Land Lab Adventure: Week 2 Day 5

We began the day with a campfire breakfast of bacon, eggs and boiled milkweed flowers picked fresh from the field. While we were waiting for food to cook on the fire, the kids had bagels and fruit. Today, some of the kids were tired from the overnight. Those that joined us at 9:00 were a great help in boosting spirits, and helping bring everything back from the pond. We started off the morning with a pickup of the tent area, and laying out the tents to dry. During our morning work block a lot of kids helped hang up all the tie-dyed shirts, bandanas, and various other colorful apparel on some large clotheslines, but I know even more sanded their wood blocks and started the staining process. In between these activities many kids finished up any arts projects they had on the porch. During lunch we had a great pizza party, and quiet time was yet again largely on the porch. Some kids continued sanding their wood projects as well.

In the first afternoon block, the entire group worked to clean up things that have accumulated during the past two weeks. During the second afternoon block, a few kids finished sanding and staining, and some kids finished cleaning up the tents. Most of the group, however, came on a final walk through the woods with Leslie and me. While playing a game of stealth in the woods, we stumbled upon an underground hornets’ nest. Seven of the kids and I got stung, some of us more than once. We gathered on the porch and applied baking soda and ice to our stings. This was a reminder for all of us that even though nature is a lot of fun, it can also sometimes be dangerous. All the kids took really good care of each other, and showed a lot of compassion for their friends.

We ended the camp by packing up the last of our belongings, taking the tie-dye projects down off the clothesline, and packing our treasures into our cubby boxes. Looking back over the past two weeks, we had a lot of great fun – nature walks, art projects, woodshop time, swimming, building our weather station, and learning about the natural word around us. I hope that everyone has a great summer.

Remember to keep playing outside!!

Alex