The Forest School

We have some really exciting news to share!  The Kickapoo Valley Reserve and the La Farge School District have received a Department of Public Instruction charter school grant to plan and implement the Kickapoo Valley Forest School (KVFS)!  More information is available in the official press release here.

Years of developing the dream of offering nature immersion learning to our community's youngest students has paid off.  We are so excited to open the doors to a school where a world of hands-on, play-based education will help children develop their sense of place while honing the multidisciplinary skills that prepare them for a life of learning.

This week's guest post is from Ximena Puig, KVR Instructor and Kickapoo Valley Forest School founding member.  She writes of the conscious effort she takes in guiding her children to explore eagerly and wisely in the woods and how that pays off for them in huge developmental ways!

My mother, two young sons and I walk down into the woods, on a spring day. Along the way we see Jack-in-the-pulpit, and when we reach the valley we cross a shallow stream where water spiders dance, small watery shadows dart, and rocks await our admiration. There is the smell of rotting leaves, damp wood and new spring growth. These are the woods I played in every day as a child, picking berries, walking across fallen logs and creating worlds with my sister and any friend who might be visiting. Now my little boys are pushing through the briars and splashing through the creek.

We come to a place where a great big oak tree has fallen. Her root end is still up on the taller of the two creek banks, though now her roots fan out towards the sky, and her branches lie on the forest floor on the other lower side, while her thick trunk makes a wonderful, tall bridge. Right away the boys start climbing, each finding just the place to test and practice his skills. The three year old climbs up and down a thick branch over and over, narrating his every move: “Now I put my foot over here. Now I grab this branch. Now I am going down again.” The five year old goes right for the main trunk, walking as far as he feels comfortable, then expressing his fear and wanting a hand to retrace his steps. On his first attempt he cries a little as he climbs back down, but no sooner are his feet on the ground, then he is going up again, and this time he makes it all the way to the middle of the trunk reaching over the creek before he turns around. On his third try he crosses the whole bridge, some 10 ft. above the creek and climbs down on the upper bank radiant with accomplishment. It is all his. My job was to believe that he could, to stand near by and give him the space to do it, without admonishing him to be careful or telling him not to be scared, all while pretending to not pay much attention. He had to make his own way to meet the challenge, and the challenge and thrill of stretching his skills was what kept him going back even when he was a little scared.

This is what children are supposed to do. This is how they grow and learn. When you think about the long history of human development, schooling and scheduled activities as we know them today, are a really small sliver of what childhood has been about. Evolutionarily, children have been programmed to learn through observation and imitation of their parents doing meaningful tasks and through exploration and play in natural environments. Stretching their skills and challenging themselves physically is in their genes. It is how a baby is motivated to learn to crawl and then walk and then run. The multi-sensory nature of the natural world, and the inner drive to explore it, is the teacher your young child needs. My five year old boy was feeling the rough bark of the oak under his fingers, the wind and black flies on face and neck. He was listening to the birds singing and noting the commotion the dog made crashing around in the ferns. He was using his legs to defy gravity as he climbed the slope of the trunk and his inner ears to balance himself. His young elastic brain was organizing and balancing all this sensory stimulation as he worked to stay focused on his desire to cross the tree trunk bridge. On the way back up the hill for lunch there was an extra spring in his step and pride in his shoulders.  And stored deep inside him was the experience and thrill of meeting a challenge and the connections and passages his brain made to allow him to do it. The forest had proved a good teacher and he a willing and excited student. All I needed to do was take him to the woods and be near by.

Something I hope will come of this time when so many scheduled activities have been canceled is more time for undirected, outdoor exploration. Open, unscheduled time, even boredom, can lead children deep into themselves, to experiences and challenges and fun that will make lasting impressions and teach deep lessons. When surveyed about moments and places where they felt at home and held, almost all adults cite a secret outdoor place that they went as children. I hope that this summer there will be more children in the woods, listening to the birds and the wind and their hearts and bodies, and making lasting passageways in their brains that lead them to know themselves and their outdoor spaces better.

Branching Out

An interview and essay from Vicki Ramsay, Branching Out KVR Camp Instructor

Tell us about yourself. Is there anything special you want campers and families to know about you and your life?
I live in the small town of Viroqua with my 2 boys, but I really appreciate how much wild land is available for us all to explore, for us to feel a part of: the KVR land, Wildcat Mountain and other State Parks, public fishing spots that you can find by Cook Creek, and county or private park lands like Sidie Hollow, Duck Egg and Earthology Parks. We love to go canoeing and kayaking together, mostly down the Kickapoo, but we're venturing out more this summer to find new rivers and streams.

