Monday, July 29, 2013

Barnehage goes on a field trip!

The summer theme for our children's group, barnehage, is "camping".  Going camping is as popular in Norway as it is here in the States, although in Norway people tend to go camping in cabins rather than in tents.  These cabins are sponsored by a national group and are located along popular trails, hiking destinations, and on the coast.


To combine the Norwegian love of camping and the American camping tradition, I brought back the little tent and camping set from Fisher Price that I used last year.  The kids love it!  They use it as a house, a doorway (since it does not have a back), and various other things as well as a tent.  The fire that came with the set is the class favorite toy now, and everything gets grilled over it!


On June 22nd, the day of the National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard Campout, we took a field trip to Laurelhurst Park to study outside wildlife.  I gave each child a scavenger hunt page, half a toilet paper tube slitted into a cuff bracelet, and a small bag.  The scavenger hunt page I used is downloadable for free from this site in Norwegian or English.  Since Laurelhurst Park has a lake, we were able to find most of the animals listed!

We played tag in Norwegian, saying "sisten" when we tagged each other.  It means "last" in Norwegian.  The children used their bags to collect various leaves, stems, flowers, sticks, and other natural objects.  Later on, they glued or taped their finds onto the toilet paper tube bracelets and hole-punched a hole in each side of the slit.  They tied the bracelet to size with yarn, making the bracelet easy to take on and off.