our last fall forest school session

We can't believe it! Our fall forest school sessions have come to an end. We made a plan for what we'd do to celebrate for our last afternoon together:

• hike
• check out Paradise Lake
• have our winter woodland workshop
• make a fire
• show our parents around

But first: we heard a story about Crumbfest, a celebration in December where mice found tons of yummy crumbs on the floor each year. We imagined what it would be like to be a mouse and hunt for crumbs inside and outside at this time of year. We talked about the winter solstice - about the shortening days until December 21, and celebrations of light.

Then we were off on our hike! We stopped along the way to play a partner game of "find that beech tree." 

We stopped for a while by Paradise Lake and tested the water. It was frozen solid, so we pretended we were zambonis and cleared the ice. 

Back at our site, we set up our workshop to make more ornaments.

Then it was time for a fire, popcorn, and singing. We talked about what we will remember from these past 10 weeks of forest school: salamanders, Cocoa the dragon, swamp tromps, exploring, walking on the lake, playing in castles, dragging log dogs around, building fires, working with tools, telling stories, crafting with woodland materials, hiking together, and getting to know these wonderful woods at Camp Ki-Wa-Y. There is still so much to explore!

Some parents came to see where we'd been exploring over the past weeks.

Too soon, it was time to go. The almost-solstice sky was stunning. 

See you in 2015, Wild Turkeys!