Avalon park and preserve Archives - Page 2 of 3

COMING SOON.. BUGS and WILDFLOWERS

March 27, 2014/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Summer 2013

WELL MAYBE NOT SOON ENOUGH!

Yes, those beautiful flowers and helpful bugs are still in a state of stillness, but in preparation of things to come I thought it would be fun to utilize the skeletons of summer and spring past.

So our troops of Kindergartners and 1st through 3rd graders bundled up and went hunting for the remnants of milkweed, evening primrose, bee balm, goldenrod, purple cone flowers. It was a great opportunity to take a look at the idea of how strong mother nature made these plants so that they can flick about in the wind and disperse their seeds.

It was awesome to see the kids sharing what they picked. Our goal was not only to find our own but make a wildflower sculpture to take home.

The older kids and I went deep into the jungle of the field. Letting them lead the way they hunted and found many interesting things.

I couldn’t help myself and let out a lot of wooops while we were walking. It was very cold and windy but it just felt so good to let out the screams of joy….. although at one point one of the boys told me I ” didn’t need to do that anymore!” Haha… what can I say I was just so excited….

Both Jack and Rylie found praying mantis egg cases!!! We added them to the 200 cases that the teenagers from S.T.A.T.E. found over the weekend Pretty cool treasure to find.

More than anything these kids are developing a confidence to lead and also to work together as a group. Something I believe is a result of playing outside. They have to take chances in an environment which they might not be used to. In the end they realize can do it!

,wi

After we hunted for a while we returned to the barn to make these!!!

Ta da!!!

They all left with pictures of what these flowers will look like when they bloom this year and a magnificent sculpture created by them!

Love the rosy cheeks and also how one of the sculptures has a milkweed with seeds still intact. (like a cradle) Another lucky find.

Until next week…… GET OUTSIDE!!! Seriously

Peace and warmth, Sue

GIVE A KID A TREE………

March 20, 2014/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

…… and of course they will climb it!

Today the 4-6th grade group was ready for adventure. My plan was to take them “off trail” to show them where the deer bed down at night. They all agreed they were ready for the journey.

We wandered through the yellow, blue and white trails getting closer to our point of going “off” but it was interrupted by this gigantic tree which had fallen in the woods, “Can we climb it?” they asked. I would never say no to that question. So they set off on their adventure and thank goodness there were no parents there because I could hear their voices in my head, “ooh be careful, no don’t go there…..etc. ” but I let them be (of course hoping that no one would get hurt – I really am a responsible adult!!!) They climbed and climbed and climbed!

It was amazing to see them take chances and succeed. I could see them smile big time as they gave me a high five for completing the climb. It was a lovely sight…. monkey in a tree! Doing what these kids should be doing. Ahhhhh what a relief for all of them.

Here are my monkeys:

So we scrapped the “off trail” deer idea and spent the whole time on this tree. Time passed quickly and it was time to return but it was not as easy as it should have been because many of the kids decided they wanted to take these huge broken branches back with them. Ok, I thought if they want to carry these things why not, we can use them in the garden or some other project (one girl wanted to build a fort). They carried them all the way back! I was so impressed with them… it took a little longer but we made it!!!

They were like the Native Americans of yesteryear…. or the settlers dragging wood for their fires….

It was a great day in the woods. 🙂

Get those kids outside!

Sue

HIKING, DRUMMING AND ART…. A FULL LIFE!

March 19, 2014/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Today’s classes = A full heart.

3, 4 and 5 year olds are so amazing and sharing my time with them and their parents makes my sun shine.

We began our day with an “Eye Spy” book where the kids helped to identify animals by seeing their eyes and color. It was great to see all of them so engaged and full of answers. Each time they met with success they wanted more and more. Most of the time I become so rapt with them that nothing else going on in my life matters. A breath of fresh air!!

DRUMMING:

Drumming was something I decided to introduce to the kids this season. I’ve always felt drumming is such a great outlet for kids and adults alike. When I introduced the drum to them a few weeks ago you could see the kids were dying to get their hands on it! I’ve also incorporated these homemade bamboo rhythm sticks, so the kids can play along when they are not having their turn up at the drum. This week we worked on slow and fast drumming. I think almost every kid came up to drum and when it was time for the moms to do it we had three brave moms volunteer . Best part of that was seeing how proud the kids were of their moms. Lots of loving hugs for them. Ahhhh so wonderful! My hope is to get all the kids drumming by the end of our eight classes together!

It’s all part of my philosophy of, “its’ okay to be loud, get dirty and be less fearful.” (that goes for parents too!!)

ART:

Their seasonal trees were completed today. The first week they printed their trees with styrofoam and paint. This week they finished with cotton for the snow and oil pastels for leaves and blossoms. Just lovely!! Every piece is unique…. just like these kids 🙂

HIKING:

A yes we finally got outside! Still a bit chilly but the air was so fresh. We began by bird watching all the Robin Red Breasts eating the Staghorn Sumac. Don’t worry moms, it is not poison sumac …. they have white berries. We were able to to see the birds up close and also examine what it was they were eating. Yum yum…

Eye spy the Robins…..

