Day 4

We had another day of great weather today, and started off the morning with our circle on the straw bales in the barn. Then we all split up for our choice morning period, and again, many kids worked on the shelter with Colin, Dylan and me. Dylan helped harvest trees for our shelter in the "play woods". Then, the kids dragged or carried them back through the woods up to the shelter site, where Colin and I helped them outline the walls of the shelter. We also continued to weave grass mats.

Judy and Allie stayed at the Land Lab. They set up their sun dial, and we used the solar oven again, making some sugar cookies today. Allie was on the porch most of the morning working on art projects with the kids, and Judy took some of them over to the pond to catch some critters. We kept them for the day in our terrarium which we turned into an amphibian habitat for them by adding water. At the end of the day, we released our specimens back into the pond.

We had lunch, and the time after lunch that has become a sort of recess for the kids to hang out and play games. Then, quiet time came. Some worked on the porch, some sanded wood, while others read quietly. In the afternoon: Dylan offered another Stalking class, to teach some more advanced methods; Colin and Judy worked in the workshop; Allie taught the kids how to make mandalas; and I worked with a group to make Plant Tiles. The mandalas are really cool patterns of leaves and nature mixed with art supplies on pieces of paper. The woodshop projects are coming along quite nicely, and the plant tiles were quite awesome. Although I was a little far away, I had no idea that the stalking crew had returned until a long time after they actually had. They are getting quite good at being quiet.

Alex