Gray Squirrels 2017-18: Week 12 - Fire and Community Compass
We opened our Tuesday gathering with the Deer Bounding Challenge!. This game allows us to leap like deer over our backpacks. The challenge is that the obstacle gets bigger with every additional backpack!
This week we were responsible for creating the fire with guidance from Ms. Kathryn and Ms. Devin. Through asking "yes or no" questions to Ms. Devin and Ms. Kathryn, we successfully laid down a pine straw bed, built a foundation, and successfully lit a fire!
Owen and West looked at the additions made to the fort, and saw that their original design was the part that kept the water out the best.
One of our challenges of the day was a game called "community compass." Each Grey Squirrel received a compass direction and a corresponding word of something they may find in the forest. The challenge was to try to orient themselves in the direction they picked out of the hat. We were surprised to see that the sun did not rise due East, because of the time of the year! For the rest of the day we pondered our compass word as we went about our activities.
East: Hazards
Southeast: Things to catch, climb, and tend
South: Mammals
Southwest: Caring and Tending
West: Nature working together
Northwest: Heritage Species
North: Trees
Northeast: Birds
Jay, West, and Owen went on a wander with Ms. Kathryn and found that the swamp was filled with deep, fast running water. They also revisited some of the scat found from last week after the rainstorms, and think that it may be from a fox.
While some of the group wandered, the rest of the Gray Squirrels had fun making additions to the Chipmunk Village and tending the fire. Additions to the Chipmunk Village this week included lounging areas and more stores.
When the groups reconvened, we shared our experiences over a nice cup of pine needle tea. The tea tasted a little like citrus, and is packed with vitamins!
We finished our day with a game of capture the flag that challenged us to walk through the forest quietly, and work as a team to get the other teams flag! We completed our day with sharing our highlights and deciding on a fire challenge for the week. Our challenge was to brainstorm and research different fire building tactics.