Onward we hiked with the kids making sure we waited up for everyone! So funny. Always a blast on the trails.

Great to see them climb and explore.

Oh so many images to share but I’ll stop now…

Great kids, great parents and a fantastic day at Avalon!!

Get those kids outside

peace, Miss Aunt Sue (as Lola calls me!)

THE WILD ONES

March 6, 2014/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Well here we are again with some new faces; we’ve added Kathryn and Celeste to our group. Welcome girls!

When released into the outdoors these kids go crazy!!! With a capital Z! It’s been a long winter and being cooped up in the house with little exposure to the sun, they managed to store up lots of energy.

We began class by talking about Wilson Bentley, a gentleman known as Mr. Snowflake. He was one of the first people to photograph snowflakes. Mr. Bentley was repeatedly told he was crazy to do what he was doing, but he did not give up. He was passionate about his snowflakes. In the end all of his hard work was acknowledged and published in a book entitled “Snowflakes in Photographs.” It shows page after page of the snowflakes he photographed. Pretty impressive, especially for the early 1900’s!

Here is a page from his book.

When I asked who inspires them Shannon talked about her Uncle who is an artist. She said it made her want to do art. Kathryn said she was inspired by Lindsay Von, a famous skier. She said she skis all the time. I was so proud to these girls that they were able to identify what an inspiration is and even more impressed that they had people they looked up to! Way to go!

The outdoor session of our class was a great opportunity to look for animal tracks and make some tracks of our own. We were able to find deer, squirrel and bunny tracks. They spotted field mice and a rabbit.

Just being silly on the trail!

It looks like a marshmallow but it is actually a praying mantis egg case

Chris looking for animal tracks.

It’s wonderful to see these kids so full of life and energy (sometimes too much … hahaha) going thru the fields finding their way. I believe each of them take home their own person memory of the time we spent out in the fields. Looking forward to making more memories!

Get outside!

Sue

A Place in the Leaves

October 29, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

This beautiful photo was taken by Amelie, one of the hikers in the group!

On our hike to today we had a contest to see who could collect the most nuts. I called them my nutty bunch! They have a great deal of energy and it is always a challenge to get them to notice the things around them. I love that they get to run, but exploring can be part of the adventure too! After our hike the kids returned to the barn with their stash of nuts to see who was the winner. Of course we all knew that Matt would be the winner because his pockets were practically hanging down to his knees. But then something happened…. some of the kids decided to add to Matt’s pile…. so I think then they all decided they were winners!! Matt was okay with that and which made me sigh with relief!

Wiggly worm find!

Love my nutty bunch…. it was a fun day!!! xoxox

OH NUTS!!!! (and seeds)

October 18, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Today was a glorious day for taking a look at some of our trees at Avalon. Most notably the Black Walnut and the Hickory Tree!

Both produce these interesting multilayered nuts. But most of all they are exciting to SMASH open. That’s exactly what we did. Each of my enthusiatic outdoor-kids were ready to take a turn breaking open these nuts. How do those squirrels do it????

We tasted the black walnut which Shannon said had a strawberry flavor in it!! They were yummy. These odd looking nuts are hidden undercover on the trees inside these lime colored looking fruits. When they are ready, they drop to the ground and proceed to rot and turn black. Before you can get to the nutty insides you have to peel away a messy dirty layer….. yuck… then there is the treasure!

But first how do we get to the inside. Well luckily Miss Sue did some research beforehand and she brought the wrench for holding the nut (also to protect her hands from getting smashed) and a hammer. Before long they were cracked open! Everyone was eager to try it.

We were less successful with the hickory nuts, of which are all over the place but dried out inside… what a disappointment. But lot’s of fun to collect!

We continued our walk along the wildflower fields which are slowly turning brown… with seeds all ready to fall to the ground for next year’s blooms. The milkweed plants are in their glory with all of their pods popping open to reveal the amazing layers of seeds attached to little “wish” machines which will help the seeds float away to their new homes!

Amazing milkweed, amazing smile!

Happy Trails

Sue

Reminiscing and Looking Forward

September 10, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Today I took a walk at Avalon where I will begin my Fall classes next week. It was nice to visit the trail with my dog Lucy and stroll through the swaying trees. There are so many places that make me smile and I can almost hear the kid’s voices as I walk through different parts of the park.

The quiet and still pond with frogs relaxing on the rocks. Duckweed floating aimlessly through the water. Although I am surrounded with noises from the birds and the trickling of the waterfall, the sounds of laughter and excitement are missing., but secretly I hear them in my head. I smile. All the frogs that the kids caught, kids falling in the pond….. constant activity.

All is quiet……. for now!

We continued on walking toward the wildflower fields to see which flowers were in bloom. I saw a milkweed bug and it made me laugh. The memories of us running around the fields capturing bugs and always holding true to the promise that we would let them go when we were finished exploring. We were hunters and the atmosphere was electric!!!!

Some flowers remain and the the milkweed pods are almost ready to burst.

Finally we made it to the Barn and into the garden. There were still nasturtium blooming. I remember some of the kids tasting the peppery flower that our preschoolers planted. ” Blech! ” “Yum!” “My mother would like that!”

