7th July 2010 to 11th July 2010 was Forest Week @ Kindi for Tobias. This means that they went to the forest every day that week – no classes – just walking to the forest, listening to some stories, singing some songs & off you go – climbing & exploring! Tobias only went for 3 mornings cos he was in the "small" Kindi – which means the younger group.
Mummies can go too – if they want to cos the teachers do need help – they are really quite good with parent-involvement here. So i went along on the Wednesday. It was a combined event with the other 2 Kindi classes – so there was something like 50 to 60 kids there!
Everyone was to gather at their respective classes & walk from there to the forest – they chose a forest outside the "tick zone" (ticks are a problem here but only if u live in an area identified as a "tick zone" – i.e. where ticks bred) – which wasn’t the one closest to the Kindi but still within walking distance.
Here are the children waiting patiently:
Then off we went down the street, across the road, up the road behind the psychiatric hospital, over the little stream, up the slope & into the forest š
See that wheel-barrel? The kids all take turns to push & pull it – 2 of them will pull & 2 of them push from the back – it contains all the things they need for Forest Day. Each Kindi has their own. Great way to teach the kids to work together!
We gathered round for stories & songs:
Then the kids were let off to climb & explore!!
Here’s a shot of Tobias, walking the plank across the little river bed:
Here’s a couple of him up at the top of the very steep riverbank:
You can see they are climbing up using some ropes tied to the roots of that tree above them. There was lots of slipping & sliding but they always manage to hold on – amazingly good balance š This was the activity which Tobias & his friend, Sebi, loved best & i was stationed at this point to help the smaller kids up the bank – so there are no photos of the other activities. There were swings built from logs & digging & simply walking the trails.
Then it was snack time, the teachers had already built the fire with the wood the kids had collected when we 1st got there so we sat around & ate – most just had crackers or biscuits or fruits. Some had sausages which could be grilled over the fire.
They needed more wood to make another swing so here are Tobias & his friend, Kaan, sawing a log:
Actually Tobias was just sitting on the log to stablize it & Kaan was doing most of the sawing š
Then it was back to more climbing & exploring before it was time to go back to school & sing a closing song & say byebye…
It was great for me to see him do all these "dangerous" things with such confidence & loving nature & being comfortable in it š
i’m a proud mummy š
Next post – more interesting things done @ Kindi š
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