It was busy at the Bee Kind Garden this summer. In two sessions, 16 children participated in a variety of activities that provided both fun and learning. They met and interacted with special animals, including owls, eagles, baby goats, Stanley , the beagle, and Murphy, the tortoise. From their time spent with these special friends, the children learned about kindness and gentleness.

The many BKG activities, including gardening, building bird houses, and making feeders, taught the children about nurturing our environment. Fun crafts and projects also promoted cooperation, empathy for others, using imagination, and problem solving. And while doing all this, the kids had fun exploring and discovering nature at the Garden site.

The children also participated in two special “field trips,” one to the Busy Bee Ranch & Equestrian Center where they not only learned about riding horses and respecting them, they also got to paint them! The other field trip was to Mountain Gear where the children mastered the climbing wall. Not only did the kids have loads of fun at both places, they learned a lot about trusting others, self-esteem and confidence, and conquering fear.  These experiences also encourage children to become more active in outdoor ventures.

Mountain Gear has been a special supporter in many ways. Owner Karn Nielsen is a CASA/GAL in the juvenile court system and a volunteer at the Bee Kind Garden . During each session, she opens up her business to the BKG kids so they can experience the climbing wall. She and her exceptional workers teach the children how to safely use the climbing gear, and the rules of the climbing wall, and they support each child while on the wall. They lend encouragement and kudos for the kids. We aren’t sure who has more fun, the adults or the kids!

Comments voiced by the children range from “I can climb that wall to the top,” to “I am afraid I can’t do it.”  And then there are the “monkeys” who climb all over the wall and then hang by the harness to swing to another wall. With Karn and her crew’s encouragement and support, all the children have at least tried it and most, several times.

We witnessed a wonderful lesson on trusting others and conquering fears this summer when a 10 year-old girl, who had climbed to the top of the wall several times, thought she heard her harness tearing. She became very frightened, and it took a lot of encouraging words before she allowed us to lower her down. Once she calmed down, she fought back her fears, and trusting that she would be kept safe, she once again climbed to the top of the wall. Her efforts were rewarded with applause and cheers. All the children learned from her courage and trust in others.

It was a wonderful summer, and we hope to add several more sessions from spring through fall in 2009.