Today at forest school was a day fun, fights and friendships.
We started the day with a very long walk up the mountain or should say several walks up the mountain.
It was kinda 2 steps forward 1 step back. At first one kid showed up late and the kids saw him down on the road from top of hill so they ran back down to greet him and we did the ascent back up the hill again.
The berries were in full bloom so the kids stopped at every bush along the way for a nibble. This made the hike up the mountain take a long time.
Half way up the ascent some kids found a bamboo stick and decided to put it on their shoulders and chant “so-rya se-ja” and it wasn’t long before every kid was under the stick chanting and hauling it up the mountain.
This seem to make up for some lost time from berry picking.
Seeing them have so much fun with the bamboo stick Taiko, it gave me the idea to try and make a bamboo taiko once we got up to the summit.
Once we reached the top I cut some thick bamboos and started putting together a Taiko with vines and bamboo.
With the help of some kids I tied four large bamboo sticks together with cross pieces to make it sturdy.
Lunchtime came up quickly and I was not quite done the Taiko, so I put it aside and sat down for a bento.
Lunch was good and besides a few caterpillar bombings it was just another nice meal on Habu mountain.
After lunch I decided to finish the Taiko. Once finished, the kids and parents gathered and the kids took turns riding on top and lifting the Taiko chanting “so-rya se-jya”.
After about 20 mins the kids got bored and moved on to their next adventure.
Several kids then discovered that they could take pieces of charcoal out of the fire pit and use it to draw pictures on the stones around the pit. It was fun watching them get creative and very dirty.
At around 2 pm several fights broke out over pieces of bamboo and it was pretty obvious we had some tired kids on are hands.
There was some wrestling and hitting and crying and apologies.
A ladybug seem to stop two kids from fighting and within minutes of fighting they were laughing and helping each other take care of a the ladybug and on the walk back down the mountain they were best friends looking for berries again.
All in all it was just another great day on Habu mountain, kids being creative, getting exercise, learning about nature and each other. I can’t wait to do it again.
Shayle