#Earthschooling365: Day Fifty-Nine
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): Today I saw a little squirrel perching on the side of a large trunk. What struck me about the scene was how small the squirrel was and how large the tree was but when I looked at the first photo I took that perspective was lost. I had to take another picture that showed both the large tree and the squirrel to get my message across to the viewer. This often happens in our lives as well. Sometimes we get so focused on one little detail of what we are trying to accomplish we forget to look at the big picture. Take some time today to meditate on a problem you are trying to solve, an issue you are dealing with, a relationship challenge or other challenge. Choose one. Inevitably there are probably a list of details that are upsetting you about the item you have chosen. Now take these details away and look at it compared to the “bigger picture”. Do the issues now appear smaller?
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Today when I saw this little squirrel perched on the side of a tree I thought, “how in the world did he get there?” It just seemed so impossible for him to be perched on this ledge in the middle of nowhere so far from the top and so far from the bottom. However, when I thought about it some more I realized that he could have easily just climbed up the straight side of the tree. Squirrels can scale items much like Spider Man can in the comic books/moves. Or, he could have jumped from a near-by tree. Squirrels are also very good at jumping. Today your nature walk project is to choose one or more animals and observe how they climb/go up. How does a bird go up a tree? An insect? Mammals? Do they all go up trees? Do all birds use the same method? Even adults will learn something during this activity.
Photography Notes (Hands): We have talked about different framing techniques in photography during some of our lessons the past two months. Today we will talk about a new one – perspective and showing different sizes in photos. As you can see from the two examples above it is impossible to communicate how small the squirrel is in relation to the tree without also showing the tree in the photo. Your photography assignment today is to show how big, small, fast, slow, dark, light, (or other quality) an item is by contrasting it with another item.
Verse: Movement
Copyright Kristie Burns
This verse can be done with children ages 3-7 as an action verse or finger-rhyme. The challenge is to have the children do the movements while making as little sound as possible to show them how animals can move without a sound in the forest.
Squirrels twirl
Squirrels leap
Squirrels climb
Without a peep
Can you twirl?
Can you leap?
Can you climb?
Without a peep?
Robins hop
Robins flutter
Robins flit
Without a mutter
Can you hop?
Can you flutter?
Can you flit?
Without a mutter?
Groundhogs scurry
A Groundhog lumbers
Groundhogs waddle
Like a baby slumbers
Can you scurry?
Can you lumber?
Can you waddle
Like a baby slumbers?
Foxes slink
Foxes sneak
Their furry paws
Don’t make a creak
Can you slink?
Can you sneak?
Can you do all this
Without a creak?
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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What is #Earthschooling365?
This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
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