Outdoor Summer Exploration July 21 - 24, 2020

Nature Connection 

continued to fill Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings with learning, service and fun! At Longhaul Farm, we spent a glorious day learning about our food choices, and learning about and taking care of the animals. As we learned more about the environment and our role in reversing negative human impacts on earth, the quote of the day reminded us:  “Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much.” - Helen Keller.  On Wednesday, Instructor Tamarah Fernandez Bridgewater led us in Sundial art, and weaving with natural and recycled materials. The day's word: kindness, and quote: “Do things for people not because of who they are or what they do in return, but because of who you are.” -Harold S. Kushner. Friday was all about water testing with Hudson Valley H2O, poetry writing, and making driftwood art. We had an interesting talk about the word of day, “vigilance,” connecting the idea of guarding ourselves from what's not good for us, what we expose ourselves to and what we consume, to how we are vigilant against Covid 19 by wearing a mask and washing hands. 

Stories and Crafts: 

We're really grateful for the time we spent with the children at Dunbar Heights, reading stories and creating beautiful crafts and artwork on Tuesday and Tuesday mornings. We traveled the world from China to Nigeria, West Africa, through stories, books, and a great big map of the world!  The children had fun cutting and pasting materials to create beautiful necklaces and masks when we read about Nigeria, and enjoyed making dragons after our story about the origins of the Chinese Zodiac. We also happily welcomed two new participants to the camp, and one older sibling, who joined in and helped out, reading aloud to the little ones. 

Dance as Activism on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, our youth were busy developing their ideas. They selected music and costuming, and refined their vision for the statement they want to make about social justice through dance. Their inspiring and fabulous instructor, Belle Ritter, guided and led the process, incorporating the teens' collaborative contributions into choreography on the spot! A wonderful week had by all!