Encountering the Transformed Forest and the “Lakes” Within
As we left the center for our walk in the forest, we could already see, looking from the distance, it would be a new and transformed forest. The temperatures have risen, a 15 degrees increase since our last forest visit. As we arrived at the slope, our challenge was not to move across the snow but to keep our feet away from the mud as Laura, the educator, requested we keep our steps on the grass. When we got up there, we saw this time we had to choose our way to get into the forest as large puddles covered the usual path. We passed one such puddle in our approach to see the log. The children wanted to see how deep it was and many of them step in and agree that it is as deep as their boots which quickly became covered by water and mud.
Arriving at the familiar space of the log, we notice the differences from the last time as it becomes clear to many of us that much of the forest is no longer covered by snow and ice – we could finally see the ground below us! Not only was the log revealed, but lots of the forest that was previously invisible suddenly appeared to us revealing the sticks, the leaves, moss. One of the children found mushrooms. They were there all the time and now that they were uncovered they became visible to us – a transformed forest indeed. What will happen the next time it snows? Or it rains? We wondered about it. Will this previously hidden world become invisible again? At this moment Laura directed our attention towards something that was inside the log and asked the children to come and see, as some of them touched it changed. “What is this,” Laura asked? Others wanted to feel, and the answer did not come right away, they all tried to feel it change. Until one said it is ice, and it is melting when we touch it.
The ice was not only inside the log but also inside the puddles as they observed as many of them got sticks and began to “fish” in the puddles, they were fishing leaves, twigs and ice (for them different fishes). The puddle invited new movements, they wanted to feel how deep it was (not with the sticks) by stepping into the puddles and new sounds emerged, splashing the water and the mud. Very different sounds from our last visit where the noise was from the steps in the snow.
Why was the forest was taken over by all these little “lakes” (as children were naming the big puddles), and where did all the snow go? Wonderings that are still in the form of questions for many of the children, as the weather is playing tricks at us going from low temperatures and wind chills to above zero in a matter of days.
