Marin Tender Tracks Tues. Nov. 17, 2015 Day 19

Waxing Moon
Deer Park

Today was Rhett’s birthday celebration. He came happy with his snack and delighted to receive his day. He very much wanted to go to Deer Park and eat lunch at the play house there. While we were waiting for Michelle as well as Velia, we played a couple of circle games; The Farmer in the Dell and  our squirrel story/game, Aristosaw.  We laughed and laughed. Velia came, we found our way across the street and then we saw that Michelle was coming.  I said, “Children hide!”  They scattered and were SOOOO QUIET!!!!!”  From a nature awareness teachers perspective this is the ultimate of what we want:  To be still in Nature, through play. By doing so, and without  knowing it, they become more and more aware as well as attuned to the natural world.  Another word for it is called Sit SPot.  When children get older they typically go and do this on their own but when they are little like this, the way it is introduced, is through play and games like this.   It was incredible.  When Michelle finally found them they were ALL sitting together very, very quietly and were in glee to jump out and say “HERE WE ARE!!!!”
After some more play we then came back and  began our circle, across the parking lot in the beautiful wooded area that we have all had circle and play before.
I loved telling Rhett’s birthday story because twice when I told aspects of his life he said, with surprised excitement,”Hey, that happened to me!!!” and “That happened to me too!!”  Then he seemed to put some pieces together and said, “My Mom said she was sending you something..”  And this didn’t seem to matter he still beamed with delight.   When he received his Tender Tracks present he immediately let everyone see what he got and wanted them to pass it around the circle so they could all see, including Michelle and I. He was also proud and happy to be passing out his snack to everyone.
After circle and some explorations, Rhett lead us down a path that Michelle and I suggested we take, another way, to get to the Tree House.  He actually figured out exactly where the right turn off to take was and then we all found ourselves, eventually, at the Tree house.
We never went any further then this.  At first they just wanted to run up and eat lunch.  We had them play a bit longer and then by 11:30 they wanted to eat.  They set themselves up in the many places that they enjoy there.  Then, bit by bit they unfolded into a variety of different streams. Aaron had fun lying on a tree log like a cat and playing with the dirt and leaves. Xander joined him on and off.  Rhett loved swinging on the swing and helping Io and Layton do the same.  Talay was so very aware of the three crows that were just resting above us/near us and noticing the spiders that you could and couldn’t see and their spider webs where we were.   Velia and Ariel had fun during lunch just laughing and being very spunky and funny and Alara was in and out of it all.  There was swinging on swings, sliding up and down the hill, playing family and then, Xander and I went off to see if he could slide a board down the hill.  I then noticed Buckeyes and got excited. The two of us went down the hill and worked at getting the Buckeyes down.  I then started to make puppets out of them. Little by little they all came down asking for some. Michelle came down from where she was continuing to make the shoulder straps for their bags and then they all tried to get buckeyes down. Velia and Ariel “stole” Michelles wool and from there a great deal of fun, running, chasing, and hiding of yarn took place.
At the end of the day we had fun rolling all the back packs down the hill and seeing which ones went slow and fast.  There was a great deal of running all about, and then, oh yes, I told several stories at the end of the day with “tell some more tell some more.”  Oh how children LOVE stories!!!!
One of my favorite parts was when some of them reached the moment where, since we had not moved much, they then got “bored” and said “I want to go home now.”  In a world that rarely stops and allows empty space to happen this was the best moment; Michelle and I holding space for them to feel into this and from it find all manner of unexpected adventures to arise. And, they did!!!
A beautiful, beautiful day.