Eagles are Animals! June 2-5, 2014 (7-11 year olds)

Hi Eagle Families!  If you read (or just view) and ENJOY the BLOG, please let me know. Write a comment below, or send me a quick note.  Feedback of any kind (constructive, of course!:) is also appreciated. Also, any of the images below can be enlarged and viewed as a slideshow by clicking on them.  Enjoy! :~) Katie

Monday: We really took off this week!  Before we flew to the mountains, we played games, we learned names, and made a group contract (rules about how to have fun)!  We snacked and buddied, and then loaded up for our adventure at the Big T!

At first building forts, then playing games to build awareness of our presence in the forest.  How to be quiet and sneaky like an animal (Fox Walk) while playing games like Capture the Flag and Camouflage. Then getting quiet to create sound maps to focus on all the natural sounds of the forest.  Did anyone hear a stick crack?  What could that be?

Tuesday the Rio en Medio waterfall was our goal.  Before we set out we played a game where we learned and practiced various animal gaits.  At circle we got to examine pelts and paws of various forest animals of New Mexico and ponder how certain traits helped them. Some kids drew animals using the Ed Emberly books.

The hike to the waterfall was challenging, but the reward is always great. It was hot, and the refreshing mountain waterfall makes you forget that in a hurry!

We learned a song called Bats Eat Bugs on Wednesday.  It’s a great reminder that “Nothing out there wants to eat you, nothing out there wants to make you it’s meal!”  We looked at Animal Skulls today and noticed how different features help animals survive.

We hiked up to Carls’ Meadow from Aspen Vista – a great place for lunch, a good game of Capture the Flag, and a Habitat Web Game. 🙂

Thursday: We were busy as little beavers today!  We learned about Beaver adaptations and dressed up some unsuspecting children to illustrate them.  We hiked along the Little T(esuque Creek) and tried our hand at beavering, a.k.a. dam making.  It was hard to make the water stop completely, but we sure slowed it down, had fun, got dirty, and learned to work as a team in the process. I wonder how beavers need to work together to build their den?  We played some (other) team building games and made scrolling animal stories.  The End ~ of a(nother) (FUN!) week. 🙂

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May 27th – 30th: Owls at Play! with Tremendous Trees and Wonderful Wildflowers!

Yes, it’s true,  the Owls (formerly known as Littles), may have broken the Cute-O-Meter out in the National Forest this week!!

From the Big Tesuque to the Norski Trails, and from the Beaver Ponds to magical Deer Creek, these adorable explorers met trees and found flowers.  They Built-a-Tree AND Built-a-Flower. They made shelters and double-decker forts. They got dirty and got wet. They learned about Producers and Consumers and pretended to be that. They met new buddies and made friends with the earth.

They learned a BIG word which they may not recall, Biomimicry, ‘mimicking life’ with the Mirror Game helped to make it small.

Sit Spots and singing songs ~ yes, “Our roots DO go down, down to the earth~”

Flying like eagles and jumping like frogs, running like cheetahs and laying down like logs.

The Cute-o-Meter is broken~ it does not go that high!

Yes, it was a tremendously wild, and wonderful, first week of Mountain Kids Summer 2014.

 

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