Circling the Sun, Racing the Wind Active Games and Creative Dramatics to Introduce Youngsters to their Fellow Beings in North America’s Northeastern Forests

by Couchman, Edith Pucci

• ISBN13: 9798987070789
• ISBN10: 8987070786
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2024-04-16
• Publisher: Green Writers Press

Summary

This is an extensive collection of outdoor games (many based on traditional forms such as racing, relays, tag, and singing circles) that are active, sociable, and fun. This book will help youngsters increase their understanding and appreciation of the temperate forest bioregion of eastern North America, its creatures, and vital processes. At the same time, they will exercise their motor muscles, executive functioning skills, in addition to developing creative imaginations and social emotional learning/SEL capacities. Also included are correlations with the Next Generation Science Standards, a variety of supporting visuals, and some simple creative dramatics for the very young. The projects and text highlight the benefits of lively, evolutionarily consonant, arts- and play-based learning.

Author Biography

Edith Pucci Couchman is an award-winning educator and visual artist dedicated to helping youngsters learn about the amazing Earth Community to which they belong, including building children’s capacities for creating art and encouraging them to play active games inspired by ecology and natural history. Her students have included three-year-olds with their parents and octogenarians, with a focus on those aged 4 to 13. She is on the Board of the Northeast Organic Farming Association and is blessed to be the mother of two grown children and a grandmother as well.

Table of Contents

CONTENTS Biography Introduction Circle of the Seasons: a year round activity for the youngest 1. Circle of the Seasons, a singing circle dance with creative dramatics (ages 3 to 7) 1.1 Scenes from the Four Seasons 1.2 Circle of the Seasons Clock, a paper craft to color and construct (printable PDF available at https://evolvingbeauty.org) 1.3 Circle of the Seasons Clock Instructions Plants 2. Seed Song, a singing and impersonating game (ages 3 to 8) All 3. For Plants to Live and Grow, They Need to Photosynthesize, an associative learning, collecting game featuring a linked-run race (ages 5 to 12) All 3.1 For Plants to Live and Grow Cards They Need to Photosynthesize Card (for the younger students) 3.2 For Plants to Live and Grow, They Need to Photosynthesize Cards (for older students) 4. Sprouting Seeds Game, a Progress towards a Goal’ group game of chance (ages 5 to 9) All 4.1 Sprouting Seeds Events Cards 5. Recipe for a Forest, an associative learning, collecting game featuring a linked-run race (ages 6 to 12) All 5.1 Recipe for a Forest Cards 5.2 New Hampshire Forest Succession 6. Old White Pine is Falling Down, a singing, processional game with a final ‘ Tug-of-War’ (4 to 8) Invertebrate Animal, especially Insects 7. An Insect’ s Life Cycle Activity, a singing, impersonating game (ages 4 to 7) 8. Buzzing Bumblebee Circle Game, a singing, choosing circle song building verbal knowledge / vocabulary related to local flowering plants (ages 3 to 7) 9. The Foraging Bee’ s Adventures, a "Progress towards a Goal’ team game of chance (ages 6 to 12) 9.1 Honey Bee and Strawberry Plant Name Tags 10. Blossoms and Pollinators, an example of the basic format for ’ Associative Learning through Team Relays’ (ages 9 to 12) 10.1 A Few Common Pollinators 10.2 Guess the Pollinators Guess the Pollinators (with Answer Key) 10.3 Flowers and their Pollination Partners 11. The Last Wasp of Autumn, a stationary circle game with a race (ages 6 to 10) 12. Mosquito in the Woods (Alternate casts of characters: Black Fly, Dragonfly, Bat, Mouse, Owl, Phoebe, or Tree Swallow), a singing, choosing, and racing circle game about food webs (ages 5 to 10) Vertebrate Animals 13. Little Frog Jumping, a jump rope chant and physical challenge focused on rhythmic coordination (ages 3 to 6) 14. Lily Pond Hop, ‘ Musical Chairs’ for Amphibians, a game of chance, choice, and impersonation (ages 4 to 9) 15. Frog Fortunes, another example of the basic format for a ‘ Progress towards a Goal’ Game (ages 6 to 12) 15.1 A Few Common North American Amphibians 16. Blue Jay, Blue Jay through the Forest, (Can be adapted to celebrate other flying creatures such as Butterflies, Katydids,Dragonflies, etc.), a singing, choosing, circle game for building students’ verbal knowledge and vocabulary related to common bird species or flying forest creatures in general (ages 3 to 7) 16.1 First Birds, Primary Colors 17. Cardinal Weaves a Basket, a singing circle game featuring choices and simple tossing skills (ages 4 to 7) 18. Berry in the Beak, a singing, choosing, circle game with a race that highlights co-evolution and seed dispersal (ages 6 to 12) 18.1 Acorn and Raspberry Disk Illustrations 19. The Hawk in the Nest, a singing, choosing, and acting circle game about energy flow and food chains (ages 5 to 10) 20. When the Beavers Build their Dam, a singing, choosing, and acting circle game with a guessing component about wetland creatures (ages 4 to 10) 20.1 Components for a Diorama about Beavers and the Niches They Create 21. Northeastern Animal Steps, a simple, impersonating game about movement, best suited for small groups of individuals - not teams (ages 3 to 10) 21.1 Animal Steps Cards 22. There’ s a Mouse Gnawing in these Woods, a singing, choosing, and racing circle game about food webs (ages 5 to 10) 22.1 A Few Common Mice 22.2 Three Northeastern Owls 23. Mixed Feeding Flocks in January (or Squirre