Hibernation, Tues Pre

This week we focused on noticing signs of winter, talking about plants that are dormant, and animals that are hibernating.

 Noticing winter berries for birds

recognizing and discussing the variety of different fungi in the woods 

 racing down sliding rock hill after reading hibernation books at story time

This may have been the funniest moment today (among a number of others! ;)), A claimed he was "hibernating" on the side of the trail here:

 He'd run a bit ahead, plopped right down and rested his head, awe... I think he and the rest of the class got the idea all right!

Froggy Winter Fun for K

The K kiddos jumped right into action this winter with some snow play! With very little snow left at home, they were happy to play in the icy piles here in Hamlin.

 

It doesn't take much snow for these kiddos to be in a whole different world. They could slide, crunch, throw, smush in water, and generally enjoy every last little bit of it. After our snow fun we went on into the woods noting a number of downed trees and grabbing some branches to add to Big Fort. 

There was a lot of action in the woods today as the FH team was apparently under an attack of some kind, and they had to defend us. 

We also had to huddle down in the fort, have some tea and snacks, and read lots of froggy stories while under our protective force field, you know to stay safe and all. Oh and write a goofy story together, that was a silly interlude from the battle. Then they were off to another post before it was time to leave FH base:

 

Thursday brought lots more dramatic play with the K froglets, there were repeatedly injured members of our squad down:

Would you look at that spooky dramatic shot (bottom right)! I also love that they had a hard time keeping from smiling as they lay "injured" or "dead".

Teacher Erin was required to use "Hey, hey are you ok?" first aid/CPR training lines repeatedly on these "victims". I need to add bandage strips to my gear pack now.

It was serious stuff in these woods I tell you:

Of course there was also some fort building, 

 

snack and story time, and general goofiness that always comes with the fun this group has together! It's going to be a frogtastic winter with this creative group!

A Froggy Day for a *New Thurs Pre

We splashed right into the winter session of FH this Thursday! This was the first class for some of these froglets and it was one of the wettest I've ever taught! It was really dumping and thankfully the kids were geared up. We headed off to Froggy Creek to watch the rushing water and see where it goes, while doing a little fishing along the way:

Then we trekked up and around the park and all the way to Big Fort. It was quite a romp for some of these younger ones in all their gear, they were real troopers and we stayed warm!

Even in Big Fort we were getting pretty wet having our snack and story time, thankfully I had some wonderful Mom help (Thanks Tanya!). 

From the big fort we headed down to sliding rock, which is pretty fun with wet rain pants on!

 

Mr. J wanted me to take his pic over and over, what a funny guy!

Then these wet and soggy kiddos were ready to head back, and as we arrived back at the playground the rain ceased. Time for a little tea warm up:

As much fun as the "liquid sunshine" can be I think we might vote for a little less of it next session. I'm so hoppy I'll get to teach another lovely group of froglets this winter!

The Season of Winter, Tues Pre

While there was still snow on the fields and in big piles at Hamlin today we talked about the season of winter. To begin with though there was also LOTS of play in what I thin I'll now call, "Froggy Creek": the stomped through the water since they were all in their rain/snow gear, they "fished" from the little bridge, 

 

then they cooked up their salmon on the fire pit, 

and "Mom" helped them with their meal preparations:

Then we had an actual picnic tea party, while they dictated a pretty goofy winter story:

Then we played in the water and mud a bit more,

 

then hit the trail again to make it to Big Fort before class was over:

 

Today Big Fort was a jail! I became the bad guy who trapped the police officers in jail (well that was at least the gist of one of their stories...).

Fortunately, they made their big escape and I had to chase them back down the hill to their parents! What fun we have imagining in the woods together! 

Froggy Fun in the SNOW!

Though the snow was coming down as I left my home (in Edmonds) for FH this Tuesday, it had not yet really started in Shoreline, so class was ON! The roads were fine getting to and from class, and the kids were excited to be there all geared up in their cozy suits. We ran around the big snowy field, the kids had fun trying to get me with snowballs, we said hi to the snow people already there, and lounged and stomped on a fallen guy.

 

Then we started off into the woods, there under the tree cover not as much snow as on the ground, and we noticed how peacefully quiet it was, with just a few twittering birds. And as we looked up at the treetops it was a beautiful new sight. We tromped around for a bit, and then came to an area right near where we did our Earth Corps planting where a new fort was being made from branches that fell this winter. This was a good place to put our gear down, work together on adding to the fort, have a snack, read a story, have some warm tea in the shelter. 

 

They may look chilly cause this was the end of our 2 hour class in the snowy woods, but they were happy, and not complaining a bit about being cold!

It was also fun for the kids to do some balancing, and sliding on the logs in this area. I was pretty impressed with their balancing (after some spotting I gave them a little more space...), those that tried were pretty confident in themselves! 

They all really enjoyed working together to add to this fort and I promised we would absolutely be back there again this winter!

They were all so industrious today, balancing, scraping snow off the logs, showing their stuffed penguins around the area (just left out of the camera shot oops), working together to add to the fort, etc.

At the end of class we met up with our parents on the playground, which is all the more fun in the snow:

 

What an incredible day it was to be at school in the woods!

Winter Session Sign Up!

It's registration time! Please call the parks dept: (206) 801-2600 or register online to join one of our classes, they fill up fast, so get a spot while you can!

 As of Sunday, Jan 8th there is 1 spot left for the Tues preschool, 3 spots for Thurs preschool, and 2 or 3 spots for Tues/Thurs K. If you have ?'s about which class is right for your child let me know! If you don't get the class you were wishing for please still give the parks office your info in case I am able to allow in a few more participants, or possibly create another class.

Fall Slideshow

Here is a slideshow of all the fun we had this fall!