Tender Tracks Thursday Week 6 Day 12

Oct. 18, 2018
Roy’s Redwoods
Waxing Moon

Holden and Luna absent.

This is our first time for this year that we went to Roy’s Redwood.  And, what a BEAUTIFUL day it was there!  The ground was completely covered with red Redwood leaves. The glow emanating from the Earths floor was simply radiant!  The air was not too hot and not too cold, no clouds above though Theo thought that maybe it would rain.

The children instantly fanned out and enjoyed the many, many wonderful little magical spots there.  One of our very favorite things that all of us did was bounce on the FIRST bouncy tree at this place. There are a few there.

We all got on this great horizontal Bay Tree trunk. The children hung on and Ruby and I BOUNCED THEM!! We ALL had a very grand time doing this. They didn’t really want us to stop but alas, Ruby and my legs got very tired after awhile!! 🙂

At circle we had a new story. It had two different intentions: firstly to help with the struggles that took place on Tues and secondly to piggyback on those struggles and introduce Tender Tracks Traditional, jobs.  Now every two weeks they will have a new job that will support everyone at Tender Tracks and make out “village” be more whole.

The jobs: Guardian of Safety: they carry a small first aid kit and help anyone if they get a small cut or such.

Guardian of the Earth: they carry a small bag attached to their backpack so that they, and everyone else, can put garbage found in there. 

Snack Helpers: They help with cleaning up snack and folding the mats.

Weather Watcher: They hold the weather stick and we count the days together and then I or Ruby make a notch in the stick for how many days we have been together.

They received these jobs via tags that have pictures of animals that were in the story. Each animal has a certain job, as you will read below.

So, they received their jobs.  Josie and Theo are the Banana Slugs/snack helpers.  Ellie and Eamon are the Guardians of Safety. Uma is the Guardian of the Earth.

They took to their jobs very, very well and, the Guardians of Safety got to work straight away as Ruby cut her finger a bit. Ellie and Eamon patched her up and Uma took the garbage from the bandaids to put in her Earth Bag.

After circle and bouncy tree, we took the children on a wonderful adventure. First, they turned into a caterpillar: We put them in a line, hands on the backpack of the person in front of them, Ruby in the rear, I in the front.  A magick wand was waved with the magick words and POOOF they turned into one caterpillar. They then closed their eyes and they walked quietly down a little trail, then opened their eyes to see where they had gone to. What a grand adventure this was for them too!  Another wonderful Nature Connection sensory awareness game.

For the boys this game was a part of their “Ninja training” and for the girls, to become  just like caterpillars!

After this we then meandered along the back side of this beautiful area discovering all manner of wonders, mushrooms for one thing, until they came upon the place where we were going to have lunch. They instantly went to the other bouncy tree and Eamon and Theo went to the “Cathedral of Redwoods.” They were so quiet though. Ruby discovered why. There were a man and a woman inside playing a guitar and drum. Theo was tucked in a little nook just listening contentedly and so was Eamon.  They came out for lunch.  I told them a story during lunch and then, the boys went right back there!  The people said we could all come and listen so we all quietly sat above them in the tree listening.  It was beautiful.

Sounds and play needed to come about within the children though so, off they went climbing and swinging.  I played more “Ninja”/ nature awareness games with Theo and Eamon and they scampered off into the woods.

The girls took turns on the bouncy tree.

We then all got together to see if we could find our way back.  Uma and Josie realized that they went the wrong way and then Ellie said “I know how to go” and, she did! We stopped at one place and played a bit because Eamon and Theo really wanted to.  This was just as well as Ellie needed to go poop.

We found our way back to the bus after that and made our way back to the park.

It was a day filled with stories, play, adventure, and life.

And, Holden and Luna were very missed.