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HEADS DOWN

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Over the past two day I’ve spent with the Natural Patterns kids….  k-3 graders…. we talked of clouds, painted outside, looked at how the top of the trees roll up and down like a roller coaster against the sky, discovered spittle bugs hiding out in the fields. So delicious, every moment of discovery.  

Some of my favorite moments:

Zachary in the moment, painting his tree and clouds with wax paper as Mae takes a moment to lay in the grass with here eyes closed. 

Love the freedom.  Could you imagine if an adult was doing something then decided to just lay down on the grass in the middle of it all? A funny thought.  

Heads down in concentration….

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Heads down working together to clean the paint covered plexiglass plates used to create their images.

Working together, standing in puddles, getting wet.  Involved…. thoughts focused.Image 

Heads down looking at these tiny red bugs that Thomas discovered…. focused on the red as they squish them with rocks.

So present in what they were doing…..  busy busy busy in the sunshine.

 

 

 

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Heads down hunting and discovering spittle bugs.  Hiding amongst their butt spit!  What do they look like those nymphs?  How many can you find?  Hundreds… the more they looked the more they found.  

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The downward gaze of these faces…. means they are inquisitive and engaged.  I am so proud of these young naturalists and can only hope that they continue to enjoy all that nature offers as they go through life.  Awesome!!!!

 

 

SOMETHING WONDERFUL

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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?

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

KIDS ENCOURAGING EACH OTHER – HUMAN NATURE AT ITS BEST

FUN STUFF!