It’s the second week of winter preschool for the Nuthatches!
What is furry, red, and walks through the woods without a sound?
A fox, of course! This week the Nuthatches learned how to walk just like red foxes. The trick is to go toes first, slowly, one foot in front of the other. And always keep your fox ears up! When we were practicing this, we noticed that it’s very hard to move quickly when you’re trying to be silent in the woods. Especially on leaves and snow! But we got so good at fox-walking that we snuck into the Chickadees’ camp without them noticing! We left them a gift of dry firewood, and snuck back to our camp before they knew what happened! When we got back to our camp, we found that the Chickadees had left us a gift, of chestnuts and a roasting pan. What a wonderful surprise!
One day at circle, the instructors brought in some mysterious objects. They were white and small. The Nuthatches guessed that they were bones! But what animal did these bones come from? A dinosaur? A giant rat? A bear with big eyes? Maybe…a fox?
The Nuthatches have a real passion for building! We explored some awesome natural materials this week, such as crystalline mud, dead logs, fallen leaves, and moss. We brought to life ice palaces, seesaws on top of seesaws, and even a storytelling room, where we heard about an epic battle between foxes and coyotes. We also learned that instead of taking home materials from the land, sometimes we can snap a picture of them with our minds, saving the memory forever.
Throughout the week, the Nuthatches have been excited to play running games and sing songs, both great ways to stay warm in the winter! We played the games Foxtail, Seasons are Changing, and “What time is it, Fine Words Fox?” When we sing, we like to clap our hands or stomp our feet, and sometimes we sing the song so fast that it makes us dance! This week we sang the birthday song for one of the Nuthatches. It goes like this: Happy birthday to you! You’re a gift from the earth! Happy birthday to you! It’s the day of your birth!