Into the skogen

In August when the new 'schoolyear' begins, Rhiannon gets to be part of the "utegruppe" at barnehage! This means that every day for one week a month, she and 10 of her playmates get to take a taxibus out to the "skogen" (forest) and hang out at the barnehage camp all day. This evening was a special introductory visit to the forest camp and it was from 5:30 - 7pm for all the kids who will start this in August. Here we are walking up the trail from where we parked the car. It is about 300 yards or so from the pavement.
The path climbs up a little hill to a semi-open area where the barnehage has set up shelters that are used all year long. Here is the lavvo (tipi-type) tent, which has a wood burning stove to cook on inside (& heat the place in the cold weather), as well as wooden platforms and animal skins to sit on. All the people are sitting around a bonfire pit that is also used to cook on. This evening we all grilled polser (hot dogs).
Here is the fire pit with the outhouses in the background. The one just to the right of the people is the "baesj" house and the little structure at the far right is just for girls to pee in. The boys have to stand in a certain place behind the two outhouses and pee down the hill. All this was carefully explained to me by one of the teachers.
Here is Rhiannon using the pee facility. Although she is sitting on a log, there is foam padding to protect bare legs. As you can see from the smile, Rhiannon was quite happy to pee in this new place. And there is room for 2 people to go at the same time, which is probably pretty fun for them as well. Both Sofie and Sofia (Rhiannon's two best buddies) are in the same group, so we are all happy about that.
There are also some small stumps with hammers and nails laying around for the kids to practice on (!!!). Here is Rhiannon in between Christian and Christina.
This place is pretty amazing. The whole concept is pretty amazing to me, actually. Letting small children play with real nails and real hammers without supervision? And teaching them how to build fires and use knives to whittle? (Although the teacher explained that they don't let the kids light the fires -- they just learn how to build them properly.) Wow. The whole purpose of this, of course, is to let the kids learn how to play without toys and to respect the natural world.
Only the big kids get to do this for the last 2 years (out of 5) that they are in barnehage. So the 4 year olds (Rhiannon's class, although she is the youngest) spend a year going 1 week a month and then the 5 year olds spend 2 weeks a month. They go everyday regardless of the weather and they cook full meals on 2 days of the week. The property that they have set up their camp on is private property - an old woman who gave permission for this particular barnehage to conduct their activities on year round. But most of the barnehages in the area seem to have their own camp that they go to like this, and it is such a wonderful idea. Wish I could go, too!