After School: Week Four - Nature Names & Eagle Eye
Opening Circle & Nature Names
Today we wandered straight to the Sand Pit to have our Opening Circle since it is becoming one of our favorite places in the park. After sharing gratitudes and stretching through a Sun Salutation, we had a special ceremony where we each picked a Nature Name (or did the Nature Name pick us?) To pick our names, we each reached into a satchel of animal names, and received names such as "Yellow Bellied Slider," "Belted Kingfisher" and "Ground Skink." We talked about how having a Nature Name is an opportunity to learn something special from that animal - even if you don't know what it is yet.
Fire in the Forest & Eagle Eye
Next, we played "Fire in the Forest," and some of us decided to act out our Nature Names during the game, which was cause for lots of laughs! We then played a few rounds of "Eagle Eye" to practice our hiding skills. One great thing about this game is that while being so still in our hiding places, we often notice things we might not have noticed otherwise. Two of our friends had a special experience observing a small green spider on a leaf right in front of their noses while they were hiding in a bush! How cool!
Free Play & Closing Circle
With the little bit of time we had left we explored the area, building structures with sticks, climbing trees and digging in the sand. We then gathered together one last time to share stories from our day - finding spiders and frogs, learning new hiding strategies, and learning discovering our Nature Names.
