Spring Thing WRPP Trail - Nature Theater's Superbird
Lyndsay Dawkins • March 22, 2023
One of the trails offered at Saturday's Spring Thing was Nature's Theater's Superbird! Read on to hear all about the adventure kids went on during Saturday's event and the empowering lessons they learned.
The families gather around two guides beside the stunning lake at Woodland Regional Park Preserve. Their kids aged 4 to 9 jump at the invitation to go explore and check out some birds. What they don’t know, is that they are about to embark in a Nature’s Theater walking story that will ignite the imagination.
A feather stick gets passed around the circle and each participant names their favorite bird. Flamingos, eagles, and penguins, as well as some locals, like blue-jays magpies and red winged black birds are mentioned. Then, Lyndsay Dawkins asks her co-guide, Cam Stoufer, “Did you hear that? I think I heard Super Bird!" Cam says – “Yes, Super Bird is in trouble.”
They explain to the families that Super Bird ate a white blank-o berry and forgot everything. And Super Bird helps the birds and many of the animals. The guides eye the kids – “we could help Super Bird – does anyone know anything about birds?”
Surprise! Kids know everything about birds! And so begins the quest. As the group walks, kids demonstrate how to build nest, how to fly (the kids are much faster than the adults!), how birds move (the kids even learn the funky chicken – and even the parents get into that dance!). As the group begins to explore what birds eat, they mention that Eagles eat Salmon. One of the girls on the walk has two Salmon face painted on her forehead – so the whole group promises to make sure an eagle doesn’t try and eat her head if they see one.
Amidst laughter and banter, special moments arise, and the interactive quest unwinds. As they notice all the bird sounds and make up their own bird calls, one boy recommends that the group sit in silence for one minute and count how many different birds they can hear. These moments of empowerment for the kids are gems, and soon the minute of silence is up, and some children have counted 10 different bird calls.
The adventurers settle to hear the Super Bird story, and then they use their bird calls to try and locate Super Bird. Sure enough, they are successful. They follow the calls and see Super Bird in the distance. To the kids younger, the costumed character is real. Each child steps up and tells Super Bird something about birds, and a chocolate egg is offered up as a gratitude gift. Soon the lost memories return to Super Bird and the kids have saved the day! Nature’s Theater loves to help kids realize that they can do big things. They can be heroes for this world!
-Lyndsay Dawkins
Volunteer Tuleyome Board Member
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