Mountain Kids

Week 5: Minibeasts and More!

This week was all about insects, arachnids and other small creatures.  On Tuesday, we went to the Big T where the kids found many insects to examine in our bug jar.  We also collected bark and pine cones to make a dye bath. Many of the kids wanted to play "Meet a Tree" again, which was great fun with some very big and very tiny trees!  (Meet a Tree is where one person is blindfolded and then brought to a tree. They then have to smell, touch, feel and hug it.  They are then led back to where they started, the blindfold is removed, and then they try to find their tree.) 

On Wednesday we went to our property in Chupadero where we saw our neighbor Eric's beehive.  We also played "Human Camera"  where one partner leads another with eyes closed to a beautiful sight, the leader then trips the shutter by pulling an earlobe or tapping the human camera's head.  The "camera" person then returns to draw a picture of what she saw for her partner.  There were some beautiful drawings!  After lunch we hiked around our property and found some pottery shards from past inhabitants!

On Thursday we returned to our Mansion Ridge Base Camp.  We started the day playing with clay and exploring the forest.  Sandra Odems (Sam's Mom) led us in some yoga, and we learned that Babar and his friends have practiced yoga for a very long time!   After circle and snack, we went for a hike down the arroyo where we stopped to play games, make rattles, and eat lunch.  We all had fun playing "What time is it Mr. Wolf?", "Giants, Wizards and Elves", and making up games involving horses, snakes and pigs! We returned to base camp in the afternoon to tie dye cotton fabric for bandanas in our home made dye bath.

Edie and kids break up pine cones and bark for our dye bath.

Joaquin leads Sklyer to Meet a Tree.

Jackson Y. leads Indie to a special tree.

Chelsea found a Cicada shell and a beautiful rock.

The kids look for pottery shards in Chupadero.

Sandra leads us all in Tree pose. 

Zubin, Indie and Owen dunk their tie dyed bandanas in our home made dye bath.

The ropes at Base Camp are always popular!

 
A great week!
 
 
 

 
 
 

 

Week 4: In Search of Water

This week we talked about water. We learned about otters and how they disappeared from New Mexico rivers more than 60 years ago due to lack of water.  We talked about how they are being reintroduced into New Mexico, and everyone received an Otter Bank to collect pennies for water for the otters. Every penny equals one gallon of water for the otters! Everyone received a beaded blue bracelet to remind us to conserve water on a daily basis.  We also talk about what is happening in the Gulf of Mexico and did a meditation to pray for all living things being affected. We went on several adventures in search of water; the Rio en Medio Trail, Las Golondrinas, and Tsankawi (part of Bandelier).  A very full and fun week!

In Search of Water:

Would we find it in the sky?

Or down below where snail friends hide?

 

In the goat's pen at Las Golondrinas?  

Surely there's gotta be some of it near us!

 

Perhaps there's water in this tree?

 

Or in this plant? There must be!

 

Did it help make this groove, along with so many feet?

 

"Please let me have some. I promise to be sweet!"
 

I'll climb ladders, walk miles, or turn the tap, just to get it.

 

How did these people do it?  They likely had to walk far.

 

Katie and Edie had us run, and spill nary a drop!

 

It sure is hard work, but I will not stop!

 

Alas, we found some spots that water makes all lush and green.

The Rio en Medio is one; do you think that it's clean?

We hiked far just to get here, and then we were late! 

Good thing Mountain Kids parents are really so great. ;)

An acequia found; a New Mexico tradition.

Ponds too are a treat, where some like to go fishin'!

Of course, we just poked around

 

and found plenty of life

which we left mostly alone

and took only pictures, so as not to cause strife.

Skyler turns the camera on the photographer for a change!

  

 

   

Week 3: How to Make a Kite (and paper too!)

On our way down the mountain on Wednesday, we thought about stopping off at Fort Marcy to play for a while, but we were thwarted by thunder, lightning, and rain.  In the wake of that promise, we decided to head there for the afternoon today, to take a break from our mountainous adventures!

