Fledgling Camp 3, August 15-17

Day 1: Hoag's Pond

Our first day together was spent at Hoag's Pond.  This hidden wetland sits within the "Hundred Acre Wood"; and has been preserved for public enjoyment.  Because of it's relative secluded nature it is chock full of life; ducks, deer, frogs, dragonflies and damselflies galore, great blue herons, an otter or fox.

We started our day using the Super Secret Spider Sprayers as an icebreaker. We paired up into trail buddies (we deliberately ask them to pair up with someone they don't know well) and used the sprayers to care for the spiders by giving them a much needed drink, and explored the structure and symmetry of spider webs. Driven by their curiosity, some campers learned which parts of the web were sticky and which were not by touching the different strands of web. We use the mottos challenge by choice and stretch your edge when supporting new exploring opportunities. Our experience shows that huge personal growth can happen when you do something you've never done before or step into your personal perception of fear.

Fledglings spent the day exploring nature, playing games, getting to know one another, and learning the foundational mottos of our organization.  Of most importance is our safety first motto. We know that both physical and emotional safety are important for a successful experience. By emphasizing both repeatedly we hope to establish a culture where we feel free to explore, express their needs, and widen our circle in reaching out to make new friends. These Fledglings brought up the golden rule of treating others like you want to be treated, and they practiced this "rule" in their interactions all week, with minimal reminders from mentoring team.

Thanks to the warm weather and our water consumption, we attained a new comfort using the nature potty, with repeated practice "peeing like a bear". We got stuck in the mud, scraped knees, got stung by nettle, explored our individual roles in our group dynamic, made fairy villages and connected to nature and each other is all kinds of ways. On their own initiative, we played 12+ rounds of duck, duck, goose, using different animals as context and taking turns so that each person got a chance.

For many, their favorite time together today was actually spent alone, in about twenty minutes of quiet, solo time during a cherished tradition called peaceful place. Think of the last time you were able to spend quiet time in nature, just observing and connecting to nature in your own way. Remember how it feels. What a gift this is to a child! To anyone. We ended the day with a circle, taking turns expressing our gratitude for what we connected with. This Attitude of Gratitude is both a motto and a tradition. Please ask your Fledgling what they were most grateful for!

Day 2: Bakerview Beach (A big thank you to the Campbells for allowing us to access the beach from their home -and sharing their sweet dog Cocoa!)

After a quick gathering game of Furry the Fir Cone, we held our opening circle to talk about our plan for the day. We talked about the concept of the Salish Sea, why estuaries were special and the power of the sun. We applied sunscreen and expressed how we were feeling today by comparing our inner selves to weather (I'm feeling sunny. I'm feeling partly cloudy), passed out jobs and then we were off and ready to explore. The expansiveness of the beach called! These fledglings dropped their packs as soon as we hit the beach and some took off straight across the sand on their way to the water's edge, with a couple of mentors and Cocoa the dog in their wake. They walked out across the exposed tidal flats on their journey for a long time, thanks to the low tide and the Nooksack river -which dumps sediment at least a mile into Bellingham Bay.

Others chose to stay closer to our home base in the driftwood logs and began excavating and building their castles, exploring nature close at hand and social relationships. This divided the group temporarily, but gave these children freedom to fuel their wonder and curiosity, explore their senses, choose their path and engage with each other in small groups. These small groups utilize a high level of collaboration and compromise skills as we navigate the social realm of play; sharing ideas, choosing who to explore with, who to play with and how to work together as they problem solved while building their villages. These are critical life skills! They practiced and became confident going potty outdoors at this point, as again we drank lots of water.

Both groups encountered wildlife from eagles, gulls, clams and flounder and fully engaged with the physical environment. So much fun in the sand, eelgrass, algae, seawater and muck! By lunchtime we had reassembled as a group to explore the coastline, play games together, and create some more villages. Exploring the many uses of Bull kelp was particularly fun, and discussing why a flounder's eyes move from one side of it's head to the other, "Whoa! That's so weird"! Seeking shelter from the sun, we headed over to the shade of some massive willow trees near the estuary, where the Nooksack River actually merges into Bellingham Bay. This is where we had our peaceful place for a 20+ minutes, ending by building wish boats out of driftwood to send our gratitude out to the world.

We stood on top of a mountain! Well, we discovered that by standing on the sand in the estuary, we were actually standing on the eroded product of the glacier's work in the mountains. It's a river's job to bring the mountains down to the sea, and they break up those big boulders on the mountains, crash them around as they tumble downstream until they reach the bay as the sand particles we were standing on. There was this long pregnant pause and then, "Whoa". Which lead to jumping, of course!

We circled up after this long day of sunshine to express our gratitude for the gifts of the day. Words of the Day: Gud (Good mud), fun, sun, Cocoa, estuary, Salish Sea.

Day 3: Lake Padden!

The Wild Whatcom motto most in play today (besides Safety first!) was It's about the journey, not the destination. We started our day with a game, Pack Leader. We welcomed each other, acknowledged our tired bodies and went on our journey of exploration with a somewhat more subdued feel to our group. We had settled into a routine of finding a new trail buddy, "It's harder to find someone I don't know, now" and being open to the journey of discovery that awaited us. First, though, spiderwebs! A reflection of our very first moments together, exploring spiderwebs went from wonder and admiration for their structure and beauty to a thorough examination of spider silk, different silk consistency and identifying the subtle differences between female/male spiders, anatomy and comparison to insects and related arachnids, like Daddy Longlegs/Harvestmen. 

We hiked along the Padden Gorge for a bit, revisiting some plant identification like nettles, and did the Oregon Grape challenge, and then up into the forest to what was to become our playground for the next 3 hours. We mentors didn't start off with that intention, but it was clear to us that these fledglings were in need of some downtime to relax and play. They needed time to explore freely to connect with nature, and each other in new ways.  They were tired, and needed a bit of rest, snack and water and time to unwind by playing. There is ample research supporting the long term value of unstructured time to play in nature. Those children lucky enough to have time to freely play in nature, are more likely to develop a relationship with nature, even a love for nature, and are more likely to take care of nature when they are grown ups. 

It all started with Banana Slugs. They were our gateway to imaginative play. We found a few in the place we stopped for snack and our imaginations let loose from there as we decided to build slug homes/fairy houses. We explained slug anatomy and natural history and the awesomeness of their mucus/slime. We talked about how slugs are hermaphrodites, and we should consider what names might work and which pronouns to use. The Fledglings decided to work alone or in small groups, which shifted quite a lot as they got caught up in each other's imaginative worlds. Soon there was a slug doctor's office, a bug apartment building, a playground and multiple hands-on encounters with slugs and slug slime, some for the very first time. One child who previously was quite scared of slugs stretched her edge enough to touch one! Play breaks down barriers of all kinds, whether they be self imposed fears, social awkwardness, anxiety or physical stamina outdoors. We mentors saw these children move from independent creative projects to full engagement with each other. For creating connections with nature and each other, there is no better glue than time to play together. We played a few more directed games too, and had more hands-on slug love than any group I've ever seen! You'll have to look through our photo album for lots of slug love.

We finally decided we were hungry enough and it was hot enough to hike back down to the lake, eat lunch and go swimming for our last activity together. There were many sighs as we realized that our days together were coming to a close. We ended with a circle of gratitude for each other, which was challenging for some of us. It is understandably difficult to express personal feelings to a group, especially at this age.

We agreed on our words for the day: slugs, mud, friends, Wild Whatcom!

Click right here for the photo album for this session of camp.