What do you love about being a camp instructor?
Being a camp instructor has allowed me a window into my own love of exploring and playing in nature. I love the camp experience of discovering new things together. Whether it's learning a new game, spotting a small toad, or discovering a technique for building shelters outside, when we all come together to learn, what we learn is so much more fun! When kids bring in their own unique finds from nature to share with all of us, the joy we share in each others' discoveries is a unique part of camp.

What ideas or tips do you have for campers who may be missing camp this summer?
If you can get to the KVR this summer, do it! Bring your family to the Valley of the Elves or for a walk to the covered bridge. Show them the pond where we see northern water snakes basking in the sun or the forest where you built shelters. Teach them how to play Fire in the Forest! If you're someone who is new to camp, call up the KVR and ask them about how to find a couple of these spots. You could go early in the morning and check out the bird blind. Weister Creek has a lot of great swimming spots. Anyone can do fun camp things even in your own back yard. Shelters are cool to build and use for a camp out or picnic lunch.

What other key lessons or wisdom would you like to share?
The COVID-19 quarantine has created a time out of time. While it may seem some things we love have been taken away, there have been other aspects that offer unique opportunities. One gift is that this circumstance allows us more time to spend outside in nature, exploring and observing. For example, besides gardening and finding new trails to explore while I'm jogging, I've spotted birds I've never seen before in this area: a loon, a yellow warbler, and a ruddy turnstone!

Do you have a favorite spot or activity on the KVR that you'd love to remind campers and their families to visit when they can?
Our family loves canoeing and kayaking. My boys have been doing it since they were little and now they're older, they love the freedom of being in their own kayaks. We took a canoe/kayak trip through KVR land recently and were able to see glimpses of places we frequented during camp from a whole different vantage point. Going UNDER the covered bridge! In some camps we've often explored a little stream from its roots to under Billy Goats' Gruff bridge almost to where it empties into the Kickapoo. Kids love to swim and play in the deep holes of water and swirling mud. As we canoed past, we saw this favorite camp play spot in the creek right before it empties into the river. And we spotted one of our favorite places to visit on short hikes to the tiny "almostacave." Just seeing some of the places where we had been for camp brought back a lot of great memories.

What are some of your favorite nature books?
Earth, Water, Fire and Air by Walter Kraul
The Land Remembers by Ben Logan
Catkin by Antonia Barber

A Birthday River Trip

by Vicki Ramsay

There are lots of trips, shorter and longer, that you can take by canoe or kayak down the Kickapoo River, but one that was new to me and that we took on my birthday in June this year began at Bridge 14 on County P and ended at Bridge 20 in La Farge.  This trip was glorious! The sun shone brightly but the weather wasn't too hot. A lovely breeze blew through the trees and grasses; red-winged blackbirds chirred loudly from the edges of fields, the leaves of shaggy old maples leaning over the river flashed green and silver. Where the upper regions of the Kickapoo pass through lots of farmland and Wildcat Mountain State Park, this part of the river is almost entirely on KVR land. If you drove down Hwy 131 from LaFarge to County P, you would see undulating hills, prairie, red clusters of sumac lining the edge of the road and deciduous forests dark with mystery. But traveling on the river you pass through grasslands dotted with trees, lulled into dreamland by the ringing songs of toads, and then suddenly you round a bend and encounter humongous cliffs rising high above with small ledges of limestone holding tiny microcosms of life: small ferns, tiny wildflowers, a masterful tunnel built out of spider web, with a spider hiding deep inside, and the sweet sound of fresh water drip, drip, dripping into the river below.

The cliffs are adorned with forests of gigantic white pine and Eastern hemlock trees, often towering up to the sky, but also leaning out at odd angles, still firmly rooted into the rock. We saw an immature bald eagle swooping out from the branches of one of these trees, its head feathers clearly changing from speckled brown to white. On its way further downstream it startled a Canada goose and her baby, and one of our friends remarked that the eagle might have wanted a snack! We saw two more goose parents paddling with their little gaggle of babies running over the top of the water, flapping tiny fuzzy wings to escape the canoes coming towards them.

Mayflies, damselflies and dragonflies zoomed past our heads and around our paddles. There was one insect that none of us could identify, distinctively white and fuzzy with 2 tails. It was very graceful and there were lots of them; maybe you can be the first to let me know what it was!

