​

​

​

April 8, 2018

​

Hello Forts and Fairy House families!

Well, what a beautiful day we had out here, especially as the sun came out in the afternoon! The morning started out much cooler, so a fire was a welcoming sight as families rolled in. Once all of our friends were together, we gathered in the game field to play Fire in the Forest. Not only a clever name, this game had us running from one end of the field to the other which quickly warmed up our bodies!  After several rounds we had worked up an appetite and were ready to shed layers, so we grabbed our belongings and hit the trail in search of an enchanted fairy forest! Along the way, we found what we believed to be fairy tracks and followed them down into the woods until we found ourselves in a beautiful clearing along the creekside that was surrounded by Baby Blue Eye flowers and equipped with a fire pit! 

As we gathered around with our snacks for morning circle, we introduced ourselves by sharing our names, nature names and where we would live if we were a fairy. Very creative answers were shared, as some said they would live high up in a tree, under mushrooms and even in a pizza shop! After breaking the ice, I brought awareness to some springtime hazards like bugs, snakes and poison ivy and what we can do to avoid them. After our discussion we were very ready to build a fire in the large fire pit and warm up again, so working together the group found and prepared materials. Using tinder from a Juniper tree and any dry kindling sticks we could find, we started our fire by match. Before too long, the fire was glowing with heat which satisfied us all!

With our fire blazing, we were ready to explore our surroundings and find inspiration for some fairy houses. While searching around, we quickly noticed a fairy house or two as well as a huge stick fort! Some students decided to add on to the walls of the fort and using teamwork, would drag large branches over and hoist them up in the proper position. Others were inspired by the fairy houses and started building a fairy village of their own! Hard work and determination set in, and after a while we took a break for lunch. With our fire still roaring, many of us found sticks and roasted portions of our lunch over the fire! During lunch I also shared an old folktale about the springtime fairies and elves of darkness. With our stomachs satisfied, we got right back to work on the fairy village. 

After much time and hard work, our fairy village grew to include a vacation log cabin, castle (equipped with a kitchen and comfy sofa), tropical pool and jungle gym. We even decided to build a road from tree bark that lead to all of these places! We also enjoyed making fairy crowns made from grapevine and flowers that we wore around the forest. After so much focus on these houses, we decided to take a break and played a few rounds of Eagle Eye. This game requires awareness, stealth and camouflage to be successful, and it was enjoyed by all! With the forest now full of leaves and shrubs, the opportunity to camouflage into our surroundings was endless! After a few rounds, we diverted back to fort building and fairy houses for the remainder of the afternoon. Towards the end of the day, we had in impromptu lesson on wild edibles, while learning about and sampling some Texas natives! The plants we found and tried were wood sorrel, chickweed and wild onion. We followed that with a fun game of Poison Dart Frog. Another awareness activity, a detective must try and determine who the poison dart frog is amongst a group of decoy frogs. 

We gathered once more for our closing circle, where we each shared or Rose, Thorn and Bud of the day. On our hike back up to the sign out area, we gathered flowers and wild edibles to share with our loved ones. What a beautiful day to celebrate fairies together, thanks so much for attending! I hope to see you all again soon! 

Lindsay