In the morning, we played "Meet a Tree" again at the Children's Museum, and then headed over to Zubin's house to help Esha plant a tree.  The kids worked hard, but the soil proved a little too hard to finish the job.  

While there, Edie led a leaf rubbing activity and I showed the kids how to make paper. Everyone made a piece, and some even put in the dried flowers we have been pressing since the first week of camp!  

After lunch at Fort Marcy, some kids chose to play soccer while others played on the playground.  Edie then brought out a kite making activity, which was a real hit!  The kids loved making them, and the day was perfect for kite flying at the park.  What fun!

It was nice change of pace for everyone today and a great end to a fun week.

Jack and his beautiful kite art!

Edie, Zubin, Jackson and Jack; kite makers.

Red light, green light, with kites.

Green light!

Oh,

the joys... 

of childhood!

     
  

 

Week 3: How to Survive in the Woods

Today we talked about the many things we USE trees for.  One thing we talked about is that we can use trees is build a shelter for survival in the forest.  We went to the cross country trails up on the mountain where we built a debris hut last year. We found our hut still there, but in a state of disrepair. Everyone helped to partially dismantle and then rebuild it. Just as we finished the rain started to fall!  Everyone climbed into the shelter to get out of the rain.  We read a book about trees and then talked about some of the plants that one could eat if they needed to survive in the forest.  We found out that the soft inner bark of An Aspen tree is edible, but not delicious!

Sam's Mom, Sandra, did Yoga with us in the morning which was a fabulous way to start the day!  Thank you Sandra. :)

The hikers!

The builders.

It's finished, and it's raining!  Come on in!

Learning about edible wild plants...
"Ever eat a Pine tree?"  - Yule Gibbons 
    

Week 3: How to Hug a Tree

Our theme this week is TREES, so what better way to begin, than by learning how to hug one from an expert; Cliff Ross, the Zwibble guy.  After learning the proper technique and talking more about how we can help the earth, we drove to the Big T to "Meet a Tree!"  

In buddy pairs, the kids led one another, blindfolded to a special tree.  After smelling, touching (with cheeks and hands), reaching high and low and of course, hugging their tree, they were then returned to their starting point, un-blindfolded, and asked to find 'their' tree.  Most people were able to identify their tree pretty quickly. They noticed that "different trees smell different" and noticed real differences in bark texture, circumference and height of each tree. We even found some bear claw markings on one tree!  

We also collected leaf samples to make rubbings, identified several types of plants and trees by looking closely at their leaves, played by the river, and found many beautiful wildflowers in bloom.

Cliff also brought us some butterflies to care for.  The kids decided to set them free up on the mountain. Several had damaged wings and could not fly so the kids did a great job of holding and taking care of them.  

A fun day for all, and a good excuse to hug trees (if you need one!).

Zubin helps Sam to Meet a Tree. Sam practices his hugging technique.
Spencer leads Owen to his special tree.  

Che and Jack lead Edie to her tree. Watch out for that one in front of you Edie! This is also a great game about communication and trust.

Spencer gives his tree a good hug!

Looking closely...

Jackson points out a little tree; small but significant!

Indie goes wild over wildflowers!

Sam with friends; Wade and Joaquin wait patiently for their turn with the butterflies.  

Joaquin

 Wade shows Mountain Dog, Coover, some love. 

 
  

  

Week 2: Bees, and Zwibbles, and Bears - Oh My!

Esha filled in for Edie this week and brought with her a wealth of information and activities about bees! We had a real beekeeper (Caleb) come to speak with us.  He brought some bees that we could see up close, and all of his beekeeping paraphernalia.  It was very interesting to learn how 'smokers' to calm bees down, and how the queen bee lays more than her body weight in eggs each day! 

We found bees harvesting pollen along the Attalaya Trail, and had adventures up the Big T and Little T this week. At the Big T, some kids opted for a longer hike, while others stayed with me to make "sound maps" of the forest. Fortunately, we did NOT see any bears in real life, just in our own games and in stories about bees! 

