dioecious, meaning there are both male and female trees. Although only the male flowers produce pollen, both sexes produce nectar.

In New Mexico we have a common willow known locally as ‘Coyote willow’ or ‘Sandbar Willow’ (Salix exigua). You have most likely seen, played with and hidden coyote willow along ditches, riverbanks, and historically, underneath cottonwood trees around Santa Fe and other parts of New Mexico.

Children at Mountain Kids! will have interacted with coyote willow at the Upper Canyon Road Preserve and along the Santa Fe river. 

Coyote willow is a special habitat for many critters, one being the Willow Fly Catcher. It is also browsed avidly by deer throughout the winter, and to some extent by sheep, goat, rabbit and cattle, in summer and early fall. Beaver also eats the trunks of willow, along with those of cottonwood, gnawing the inner bark or cambium as food, and placing the sticks as parts of dams or lodges. 

Coyote willow roots freely from cuttings when put straight in water or into damp soil. I like to carefully and considerately cut a few new shoots with tight buds on them in early February, place them in a vase or jar and observe the buds opening in my warm home earlier than they would outside. Keep your eyes out for these special, soft buds, and for the bees that rely on them!

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