bear hunt

The kids in the "bear cave".

We started a new Adventure Circle this week, based extensively on the book "We're Going On A Bear Hunt", by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. So extensively in fact that I don't feel comfortable posting the entire text of our Adventure Circle, as my guess is it would infringe on copyright laws (or something similar). So I'll summarize what we're doing instead!

The story line follows the book, we recite verses about going on a bear hunt, and we visit stations I've set up along the way -- long, wavy grass (jump ropes), a deep, cold river (a blue sheet), thick, oozy mud (pillows), a big, dark forest (some upright cloth tunnels), a swirling, whirling snowstorm (the bed in the master bedroom), and of course the narrow, gloomy cave (the kids beds, with J's loft being the ceiling and a quilt and pillows creating the outer walls, with an entrance through the rungs of the loft ladder). Throughout the story I've interwoven Enki Kindergarten Movement activities and songs/verses, as well as more traditional Sensory Integration exercises.

We start our bear hunt by having to go through the long, wavy grass, which I explain is growing in a field that is covered by snow. We then do the Enki activity "Recorder Song -- Winter". I've modified another Enki tune, "Trip, trip, trap" to fit our adventure, and we sing that at each activity station as we do the activity. In the grass's case, I move jump ropes back and forth across the ground (like snakes) while the kids jump over them to avoid them. We sing the song 3 times while they do that, then get right back to the "we're going on a bear hunt" verse and move on to the next station.

Next comes the deep, cold river. We do the Enki activity "Waters". When we're done, I wave the sheet up and down while the kids run/walk/jump/crawl across it as we're singing our modified "Trip, trip, trap" song. Both the grass and the river are in the living room where there's enough room for jumping and running.

The next station is the thick, oozy mud. I point out a snail crawling through the mud, and we do the Enki activity "Snail". Then the kids hop from pillow to pillow and back again while we sing our song. We do this down the hallway.





Also in the hallway is the big, dark forest. I point out that some of the trees are Evergreen trees, and we do the Enki "Oh, Evergreen" song and activity. Then they weave their way through the forest of tree trunks (upright tunnels) as quickly as they can while we sing.

Next come the swirling, whirling snowstorm, which happens on the bed in the master bedroom. We do the Enki activity "Winter White" on the bed, then jump on the bed while we sing our song.

At last we arrive at the bear cave in the kids' room. We discover two little cubs playing at the entrance to the cave, and do the Enki "Bear Cubs" activity. Then the kids squeeze themselves into the cave and explore it while we sing our song. But, oh no! What do you think is IN that cave??? Yup, a Mama bear, and she's MAD. So out we come as quick as we can, back through the snowstorm, the forest, the mud, the river, the grass, into our house, and under the cover in bed, vowing that we're NOT going on a bear hunt again. (Well, until the next day, anyway.)

This Adventure Circle has been an outrageous success with the boys. I've been needing to find a way to get Zoo Boy more active during circle -- most of the Enki activities are still a bit beyond him and he tends to sit down and watch during most of them (although he's really enjoying "Snail" and "Bear Cubs", which is great as both work on Naval Radiation, which we really need to work on with him). Back when J was in formal Sensory Integration Therapy, we used to set up obstacle courses (basically just circuits of Sensory Integration activities), and Zoo Boy loved to join in on that. So I was looking to combine that sort of activity with the Enki Adventure Circle. I'm very pleased with the results.