We had so much fun playing some new group games this past week: Bat and Moth, What Time is it Mr. Fox?, Forest Fire, and a game that Tuli taught us called Frog Tag. These games challenge us to listen closely, notice our surroundings, cooperate, and run as fast as we can, which really helps us stay warm on cold days. Everyone wanted to join in! The kids came up with a wonderful idea to weave a spider web by wrapping yarn around a group of trees. Some of them actually got ca

We had so much fun exploring the snowy forest! The creek had lots of ice to skate on and break, and of course snow to eat! We found deer tracks that we followed along the creek and into the forest. We also got to do a lot of sledding! The kids made a giant snowball throughout the whole day Thursday. They were very proud of their giant dragon egg. It's also fun to get buried in snow and make snow angels! Wednesday was very cold, so the class took a warm up break in the hous

For Tuesday's class we challenged to kids to build a ladder with branches, scrap wood, hammer and nails. Everybody helped out with laying the boards and hammering and we ended up with a functional ladder that we used to climb up into what we named the "Abiyoyo Tree," a huge Sycamore with 4 trunks. We needed 6 people to help carry it over to the tree. Wednesday's class went on a hike to the Crocodile Tree. Sage, Lyle, and Nadia were excited to introduce our favorite climbing

As forest school leaders, we think a lot about healthy risk taking. We want the children to have lots of opportunities to take risks and challenge themselves at their own pace. We also have to distinguish between a healthy risk and a hazard. A few examples: we let children use tools like a hammer and nails, which can be a risky activity. We would not let them use a chainsaw though, as that would be potentially hazardous. We consider lightning and 40+ mph wind gusts a haz