Today was a beautiful day to set off on our Land Lab adventure! This morning, we all gathered in the barn before our morning activities to introduce the kids to the rules and guidelines on how to have a fun yet safe learning environment at the Land Lab.  Then we chose to reintroduce one of our activities from last year that was a great success - the blindfold walk.  This activity is tons of fun and great at building trust between the children as they lead each other through the woods. This activity is also really fun because it helps us realize that in wilderness, it is important to pay attention to all of our senses, because things like hearing and smell can tell us a lot about where we are. During the second half of the morning, Julie and Allie started working with some kids on the terrariums, Dylan and I went with another group to scout out a place for this year's shelter, while some of the veterans of the camp showed Chantelle around the Land Lab. 

After lunch, we had the customary game of capture the flag, followed by quiet time.  During quiet time everyone goes to the porch to read, draw, or just enjoy some quiet time outside. Our afternoon was split into two blocks: during each block the kids could choose any one of three activities being offered.  There was an advanced blind fold challenge offered by Dylan and I, Allie took some kids to the pond to do sketching and watercolors, while Chantelle and Julie took kids out to find plants and animals to put in our terrarium. Around 2:30 or 2:45 everyone gathered back at the barn to clean up and gather for dismissal. If you ask me, today has been a great day to kick off the camp. 

See you in the morning!
Alex