October 10th

Brr!! Our first Wren's Nest day of the year that required extra layers, warm tea, and even a fire!! We love October in Vermont!

 Samantha brought in cool sensory dominos. There are grass, gravel, velvet, sticky and bumpy patches that are fun to explore.

 There was a very, very, tall tower & some funny faces this morning. 

 Watercolors of mice, insects, and maple trees. 

 Check out this huge piece of cinnamon bark! We passed it around and everyone gave a sniff...a few of us smelled ginger (close!) and some of us guessed that it might be cinnamon. 

 We also explored something that Lincoln, his mom, and his honey bee's gifted us from their hive. We smelled...honey....we felt...sticky...and finally we saw the beautiful honeycomb shape imprinted on the beeswax. Thank you for the wax that will help us craft our Healing Calendula Salve! 

 Sniffing or finally dry calendula flowers before we covered them in organic olive oil for a solar infusion. 

 Hiking up to Breezy Mountain...and it was breezy! 

 Caterpillars coming down the caterpillar highway

 Fixing the roof our lodge

 Finally...some warm tea and the story of the Yellow Jacket Sisters warm fire 

 Loving our after lunch floor books 

 After lunch it was time to celebrate our favorite: Apple Season in Vermont! We set out to build a fire for some warm apple cider and prepare for an apple taste test..

 Picking wild apples from our neighboring tree...

 Thank you, thank you wild apple tree!

 After we reviewed some fire safety essentials and decided on the least smokey spot to sit it was time to gather 'round. First we shared stories with a pass around story stick, then taste tested apples. We tried wild apples that we picked from our tree...sour, crunchy, delicious...and apples from apple farmer Nick's orchard in Shelburne...sweet & juicy! 

 Cider warming with the great big cinnamon stick! 

 Apple stars! Hidden on every branch if you only know where to look :)

 And finally the best autumn treat of all...apple cider & cinnamon warmed over a fire. Yum!

Such a stunning day at Wren's Nest embracing the abundance and change of fall. It is such a treat to share in it with all of your children. Tomorrow we plan to do a bit of roaming around the yellow trail as well as some planting and beautifying of the land we play on. We will need layers and plenty of good food to fill our bellies. I hope you've all had a lovely weekend in the mountains and valleys with your families and friends. 

See you tomorrow! 

October 3rd

October 3rd 

Our first October day together at Wren's Nest was misty and cozy. We loved noticing some of the new colors and had a nice start to our day playing inside and watching the rolling clouds. 

 Teamwork on our very tricky puzzle...we are getting better at figuring it out!

 Samantha brought in a Fox Skeleton found down by the river at Nathan's farm. So cool!

 We wondered about all the different shapes and sizes of the bones and which part of the fox they might have come from. 

 Grant checking the wind for this morning. We had some very good smells lingering in the air this morning, lots of sweet and muddy smells & Lincoln smelled hot dogs!

Our morning weather check told us that it was raining and looked like it would continue so we donned our raincoats and boots to set off for our morning adventure to the rootball tree. 

Passing through Footprint farm where we saw many delicious fall treats growing in their fields. We identified squashes, kale, cabbage, and carrots...yum!  

 Crossing the wishing  bridge where we all made sure to close our eyes and make a wish!

 The golden Ostrich Ferns were so big that we lost all of the children!! ;)

 We made a big wildcrafting loom between two trees. All the children helped gather cattails, ferns, aster flowers, big leaves, and sticks to add to our weaving. We practiced going under and over and had fun finding which plants worked well and adding new colors and textures. 

 The blended right into the forest, we had to be careful not to bump into it!

 Some of us decided to do some watercolor painting cozy in the lap of Mother Earth

 While some decided to make places for the beings of the forest to get cozy! We busily built two gnome holes to provide somewhere for them to in the coming winter months. 

 The entrance marked by pinecones. 

 Before we left we decided to add some of our painted creations to our wildcrafted weaving...a little bit of enchantment. 

We had so much fun out by the rootball tree that the time got away from us! We made our way back to the eco lodge for a late lunch and some time to play inside. 

 Huge books about huge planets are great for sharing! 

 We love working together on our big floor books, creating mazes and worlds. 

Our peaceful river stones... 

Stretching always feels so good after a rest. Katie taught us this tricky stretch!

