This week our last morning meeting leader planned the day and it was adventurous! We started by making predator ears to wear - we could choose to be a real predator like a black bear or one made in our imagination. After crafting, we met for morning meeting and our morning meeting leader asked if we could hike down to Beaver Pond. Fortunately, it was a mild day with some sunshine so we thought a hike and outdoor lunch sounded like a great idea! So we packed up our bags and made our way through the woods...

And over a bridge...

Until we came across the perfect lookout over Beaver Pond. It looked like Thursday's frigid temperatures froze the entire pond! We talked about who lives in the pond and what they do during the winter time. All of the salamanders, frogs, turtles and other pond dwellers are hibernating under the ice in the leaf little at the bottom of the pond. We also noticed that there was an echo and took a moment to make some silly noises. 

Then, we continued on our way! The trails were a little icy so we took our time. We even stopped on a big patch of ice to slide around and pretend we were ice skating. 

Once we made it down to Beaver Pond we entertained ourselves by smashing ice with sticks and drawing in the soil. Some of us chose sticks to chop the ice based on their shape or heaviness. Sometimes we needed two people on one stick to have the strength to hammer it down! 

When we started to get chilly, we started a game of 'What Time is it Mr. Fox?' to warm us up. We play this game fairly often and talked about step size in the past because some of us were taking giant steps, too many steps or running. Emily and I are bigger people with bigger feet, so we explained that we should always be a few steps ahead of everyone. During this round I noticed how much more mindful our friends were of their step size and accuracy! 

Finally, we had some lunch and packed all of our belongings up to head back up to the barn. We pretended we were on a train as we hiked - all aboard the Audubon Express! Once we got to the barn we made some snowflakes to decorate the windows and to bring home. 

Can't wait for our winter celebration next week!