And then there was the dragon. I've been known to joke about the Kickapoo Crocodile at times but this creature took us all by surprise. It descended down the hillside with the bony plates on its back distinctively rising up in ridges. “What is that?!” my youngest son exclaimed. “It looks like a dragon!” someone replied. We kept staring and then as the river turned a bit and us with it, we saw its bony ridges were made up of small rectangular cages that were stuck side by side together, but tipped over, zig-zagging down the hillside. “Oh!” I said. “Mink cages.” And then we all went into our stories about the local history of mink farming.

When we came to Bridge 18, the covered bridge to which our summer camp kids and school groups often hike, it was wild to see it from the perspective of the river. “Aho!” yelled a voice from the shore, and we waved at a young father, mother and small child picking their way among the rip rap and wildflowers. We went under the bridge and then started looking for landmarks of places we love to go during summer camp. We saw the place where the small stream that runs under Billy Goats' Gruff bridge empties into the Kickapoo and reminisced about our times playing there. We saw the tiny “almostacave,” near the water's edge and then kept traveling, down past the cliffs along Wintergreen trail. We stopped there, on a wet sandbar in the dappled sunlight to eat dinner and chocolate beet cake with magenta frosting. (Ask me for the recipe, it's pretty awesome.) Prints of raccoon, burrowing insects, Great Blue Heron, and other small birds dotted the mud next to the water, each with its own unique relationship to this ancient, winding river. 

Our last leg of the journey eventually brought us past the Dam tower and out of KVR land. We started seeing signs of civilization: high power lines, small structures built near the river, then a few homes. Signs of Highway 82 were visible but on the Kickapoo, it's easy to be fooled. How many more bends might the river take between there and here? Lots, I tell you. And then, oh! One more giant surprise cliff before the end, as long as a city block! The take-out spot was deep and muddy, each one of us emerging with our boats from the tall grasses, bearing mud up to our shins that looked like cowboy boots. There were some mud fights as we waited for our friends to bring the other car. Fireflies started to come out in distant places.

Like the grass that adorns the top of the limestone bluffs, rich with layers of history of this place when it was a shallow sea, or a giant plateau impervious to the marauding glaciers that roared past it over the last million years, we too, are but a small piece of a much bigger story.

Forest Friends and Kindercamp

This week children (and parents) would have joined us at KVR for Forest Friends and Kindercamp. Since we can't gather together we decided to gather some resources, words of encouragement, and ideas for activities from our beloved camp instructors. Here's hoping you get to play outside!

Forest Friends

An Interview with Ximena Puig, Susana Ruder and Julie Hoel

Tell us about yourself. Is there anything special you want campers and families to know about you and your life?

Ximena:  I have two little boys, with whom I spend a lot of time outside. The older I grow the more I learn that there is wisdom, perfection and beauty in every living thing, and even in things we see as inanimate, like rocks and clouds. I am amazed to see how intuitive this feeling is to small children, and how their respect and love for all living things is innate and strong, especially when we don't dismiss their perspective.

Susana:  I love water so much. From tiny drops of rain collected in leaves, to rivers and lakes. Water brings me so much peace and a sense of freshness. I spent my early years swimming in a very cold spring fed pool almost every weekend or going to the mountains nearby and swimming in very warm volcanic hot springs. I think that keeps me going back to the water daily. You can find me sitting by the small and quiet spring that emerges from deep in the woods, or by the rushing river full of trout, or canoeing the Kickapoo if I get very lucky.

Julie:  I grew up playing outside, swimming and going to YMCA camp. Summers as a camp counselor shaped my character. As an adult, I worked for the YMCA, stayed home with my young children, and then was a Wisconsin teacher for 20 years. Since I retired to the Driftless, I have become more in tune with the cycles of nature. KVR has been a big part of this new learning.

What ideas or tips do you have for campers who may be missing camp this summer?

Ximena: Get outside every day! Go to wild places without an agenda. Leave your phones behind. Parents, bring something quiet to do, sit and practice being present to the beauty around you, or jump right into the play, but let your children poke around and even tell you they are bored, and then watch as they find something fantastic to do.

Susana:  Try and think of special things you can do to make your day fun. A sense of adventure can fill us with new energy and moves us to discover new things. Simple things like cooking a meal over a fire, creating a spot to observe wild life, learning basic carving techniques (try carving a stick, it can be quite a project!), learning basic fishing techniques or learning a few new wild edibles to make a yummy salad, can brighten your day. Making a simple weekly calendar were you can mark some special days for adventures is so much fun. Then the kids and adults can work together to decide where to go and what is needed for the day. This area has so much to offer: canoeing, fishing, hiking, swimming, this is a great time of the year to explore and visit new places.

Julie:  Head to the woods with your child anyway! Remember to leave your phone in the car and focus on following your child’s lead.

