Hibernation Week

Well this was indeed quite a week at Froggy Holler! Not only was teacher Erin recovering from deciding to play a challenging game of soccer for the first time in decades, but it was also the first week of our new classes at Edmonds Heights. Oh and our first ever time needing to call a parent to have them check on their hurt kiddo (bumped tooth at the shelter, he was fine!), and a little scare when a little one got ahead of us after not responding to our froggy call. Phew, it was a week indeed! It was a good reminder to us all that we keep cell phones ON during FH, that we practice and practice again our rules and follow them, and that we can laugh and have fun even in the freezing fog!

Here are the pictures of the FUN!

Tuesday Froglets:

We had a new friend join us! We felt for our heart rates, and were baffled by actual droplets of freezing fog!

We also loved finding cozy little fairy homes, running and sliding down the hills:

 Tuesday Frogs:

 We had a nice trek together this week with the frogs, finding some interesting fungi, searching for all sorts of critters, reading a lot, and even treating ourselves to some new elf cove treasures!

 Wednesday Froglets:

We had fun searching for sleepy bugs under logs, "roasting marshmallows" and "alder salmon" by the creek "fire", being extra silly with Teacher Erin (really a little too silly in one case, over giggling can lead to accidents... fortunately there were extra pants;))

 Then there was the really VAST amount of collapsing to the ground after trying to escape the monster trucks trying to crash into us, and some very handy drawing of arrows on the ground every 2 feet or so, and LOTS of jumping as well! Frogs have to practice jumping after all, especially to our favorite frog songs!

Thursday Tadpoles: 

Today there was a lot of under the log exploration to find insects hibernating, MUD play!, off trail treks:

plus toy froggy and squirrel play too! Mr. Pumpkin toes may be a little toad looking from now on I believe... ;)

I'm excited for next week when we'll be exploring Twin Ponds in Shoreline together!

Winter Week!

 This week we talked about winter! It was clear and crisp each day with lots of frost for us to look at, "hoar frost" is particularly interesting to pick up and look at, with those long crystals of icy fingers, and beautiful patterns on the leaves and such. Each class had a fun time running around to keep warm, and throwing some dance parties in too!

Tuesday Froglets:

These kiddos were really into climbing, exploring ice crystals, and jumping into the "pit" today! They also did some really great math during our snack with "power beads" we had collected. 

FYI "power beads" are airsoft pellets (I don't tell the kids this) and the kids and I collect them because a)they don't decompose quickly b)they can't be good for our park environment or animals and c) they give the kids "power" to climb big hills, defend themselves in battles, and be the best frogs they can be! This week we put them in my "power pouch", and by Thursday we had over 80!

 Tuesday Frogs:

The Frogs were excellent scientists today studying that wild orange fungus (it was frozen!) called "witches butter", and a very decomposed little bird which (we touched it with a stick so don't worry, and it had the sweetest little bones:

 Wednesday  Froglets

Since our fabulous hat creator, Katharine is a mom to 2 students in our Wednesday class we took some frog hat pictures for her!

 

Thanks again Katharine for all of your hard work, we are so hoppy with our new hats!!!

Action this week with these froglets included: riding on a "fire truck", jumping off to spray the fire (aka me! ;)) and balancing on logs (even with a sweet pal's help), identifying lichens and ferns and making "soup", running across the riverbed where crocodiles swim eeek!, collecting all sorts of treasures, and dancing! It was a busy day!

Thursday Tadpoles:

These little guys are learning to power up hills, take turns with Strawberry the frog, climb over slippery surfaces, jump like frogs, build forts, fairy houses, and campfires, and be careful with sticks!

They are a very sweet group!

Have you noticed how many girls are in FH?! I'm excited about this and think it's wonderful! Here is one of my favorite pics of the week,

 

She's on her bark phone telling her best friend all about what she's doing in the woods!

A Whole New Season!

Froggy Holler Winter session started off exciting this week! With RAIN, SNOW, and new students it was a lot of fun! Here is a bit of the action, though it is a challenge to teach and photograph in the rain...

 Tuesday Froglets:

These kiddos were so happy to get their new handmade frog hats and show them off! Every group learned about the seasons of the year this week, and listened to seasons stories. It was great to be in the rain with these fun froglets again!

Tuesday Frogs: 

Fortunately for the heaviest rain of the week we had the eldest and most rain comfortable group, the K Frogs! These kiddos went for it and hammed it up in their new frog hats!

Wednesday Froglets:

The Wednesday class got to discover an entirely new feature in Hamlin this week, water in fairy valley! It made for all new playing areas to explore, fun! There are a lot of new to FH faces in this group too, and they wanted to ham it up for me, so here are their silly face pictures!

Thursday Tadpoles:

There were lots of new kiddos joining us on Thursday as well, what fun to meet new friends in a whole new place, and play outside! They had fun dancing to froggy music, playing in the fairy valley water, making fairy homes, and sliding down sliding rock!

I'm so glad to have started a new term with another wonderful group of kiddos and families! This week I think we were all reminded of the importance of dressing warmly in waterproof clothing for FH, please let me know if you need help with this. The forecast calls for sunny, COLD conditions next week.
Also this Sunday, January 13th we will have our first FH Family Club gathering at Hamlin from ~2-4 (truthfully I'll be there after the Seahawks game). We would love for you to join us! Thanks!

Winter Registration!

Hi Everybody! We are looking forward to getting back together and starting class right off this winter, please register promptly! Our first class will be January 8th and registration is the 3rd for residents and 7th for non residents. Here is the parks brochure: Winter Recreation Guide.

Let me know if you have any questions! We'll see you in the woods!