Our trellis for the beans lay like a sleeping baby…. next spring we will begin again!

I am looking forward to meeting new families and welcoming back some of our returning families!

We are going to have a blast and create more memories to share.

Keep on hikin

Sue

SOMETHING WONDERFUL

August 5, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

FIRST DAY OF NEW CAMP WEEK ……

Today something happened that involved nature of a different kind here at Avalon Camp…..Human Nature…. funny and charming at the same time.

We set out for our bug collection in the wildflower fields. Gavin was determined to catch a butterfly. He had no interest in using a bug jar just the blue net. Every time someone called out “butterfly” he ran so fast and attempted to capture it. No luck swipe after swipe after swipe…. nothing. No reward. Along the way another camper, Brennos became interested in the same quest. He began to follow the Gavin around. I could tell that the original butterfly hunter Gavin was a little annoyed, after all he wanted the glory of the capture. But they worked in parallel. I encouraged them to hunt quietly and slowly. Minutes passed …. 10, 20, 40, 50 minutes ticked away. Time to head back to the waiting parents. No butterfly…. a bit of sadness flickered in Gavin’s eyes but he was not giving up.

As we headed back to the barn Brennos began to tell me the philosophy he imparted to Gavin. It went like this, ” I told Gavin to catch a butterfly you have to spot it then FOCUS in order to catch it.” What a wise young soul. I could tell he was proud of his advice. I am not so sure that Gavin felt the same, I think he had butterflies on the brain and was just determined.

Perhaps though he did listen because at the very last minute before we turned the corner to face the parents guess what happened?

He Focused and caught his Cabbage White Butterfly!!! SUCCESS!!!!

KIDS ENCOURAGING EACH OTHER – HUMAN NATURE AT ITS BEST

FUN STUFF!

FAIRIES, FROGS AND RASPBERRIES

July 26, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

THE END RESULT OF A GREAT WEEK OF EXPLORING! CAMPERS WHO WERE FULL OF SILLINESS AND RASPBERRIES.

This week we had Emily, Emily, Michael, Lukas and Lorenzo to help with our energetic group of campers. Couldn’t have done without you guys leading the pack and bringing up the tail of the hikers.

It was slow going on the trail because the campers were distracted by all the yummy wild raspberries growing. Eating and walking, eating and walking…. always another bush around the corner. I think they were all fascinated by the free food! I was impressed with their willingness to sample them. One of the campers even went back and collected more with his mom and incorporated them into his healthy yogurt snack the next day…. kudos to that mom!!

We took an extra long hike along the yellow trail in search of the elusive fairy house of Avalon. When we finally got there we realized it was destroyed. Yikes! Who or what could have done this? I will go with a heavy rain that washed it away instead of blaming someone. But because they are great campers who care, they got to work and fixed it up!!

The fairies thank you, guys!

Inspired by the creation in the woods the campers created their own back at the barn… after collecting materials on the trail. Here are some of the amazing outcomes!!!!!

Pond Exploration a team favorite!!!: This week we were able to capture a frog, tadpoles, dragonfly nymphs, water striders, water beetles. Lots of laughs and screeches of excitement when something was caught. I’m sure the parents appreciated that we told the campers it was important to release everything we captured! They would have brought all the creatures home if we allowed it!

As adults it is our responsibility to teach all of the children respect for all things natural. It is not always about teaching scientific facts (which is important) but more about teaching the little humans how to carry on the love of the outdoors into their future lives which will have a real impact on our future as a people and a planet!!

Peaceful travels along the trail…..

Sue

AVALON EXPLORERS UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL WITH NATURE!!!

July 18, 2013/in Children and the outdoors /by natasha commander

Week one of camp is complete. Although we were in the midst of one of summer’s famous heat-waves we made the very best of our adventures. All of our Kindergarten through Grade three campers came to camp ready to hike and explore.

And explore we did! First two days were spent collecting bugs. I was so impressed with all of the campers…. I did not hear one eeeewwww or scream as we found and captured milkweed bugs, caterpillars, long horned beetles, worms, honey bees, and more!!

We spent our first day out in the wildflower fields and the second in the woods. Marguerite, of the instructors helped the campers understand that bugs are both good and bad. We had some interesting conversations with these young minds.

Hornets nest (abandoned of course!!)

The next two days we spent at the pond. I loved how all of the campers were so engaged in pond dipping and skimming with nets. We were lucky enough to have three teenage helpers, Wendy, Julia and Luke, each of whom helped the campers dig deep into the pond and see all the creatures up close that they may have only seen in books. Frogs, pond skaters, dragon flies, dragon fly nymph, tapeless, turtles, duckweed and more! I was proud of how adventurous they all were!!!

Duckweed. Floating roots. Penelope said they looked like mini lily pads.

Resident Bull Frog!

Letting go of the tadpole.

Dragon fly nymphs
What else is in there?? Ah my little limnologists!

My hope is that each of the campers will return to Avalon with their families and talk about what they saw and also discover that there is still more to be found.

I was so proud of all of them!

Keep exploring

Miss Sue

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