Monsters, Moles and Skunk Holes

"I'm in a monster's mouth with big teeth!"

We learned today more about skunks. We learned that have a really good sense of smell. Pretty funny, don't you think? So with that in mind we went out hunting for "smells". These were scent soaked cotton balls put into a can with a lid. The blue group went first and hid the cans for the yellow group to find along the trail. The kids were very excited to find the cans, smell the scent and give a thumbs up or thumbs down to whether they smelled good or bad. The smells were vanilla, peppermint, eucalyptus and garlic. Theo thought the vanilla smelled like vanilla ice cream. Most of them agreed that the garlic was "yucky". Pretty soon the yellow group had found the blue group hidden along the trail.

After snack time and stories about skunks and their habits, the kids settled down to play. We had kids who found cool holes to hide in and pretend they were moles. Nina, Ruby, Isaac, Jakey and Noah's heads kept popping up out of holes under a downed tree stump with big smiles on their dirty faces.We had other kids who found two logs with ferns growing on top of them that made up a "mouth" that looked like a monster's mouth. Henry was the first to climb in and say he was stuck in the monster's mouth. Pretty soon Theo had climbed up on top of its "head" and others were asking how he had gotten there. Jake and Gilberto both braved climbing on top of the monster and Jake also climbed into the "mouth." Max was exploring behind the tree and checking out the monster's "teeth". Noah, Isaac and Ruby pretended to be deer running up and down the trail.

There was so much creative play going on in the forest today. Remember, these are kids with no toys beyond what they find in the forest, on the ground or growing near by. But they are still able to create stories in their minds of monsters, moles and planes and play peacefully with each other for long stretches of time. It is a joy to watch and learn from them.