We also had a visit from Clifford Ross, the founder of Earth's Birthday Project, and his amazing Zwibbles! He read to us the Legend of the Zwibbles and got everyone thinking about how we could help the earth during Mountain Kids, and at home, in order to earn their very own Zwibble.  We are lucky to have two campers who are already caring for Zwibbles, so they can show us the ropes!

We have started to help the earth by making straw homes for bees and using recycled cardboard for our Father's Day picture frames. To see the portraits of all the kids during Week 2 click here. 

During week three we will hone in on a few more projects that we can do over the next four weeks to help the earth. Yay for Zwibbles and thanks to Esha for all her work to inspire this great week of learning about one of our most important insects, bees!

         

 

Week 1: Summer Camp 2010 is Underway!

After one week of Mountain Kids, I am happy to say that we have had a great start to the season; dirty, happy, singing, and of course, tired kids are to be found riding the Adventure Bus each day!  

During our first week we played name games and did team-building activities to get everyone interacting, making new friends, renewing old friendships, and having fun.  We talked about safety and what to do if we were to encounter a bear or a mountain lion in the wilderness, among other things.  We also talked about wildflowers and put a precious few into our press that we will open in two weeks.  For our adventures we went to the "tunnels", to the tire swing at Little Tesuque Creek and to a new hike in Glorieta.  We found worms that we cared for and brought back to the Children's Museum for the 'worm bin.'  Fun and dirty!

Edie started working with me this week and is a wonderful addition to our camp!  Yay for Edie!

Here are a few shots from our Glorieta Adventure; digging for worms, eating, and hiking with buddies!

 
 
 

 

Summer Camp 2009!

If you want to see what we were up to last summer, here is a link to a web gallery of images from Summer Camp 2009. Here are a few teaser shots from the gallery.  For more information about Mountain Kids check out the "What is Mountain Kids?" link to your right, email me to request a flyer or call me!

We had a lot of laughs,

played games,

climbed ropes,

swung on tires, 

challenged ourselves,

made discoveries,

and got really, really dirty!     

Save the Chimps!

Today we were blessed with more snow!  Sledding, snow balls of unusual size and an attempt to make a snow dog filled our time outside.  Inside we started to talk about our Roots and Shoots project for Dr. Jane Goodall's visit in April. We watched a video (not a usual MK activity!) to learn about Dr. Jane. Afterward we talked about what we could do to help animals or the environment (after a discussion about what is the "environment").  We decided to help "Save the Chimps!", a chimpanzee rescue center in Alamagordo,NM by collecting food and toys for the chimps  The kids are very excited about this project and loved to begin learning about chimps. Our study of chimps has just begun!

 

  
 

Ella and the Boys!

Woody is back from Oz! Ella was very excited and Woody seemed pretty happy too! Welcome back, Woody!

We also had Liam at Little Mountain Kids which was great. He is such a trooper; he trundled around finding the smallest bits of anything and giving them to me, occasionally knawing on chalk (which Mama Linda seems to think he needs in his diet), playing in the pretend kitchen and eating bits of pretzel dough (among other things! ;)

Madeleine was sick (we hope she feels better soon!), so it was just Ella and the boys.

Inside we did marble painting and made crazy pretzels and which were very yummy!

Outside we enjoyed not having to be bundled in many layers! Coover (our new sweet dog) was entertaining as she ate snow and bounded like a rabbit through deep piles. We explored the snow cave, played follow the leader, hide and seek, and did some swinging! Woody tried his hand at the tiny hoe (after a complete safety talk and test) while Ella and Liam did some shoveling. Liam found tiny pine cones to carry around.

Over lunch Liam entertained us with funny faces and laughed with Ella and Woody. Reading stories after lunch was a perfect way to wind down after so much fun! Oh and the latte that Linda brought me made my day even more perfect. Thank you, Linda! A very sweet day. :)

Swingers!

Really, she's not trying to choke him!

Happy together!