Preschool Programs

Falling into Forest Preschool

October 20, 2017

The weather for Forest Camp this week was absolutely beautiful for mid-October! We took advantage of not having to wear our winter jackets yet and stayed outside all day long soaking up the sun. We started the day off a little differently this week, with an activity about animal activity in the winter. Emily hid 16 different pictures around the yard of different Vermont animals that all do something different when the cold weather comes. Each camper got to find two, and when they were all found, we gathered together to learn about what exactly they do during winter. For animals that migrate, we would flap our wings. For animals that hibernate, we would pretend to be asleep. For animals that stayed here, we would run in place. We got to learn about so many animals and how they spend their winters!

Morning play time
Photo: Audubon Vermont

Our morning leader picked out an incredible day for us, and we all had so much fun. We had our snack and story at Forest Camp then began the trek up to Lookout Rock. 

Morning Meeting
Photo: Audubon Vermont

We played a game while hiking through the woods called Winter, and whenever Emily yells "winter", campers would have 10 seconds to run off the trail and pretend to be asleep like a hibernating animal. When she yells "spring!" everyone wakes back up and returns to the trail to keep hiking.

Preschool Hike
Photo: Audubon Vermont
Playing Games
Photo: Audubon Vermont

Once we arrived there, we saw that there was a huge amount of leaves on the ground, so we decided to make a leaf pile to jump in. Campers worked so hard to build a huge leaf pile big enough for 8 of them to jump in, and it was well worth it. Everyone held hands and jumped in at the same time, and there wasn't a face without a smile and laugh.

Leaf Pile Fun
Photo: Audubon Vermont

We respectfully spread the leaves back out to where they were and looped back to Forest Camp on the Hires trail--a very long hike for us! We were all ready to have a seat and eat lunch at this point. 

Once we got back, we decided to color in the barn and have our thank you circle until our families came to pick us up. 

How you can help, right now