Sharing Skills

Much of our talk at co-op lately has been about what skills we have between us that we can pool and share. Realising that creating a culture of sharing and learning is strengthening and nourishing for our group and its members, we aim to draw out those skills as we grow together. Adults learning from other adults inspires children to get involved and learn alongside their parents, or their peers. And finding skills that the children can share with each other is wonderful too! Kids are always so keen to learn what their friends can do…

Last week, one of the children facilitated a Manga drawing workshop while one of the parents facilitated a granny-square crochet workshop. Long held crocheting and manga drawing ambitions were fulfilled! And we got a start on preparing to yarn bomb our tree. By the end of the session, children were learning to crochet too! Some of the crocheting parents were rather keen to learn the art of manga, so we may need a repeat performance of that one at a later date!

Fungi Walking

One of the fantastic things about co-op is the sharing of knowledge, within the group and across generations. By learning together, we share skills and new ideas and parents learn alongside children, meaning information can be delved into more deeply away from co-op as more questions arise… And it keeps us adults inspired to learn new things too!

One of our parents is an avid fungi enthusiast and offered to lead a fungi walk in some bushland just down the road from our cottage. We were a bit amazed by the diversity so close to town! Highlights included seeing a number of earth star fungi and some beautiful early orchids hiding along the bank, beside a creek. So much beauty around us everywhere and it's wonderful to slow down and acknowledge it together, if only fleetingly.

Wildlife Carers at Co-op!

Last time at co-op we had the pleasure of meeting Stephanie and Wayne from Southern Wildlife Rescue.  They came and talked to us about all things wildlife. They even brought along a little furry friend or two!



Everyone was engrossed and entertained by Stephanie and Wayne's engaging presentation and we all learnt so much about our native wildlife. We learnt some amazing facts about what makes our wildlife special. We had a close-up look at wombat poo and a good laugh at some tales of baby wombat antics while patting a gorgeous baby wombat.



Best of all, we learnt how each of us can help our native wildlife if we come across any sick or injured along the roadside or in the bush. We have a checklist now to keep in the glovebox and some activity kits to take home and enjoy as we remember Stephanie and Wayne's words.



We were also lucky to see one of our co-op families taking the next step to becoming wildlife carers, bringing in a baby Bennetts Wallaby for us all to see. Thanks so much to Stephanie and Wayne and to Fran for organising for them to come along!

This Tuesday (October 2nd) , we will have YogaBugs along to give us a free trial class. The weather looks to be lovely, so we can do yoga outside, or I've organised for the big hall to be available to us for the class. If we like it, there's an option to make yoga a regular co-op activity. And of course, if your child doesn't feel like participating, that's totally ok. Please feel free to bring along an alternate activity to share with the group if you like!

See you at co-op of Tuesday! xx

Springtime Explorers at Co-op

We were blessed with the most perfect of spring days at co-op last week. Beautiful sunshine, just the right amount of breeze and lots of open spaces to explore. We went on a scavenger hunt. We collected furry, shiny, sharp things. Flowers, sticks, rocks and treasures...



Then we headed down to the beach behind co-op for a paddle and a play in the sand.



And back to the playgound again for a last play...



We didn't want it to end! In fact the play continued at our house until bedtime. We're looking forward to Tuesday!

This week we are meeting wildlife carer Stephanie. She'll be talking to us about how to become wildlife carers and what's involved... She may even bring a furry friend as a surprise! If you intend to come, please let us know before Monday night (that's tomorrow!), so Stephanie can prepare. Hope to see you then. xx

exploring

Seeing as yoga was cancelled for this week, we thought it might be a good idea to have a wander around the surrounds of the cottage. Perhaps a scavenger hunt and wander through the gully, to the beach, or even a wander up the hill, past the community garden and skate park and down to the beach that way... or maybe all of the above! Some children might like to bring along or borrow a camera and document what they see... perhaps they can email in their photos for a blog post so they can look at each other's photography of the day?



Or perhaps they'll come home with a handful of treasure?

Here's some photography inspiration: Capturing Signs of Spring with Photography (kids, nature and cameras)

And a fab scavenger hunt I'll bring along, here.

See you on Tuesday. xx

Marine Discovery Centre Visit and a Community Garden Plot!

We've penciled in a visit to the Marine Discovery Centre on Tuesday 28th of August. We'll be participating in a hands on program making art, fish printing, doing a little foreshore study and exploring the touch tanks. It's pitched at K-6, so should fit our large age range nicely. Cost to attend will depend on numbers... If you're keen to come along, please email Lauren at owletmama@gmail.com

Also, we are waiting our very own co-op plot at the community garden located behind the cottage. It shouldn't be too long, but if you're keen to get involved, we've been invited to attend working bees and help tend the neighbourhood plot (which means we can help ourselves to surplus vegies too!). Let Lauren know if you are interested.

Don't forget that if you'd like an update on anything happening at co-op, make sure you subscribe to receive this blog via email (see the little subscribe button top right). Or, you could join our facebook group. Look forward to seeing you at co-op soon!

Terrariums

Yesterday was great fun! There was lots of enthusiasm for building terrariums and thankfully just enough moss, dirt, stones and jars so that most people could create something to take home... I think that the creativity was only limited by the number of jars available and the children would have kept making more if we' have provided the jars and moss for them. Perhaps this one will be worth repeating another time...





Actually, it looked like so much fun that I brought some moss home to make my own too.




The leftover moss was use to make a rather elaborate gift shop, I'm told. It took much of the afternoon to tend it. In between bursts of tree climbing and lunch, of course... Thanks to all who came. Look forward to next time! x

Building and tinkering

Some inspiring ideas... maybe something we could organise for a co-op meet one day...

Hooray for co-op!

The Hobart Natural Learners Co-op has been gathering fortnightly for almost eight months now. So far we've felted soap, made kites...





Blown bubbles, shared our favourite stories, visited the beach, gone fruit picking...



Made electronic gadgets, played board games, made musical instruments, face painted, made christmas cards, made masks



Built tents,  visited an observatory, spoken with Aboriginal elders, enjoyed some laughter therapy games, swapped our stuff, made origami and melted beeswax...



And spent countless hours climbing the tree and playing in the playground. The field beside our cottage is a favourite place to run off extra energy after lunch... It seems the opportunities and ideas are limitless if the energy and enthusiasm is there...



And with all that combined kid energy, we're bound to have many more magical, fun-filled days at co-op.