Second Sundays Nature Village Sundays 11 am - 2 pm
Join Second Sundays and explore seasonal change while playing in the rivers, forests, fields and ponds of Ann Arbor’s amazing local parks. We’ll go on treasure hunts, play games, climb trees, wade in the shallows and grow in our understanding of the biology and ecology of our Michigan wildlands. We’ll create art, charm fish and birds, build shelters and temporary hiker camps. We’ll learn maker skills with knives, natural fibers and knots, and find animals and edible and medicinal plants. We’ll also enjoy story telling, sharing circles, and tasting local wild foraged teas. We’ll grow our peacemaking and conflict resolution skills, honor and protect our natural places, and care for our collective safety and comfort in wild places. Children will learn knife wood carving skills and safety skills for encountering unfamiliar dogs.
We’ll ponder big questions, such as:
Campers should enjoy wandering and exploring new places and be comfortable and experienced spending time in natural settings. They must be ready and able to cooperate with leaders, following directions and make decisions with peers for the good of the camp. And finally, because this class takes place in public parks, campers should be comfortable encountering unfamiliar dogs.
We’ll ponder big questions, such as:
- What’s the best way to find a beetle?
- What do turtles think about?
- How do plants move around?
- What is beautiful to us? What is beautiful to a dragonfly?
- Do geese like us?
- Who lived and worked on the land before us? How did it become a park? Who comes here now?
Campers should enjoy wandering and exploring new places and be comfortable and experienced spending time in natural settings. They must be ready and able to cooperate with leaders, following directions and make decisions with peers for the good of the camp. And finally, because this class takes place in public parks, campers should be comfortable encountering unfamiliar dogs.
This class is for children ages 5-12, with younger children welcome with a parent. Class meets in local Ann Arbor Parks, including Bird Hills Nature Area, Nichols Arboretum, Leslie Park, Furstenberg/Gallup Park, and Matthaei Botanical Gardens on the second Sunday of each month from 11 am - 2 pm. In very challenging weather, classes may be shortened or meet at alternative locations, such as the UM Field Museum or the Conservancy at Matthaei Botanical Gardens. The Fall Session meets on September 11, October 9, November 13, and December 11.
$156 is the cost for the series. Payment and health/liability forms are required for enrollment (see payment and refund policies). Scholarships of 25% or 50% off, and payment plans are available upon request. You are also invited to consider donating additional funds with your full tuition, if you're able, to support scholarships for students in need.
$156 is the cost for the series. Payment and health/liability forms are required for enrollment (see payment and refund policies). Scholarships of 25% or 50% off, and payment plans are available upon request. You are also invited to consider donating additional funds with your full tuition, if you're able, to support scholarships for students in need.
Keeping it Safe in the Time of Covid
We've been paying close attention to emerging research around safety in the time of COVID. Current reports indicate that outdoors activities are safe within certain guidelines. Please check out our safety protocols.
We've been paying close attention to emerging research around safety in the time of COVID. Current reports indicate that outdoors activities are safe within certain guidelines. Please check out our safety protocols.
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Instructor
Syndallas Baughman grew up on the water and in the forests of Michigan and Florida and earned a B.S. in Biology at University of Michigan and M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. Along the way she’s camped and studied plants and pollinators in the Siskiyous in S.W. Oregon, swamps, forests and fields of Michigan, Kauai, coastal and desert California, and the California Sierra Nevada. She taught at El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative, learning from wise and loving mentors to step back and follow and support kids’ ideas. At Wildcat Community Free School she followed kids through creeks and forests, set up experiments, supervised the use of power tools, knives and fire, facilitated democratic decision making and mediated a lot of arguments about Pokemon Card trades. She’s planted native gardens with preschoolers to high school students, and camped all over the U.S.A. with her two teenage sons.
Syndallas spent much of the past decade at an automotive manufacturing plant where her responsibilities included developing accountable health and safety systems with teams of union leaders, production operators and supervision. She recently served on a Michigan State working group developing guidance for community centers and public events around COVID safety and is currently in school earning her secondary teaching certificate in biology. She participates in consensus decision making with her cohousing neighbors. The beautiful wild world is the place Syndallas wants to be! She loves sharing nature connection with people and other living things and you!
Syndallas Baughman grew up on the water and in the forests of Michigan and Florida and earned a B.S. in Biology at University of Michigan and M.S. Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California, Irvine. Along the way she’s camped and studied plants and pollinators in the Siskiyous in S.W. Oregon, swamps, forests and fields of Michigan, Kauai, coastal and desert California, and the California Sierra Nevada. She taught at El Cerrito Preschool Cooperative, learning from wise and loving mentors to step back and follow and support kids’ ideas. At Wildcat Community Free School she followed kids through creeks and forests, set up experiments, supervised the use of power tools, knives and fire, facilitated democratic decision making and mediated a lot of arguments about Pokemon Card trades. She’s planted native gardens with preschoolers to high school students, and camped all over the U.S.A. with her two teenage sons.
Syndallas spent much of the past decade at an automotive manufacturing plant where her responsibilities included developing accountable health and safety systems with teams of union leaders, production operators and supervision. She recently served on a Michigan State working group developing guidance for community centers and public events around COVID safety and is currently in school earning her secondary teaching certificate in biology. She participates in consensus decision making with her cohousing neighbors. The beautiful wild world is the place Syndallas wants to be! She loves sharing nature connection with people and other living things and you!
Instructor
Anne Erlewine...more info coming soon!
Anne Erlewine...more info coming soon!
Instructor
Fonsea Bagchi (He/Him/His) grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mostly you can find him zooming school at Huron High, walking PawPaw Goldenheart (his dog), and running and walking in all weather - trail running, town running, cross country and track and mega-walks (a word he made up with friends). It only rains on the other guys! He loves wandering in the woods, by the river, in the UP, by Lake Michigan, in the desert, and also canoe camping, getting lost in the mountains, checking dumpsters for raccoons and possums. He basically loves being anywhere outdoors unless there are swarms of vicious bitey flies!
Fonsea lives in a cohousing community sharing in community work, including childcare, cleaning, and grocery shopping for neighbors. He loves music and plays the French Horn in band and (kind of) the piano. He likes to create and share music and enjoys its connection to nature. He’s very excited to work as an assistant teacher at Nature Learning Community, he hopes to help kids find their own love and appreciation of nature. He’s been camping since he was very young. He loves nature and nature loves him!
Fonsea Bagchi (He/Him/His) grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Mostly you can find him zooming school at Huron High, walking PawPaw Goldenheart (his dog), and running and walking in all weather - trail running, town running, cross country and track and mega-walks (a word he made up with friends). It only rains on the other guys! He loves wandering in the woods, by the river, in the UP, by Lake Michigan, in the desert, and also canoe camping, getting lost in the mountains, checking dumpsters for raccoons and possums. He basically loves being anywhere outdoors unless there are swarms of vicious bitey flies!
Fonsea lives in a cohousing community sharing in community work, including childcare, cleaning, and grocery shopping for neighbors. He loves music and plays the French Horn in band and (kind of) the piano. He likes to create and share music and enjoys its connection to nature. He’s very excited to work as an assistant teacher at Nature Learning Community, he hopes to help kids find their own love and appreciation of nature. He’s been camping since he was very young. He loves nature and nature loves him!