A New Adventure

Sorry to disappoint you {or conversely: relieve you!) – this is not about the 7th, or the Minus 1th Episode of the Lucasfilm series.

It has been outrageously slow at work this week. Monday morning – no children showed up. Weds. – 1 child. Thurs – 2 and today -3. The weather has been wet and cold and the very tiny group was tired of playing indoors. Annnnd the adults were tired of the whining and the bickering — but enough about that.

A few weeks ago I read about a fantastic activity that I was planning to start with the kids during our Summer Fun program. But to h*ll with waiting! Letterboxing - which I learned of over here (incidentally Lolly just blogged about a similar activity geocaching).

I found a listing for a letterbox that was only a 15 min drive from here, reprinted the clues on some tan paper, scrumpled & tore it so that it resembled a treasure map and gave it to the kids. They pored over it, gathered their journals, some inkpads and off we went.

We had to cross this old railway trestle bridge and then search for an Inukshuk – we never did find it (likely due to the perpetual highway construction these days) so we moved on to the next clue.

 

 

(you only get to see Kira searching since it wouldn’t be too professional of me to post pictures of the kids here) Our dark, rainy weather made picture taking kind of iffy.

When we located the letterbox I was so glad I had those kids with me so they could crawl underneath and dig around in the damp, spidery alcove full of dead leaves etc. They were so excited! This project was a perfect way to pass the morning. It naturally created opportunities for discussion, co-operation, and planning – and they really thought they were Adventurers.

Before we left we rebuilt the Inukshuk for the next letterboxers.

Then we went shopping for stamps and containers so we could create our own letterboxes. They’re still a little unclear on the concept – they want to either 1) hide them in our buiding or 2) hide them so they’ll never be found — as in sinking them to the bottom of the ocean! Yep. Genius-types.

Tonight I tried to create my own stamp, (based on my avatar) with an eraser and a paring knife. Not the most precise tools but…not such a bad result.

I’ve ordered some real stamp making supplies because this is an addictive new hobby!