On November 1st, Shari and I took the preschoolers on an adventure to the forest. As we walked to the forest, I encouraged them to look around our environment and tell me what they see. Calvin called out, “The leaves on the trees are all different colours.” Some noticed a squirrel playing. JJ commented on how lots of trees no longer have any leaves. Shay said, “look they are all on the ground now.” The forest provided the children with many risky play opportunities, such as climbing, carrying large heavy branches and jumping. I talked to them in the morning before leaving to listen to their bodies as they climb, do you feel safe? If you get to a certain height and start to feel unsafe or scared that is your body clues that maybe you are high enough. Cyril and Skylar took it upon themselves to gather materials for a campfire using the largest branches they could find. They were very determined and focused on their task with help from their friends once and a while other friends stopped to help. As they were collecting these large branches they talked about some of their own personal experiences with their families having a campfire. They also talked about pretending to roast marshmallows and make s’mores with chocolate! I told them that my family also likes to roast hot dogs over the campfire, but they said they have only roasted marshmallows. Many of the preschoolers throughout the morning took turns balancing and walking across the downed trees creating a natural balance beam. Harun, Enzo, Henry L, Abby, and Shay were very determined to climb up and walk across the downed tree showing demonstrating their independence and perseverance skills. Shay, Skylar and Enzo had a great time taking turns burying each other under the hundreds of leaves on the ground just giggling away. Shari brought our magnifying glasses so they could explore and examine the forest’s bounty. Ellie, Calvin, Alivianna and Enzo used the magnifying glasses to try and find bugs and other animals. They really had to search through all the leaf coverage to get the ground beneath. As the preschoolers played it was great to watch as they engaged with their friends and their environment and listening to wonderful conversations that were happening as they played. Listening to them ask questions and investigate and figure those answers to their questions together.
