Little creek is waiting for drops from the sky.

Bunuru is the Noongar season of late summer, and this year our creek began to dry up early over the holiday break.  However, due to some heavy rain in the days before school returned, we were fortunate to have flowing water for our first Bush Kindy visit to the creek for the year.  The children were having a joyous time playing in the fresh waters and climbing branches when the forest shared one of her unexpected wonders with us - an enormous green caterpillar making its way along the log.  Everyone was captivated by its beautiful features, and followed its slow progress for some time before it was eventually moved (for its own safety).

By the second week the creek had dried up again, as the children settled back into the routines of Bush Kindy.  The forest and creek have their own particular qualities during Bunuru, the dryness characterised by cicadas singing, dragonflies darting and hovering and bindi-bindi the butterfly fluttering by at every turn.  With another bout of rain in the early morning, cicada song was replaced by the chorus of happy frogs.  And always, the familiar birdsong that welcome the children back into their midst.  All these sights, sounds and feelings are reflected in our songs, stories and yarning as we give our attention, and our thanks, for the gift of spending time together in this special place.

Bush School

Our Bush School program has gotten off to a fine start.  During our first week we based ourselves at Kristi’s Earth Station, and the children participated in a range of activities including weaving and making paperbark Gathering Baskets.  In Week 2 we commenced our exploration of our local surroundings by following the course of the creek bed from one end of the school boundary to the other.  The children showed great perseverance as they met the challenges that arose while finding our way from one end to the other, and got to know the creek in a way that most had never experienced before.

In Week 3 the children worked together in smaller groups tackling some of the weeds in a section of the creek that we had identified during our walk the previous week.  This was putting into practice the custodial ethic of ‘Caring for Country’ that underpins the Bush School program.

In Week 4 we will be having an incursion by the Denmark Bird Group, who will be engaging the children in some exciting activities to deepen their awareness of the birds in our forest environment.