Kia ora koutou
The end of April 2019 already and our first session for this term was at Ōkato Domain and I didn’t tell the story of where the name Ōkato came from!! Āria had helped me find this info, though with all the fun things that went on this was missed, so next time we can make that happen 🙂 I can check in to who already knows the story.
We started with our beginning circle and had some sharing around what it looks like to welcome new people into our community. Finn and Hazel seemed to fit right in, and it was lovely to have Daniel return too. We ran through housekeeping things especially having a buddy, safety is of course a top priority. Given all these tamariki have a high level of self responsibility, which is what is given to them more often than not, it is really a pleasure to see how they listen carefully and make really great choices.
We had plenty of laughter during mauī/matou (left/right) The idea is to hold the piece of bamboo as we all stand in porohita (circle) holding the stick standing it on the ground. When mauī is called everyone leaves their stick and moves to the left grabbing the next stick. Yes a few sticks fall, at one point we got on a roll though. The first whom has a stick fall becomes the caller of mauī or matou.
Then it was some fun with rob the nest, always a great one to really go deeper into the bush and use strategy for gathering the food.
We moved to “the sunny glade” for lunch and “making”. The sunny glade was responsibly sheltered spot in the sunshine right next to the river.
With Kat was the option to make Autumn leaf crowns or myself for some whittling of bamboo into spoons though a few decided on other projects, such as Alex making a sword from bamboo and Hudson making a sword from fallen wood. Ngaru and Piriniki were sanding bamboo to get the smoothest finish, they enjoyed simply sanding. I really love that they are able to go down any track they choose, learning what they need from it.
We did some learning around using a compass. We had a map of the area to draw in the cardinal directions then Alex created a fabulous scavenger hunt so everyone could practise using the directions from the compass. Thanks to Alex it was a really fun group activity.
We finished with story of the day, and of course a game of bullrush in the field.
What a great day, beautiful sunshine and so much fun with friends old and new
Ngā mihi
Penny x
Before you embark on any path ask the question: Does this path have a heart? If the answer is no, you will know it, and then you must choose another path.
― Carlos Castaneda