Another truly great day together at Wren's Nest. Next monday is supposed to be truly chilly so be sure to pack lots of layers! 

September 26th

September 26th

For our first autumn day of Wren's Nest it was truly feeling fall! Jack Frost had his first visit to many of our houses as well as Common Ground. When I arrived there were crystal patterns on the windows and the grass was sparkling. As the sun rose all began to flow again and the children trickled in, ready for our day.

This day began as so many good ones at Wren's Nest do, with beautiful blocks to build with, watercolors to create with, and a nature table to explore.

 Lincolns bee hive

In our morning circle we sang some fun seaside songs about frogs sinking sailboats and the life of Irish pirate!  We also talked more about our animal cards; wondering who might have feathers and who has fur, who eats other animals and who only eats plants. I apologize if animals were a mystery to parents last week. Here is the official list which may clear things up ;)

Lincoln: Porcupine, Sarah: Deer, Aurelia: Jumping Mouse, Jonah: Bobcat, Layla: River Otter, Maisie: Great Blue Heron, Sammy: Monarch, Nash: Racoon, Wyatt: Snapping Turtle, Grant: Robin, Ezra: Raven, Julian: Egret

For the teachers...Lindsay: Skunk, Samantha: Goldfinch, Katie: Barn Owl, Jackson: Painted Turtle

We all went outside to check the weather and took a minute to notice that the season had changed from summer to fall since the last day we were together...And it felt like it!

Ezra checking wind!

We had a bit of business to attend to with our first practice fire drill (we will do this once a month). We told everyone what to expect and pointed out the alarms. Samantha and I made our best beeping noises and the children quietly lined up by the back door. We then walked silently in a line to our meeting place out in the field. We sat in a circle to count to our magic numbers of children and teachers. All of the children did so well! Everybody listened closely, remembered directions, and stayed so quiet! We were very proud.

With all of that taken care of we set off for the pond! Even though fall was in the air the sky was blue as could be and the sun kept us so warm. On the way to the pond we crossed through Footprint Farm, admired their abundant fields and said hello to some of the animals. We heard about Spud the dog, although he did not greet us as we were expecting he would, and we stopped at the chicken coop to hear their songs and watch them basking in the morning sun.

 off to the pond

 Couldn't resist stopping to check out the pink rock!

 Wondering what will become of these juicy green tomatoes at Footprint Farm...

 ...probably food for the chickens!

 Wyatt wearing a milkweed sweater :)

Samantha almost hypnotized this chicken!

Once we arrived, there was not one child that didn't splash around in the water, and even though we tried to keep our pants rolled up many of us got very wet and very muddy. These are good indicators of a very good day :)

Up at the pond some of us were immediately drawn to the big smooth boulder surrounded by clay and mud on the edge of the water, some rolled their pants right up and got to work with shovels and buckets on the sandy shore, and a few decided to warm up in the sun and collect some treasures of autumn to make crowns with.

 Sammy wrote his full name in the sand! We counted 21 letters (same # as Sams!)

It was such a nice day at the pond that we stayed for almost 2 hours! Soon enough though we were hungry for lunch so we made our way back to the eco lodge to get nice and dry and fill our bellies.

After lunch we had some nice quiet time, exploring the nature table, drawing in shared floor books, and looking at the great books that Samantha picked up from the library. We really loved Animalia and The Day the Crayons Quit made us all laugh. Then Samantha told us a very tongue twisting story about a baby in a bobbling bubble.

For our mindfulness activity I brought in a bell and tuning fork. We did some deep listening to these calming sounds with the children laying quietly and raising their hands when they no longer hear the special sound. Afterwards we let the children ring and explore the tuning fork which makes such a loud and circulating sound with just a little tap. Tuning forks are wonderful instruments, good for tuning instruments and also our bodies, they send out vibrations that many regard as healing and can help any of our own vibrations that may be out of tune.

With that it was already just about time for pick up so we gathered for our goodbye circle and reminisced on our wonderful day.

On Monday we are heading out to explore the Root Ball tree! It looks like it could be a wet and chilly day so be sure to pack rain gear and a change of clothes. The herbs we harvested for our first aid kit are drying out nicely so we will continue our work on that as well as have some fun with apples. I hope you have all been able to enjoy apple season with your families, it was a dry summer but I have tasted so many sweet and spunky apples...one of the greatest joys of fall!

We are excited to see you all again on Monday!