A new landscape welcomed us as we arrived at Woodside National Historic Site on this snowy February morning. The children were delighted by the snow topography Nature and Dan, the Parks Canada Ranger, created for us. He created a network of trails in the deep-deep snow. “It is like a work of art!” the children noticed as they explored the new terrain. Kelly observed that it felt like the children were sculpting the landscape embracing the opportunities the snow gifted to them for creative expression.
Eva received a gift of Birch Bark, and we had a discussion about the uses and the history of Birch Art in Indigenous cultures. The children remembered from previous discussions that Birch Bark was used as building material for baskets, canoes, and as paper in the past. The group decided to create their own stories on the lovely light auburn surfaces.
Our morning continued with working together to create the safety zone around our fire. The children created a safety area using pieces of bright red rope and pylons, the group worked on knots independently in order to cover the circumference of the required safety area.
Dan’s snow art creation inspired some storytelling around the fire, the children requested a story about “dragons and ice”. Eva shared a story heard from her Great Grandmother (thank you Dedike) about “Emese and Ice Fire”. The short version: “Ice Fire is a beautiful dragon who separates the light into the colours of the rainbow and creates the most enchanting music with icicle covered wings while flying above the mountains. Ice Fire collects the snow on the snow-caped peaks of The Carpathian Mountains and melts the snow into bubbling brooks, streams and rivers to provide water for all the plants, animals and other living beings. Emese is a child who befriends Ice Fire and realizes that there is lots more to learn about Snow.”
We embarked on a “snow labyrinth-walk”, following the new trails Dan created in the snow. We collected treasures on the way: leaves, branches, acorn caps, and much more. As we reflected on the mementoes of last year during Mindfulness Time, to our surprise, we found a moth egg-sack camouflaged on the underside of one salmon coloured Oak leaf. “You found something that is alive, there are moth eggs in there!” the children chanted with excitement. We observed the little beings and returned them to the Forest hoping to see the moths flying around in the Spring. Some of the children observed the sounds and movements of the Forest in their magic spots, some children closed their eyes and used their other senses to observe.
The children shared their own stories and observations on our walk. “Do you know there are little plants under the snow growing everywhere?”, “Look the buds know the days are longer, they are growing!”- the children noted. As Elder Clarence often told us, knowledge and wisdom belong to the next generation, children are systemic, divergent, and complex thinkers.
Let’s take a deep breath, let’s think about the complex systemic changes happening under the snow… What could we learn next?