Do you have a favorite spot or activity on the KVR that you'd love to remind campers and their families to visit when they can? 

The rock outcroppings on Old Harris Trail are a wonderful, magical place for small children and we certainly would have visited them in camp. 

Some of my favorite spots are the deep tight valleys where we find water and coolness. I went to one today with my kids and we saw a small pond full of hundreds of tadpoles. We played by the small creek, floated boats, and then hiked up the rocks filled with tiny waterfalls. There my kids built a super cool ramp out of sand and some clay and tested how rocks could move in it. When you get home be sure to check for ticks!

Here are some favorite books for gathering inspiration to head outside with your children: 

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer (for adults)

Can you Hear the Trees Talking? by Peter Wohlleben (children)

Earthways by Carol Petrash (for adults- full of fun nature activities to do with kids)

Keepers of the Earth by Joseph Bruchac 
Keepers of the Animals by Joseph Bruchac

Sing a Song of Seasons (song book with CD of seasonal children's songs)

The Complete Book of Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker (children and adults!)

Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots by Sharon Lovejoy (for gardening ideas) 

Playing the Forest School Way by Jane Worroll and Peter Houghton (for ideas on what to do in the woods)

The Organic Artist by Nick Neddo (for ideas on using nature to make art) 

KinderCamp

The Power of Just Being in Nature

By Julia Buckingham

We know that nature is a powerful teacher: a teacher for all of the good, beautiful, bad and hard to swallow lessons. Even as adults, we continue to learn these lessons. The act of just being in nature, for the young child, can be a very powerful experience.  It is our responsibility, as adults, to nurture and create opportunities for young children to just be in nature. 

Taking the time to be in nature means exactly that. Experience nature without a specific goal in mind; such as to collect mushrooms or go on a particular hike. If you make it to the top of the lookout or find a few mushrooms along the way, great, but it should not be your goal. The adult does not even have to take the time to identify the plants, rocks, animals and things encountered along the way. We want to offer the opportunity to spend time observing and just being in nature. 

We want these experiences to ignite the senses in a multi-sensory explosion. Take a moment to think of the possibilities for all of the smells, sights, sounds, and textures to be taken in all at the same time, every minute while in nature. 

Follow the child’s lead.  If they want to hike fast on the muddy trail, stop to watch a caterpillar or splash in a small creek, let them, and for as long as they want. There is a lot to take in, and concentrating on something, or focusing their attention, is important for young children to practice.  Take time to walk at a leisurely pace and stop to investigate curiosities along the way. The adult can even instigate some of these investigations. Maybe, with the use of a stick, dig below the surface to look for invertebrates; or take the time to look under a log (making sure to gently put it back when you are done observing). 

Ask questions instead of directly naming or identifying an object or living thing. Notice all of the small details, use statements like, “I notice”, “Why do you think”, “How do they...”, “Where are they...” The object of this way of observation is to spark inquiry and intrigue. 

There are numerous reasons why we offer children time in nature. One of these reasons is to help foster a love for the natural world. This love nurtures the child’s respect and awe for nature. Children who form this relationship with nature will grow up wanting to learn more about the natural world and better yet, want to help protect it. 

For now, the young child does not need to be bothered by the ills of destruction of natural resources. For now, the young child needs to be given the opportunity to just be in nature.

Through observation children can make their own connections. Asking inquiry based questions can help the child engage in a higher level of thinking. 

Next time you are planning to just be in nature try a favorite activity of mine: find a comfy spot to sit quietly. Close your eyes and count on your fingers how many different sounds you hear.

Check out Julia's Nature Report channel for a fabulous example of inquiry based questions you could ask a young child while observing nature: https://youtu.be/0ldA0PmGohI 

Pause

Today we pause and ask you to do so with us

in the name of the Black lives lost to police brutality in this nation,

in respect for the historic and systematic oppression endured for centuries by Indigenous people, Black people, and people of color here, and

in solidarity with the current struggle to shift our collective humanity.

We honor the protests of racial injustice, and we ask that you continue to learn about these truths we must hold self-evident in the face of so much unrest and the pandemic. 

We do not have a post to share this day to honor learning outside. We ask that you spend time instead exploring these resources by Black voices to learn and understand more about the ways that even being outside in this nation safely and in all the richness of those experiences is a privilege vital to all and yet still not accessible to all.

May we all join in the work of changing this.

It's the Little Things

The Urgent Need for Nature During and After COVID-19

Breaking Down Racial Hierarchy

Occupy Nature: Parks are for People

The Fierce Urgency of Nature

Resources via The Children and Nature Network