Kelso's Choice

One of my first jobs working with children was at a summer camp for low income families and specifically children who struggled with behavior problems. 

We used a curriculum called Kelso's Choice at this camp and I watched it do wonders for the kids. 

Kelso is a frog who teaches kids some fundamental basics about conflict management. He starts out by helping kids learn what a small problem is vs a big problem. A big problem is any situation in which someone is in danger, a small problem is something you can work through on your own. They give examples of big problems and small problems and then they give the kids tools for the small problems. 

 

This is Kelso's wheel of choices. Kelso teaches the kids that when there is a small problem they can use this wheel as a guide for working through it. 

Kelso encourages the kids to try at least to choices on the wheel before talking to an adult. 

We had a discussion about this at Enumclaw Adventures since we were struggling with small problems and the kids have been practicing these skills since then. 

The kids are learning how to resolve conflict by making these choices, they are taking responsibility for their actions building very healthy problem solving skills!

I am so proud of them!

http://kelsoschoice.com/ 

The wheels on the bus go...

Summer was wonderful and warm and full of fun, but here we are in September, the new school year has begun!

This school year is only 1 week in and Enumclaw Adventures is ecstatic about all the growth we are experiencing.

WE BOUGHT A BUS!

We have so many kids there just weren't enough seats in the van we used for transportation! We are stocked with new toys, games and art supplies and many smiling faces!

Did I mention we bought a bus!?

Enumclaw Adventures has also hired a new staff member but we will dedicate our next blog post to getting to know her. We are very excited to have her joining our team!

Some of Enumclaw Adventures goals this year are to go on more field trips, make new friends and create more art projects, stay tuned for more pictures and to see if/how we are accomplishing those goals this year!

Enumclaw Sunshine, you just can't beat it!

Since the last week of April Enumclaw (and Washington state in general) has been experiencing an amazing phenomenon called Sunshine! We were all a little shell shocked at first when we saw this big bright thing in the sky, but we realized seeing it and being it made us oh so happy! Below are some snapshots of our happy days in the sun!

YAY FOR SUNSHINE!

 

Learning how to run a business!



Owen on the run!

Siesta time:)

Paiton Coloring!

Joey!

The wonderful Anna striking a pose!

Playground time!

Sisters:)



Foosball tournament!

 

Joey making art with sidewalk chalk!

Good morning Mt. Rainier!



Asher in action!

You better watch out for Asher in sprout ball, he's speedy!

Jack-Attack!

Asher's got his camera face down!

We are so thankful for the community we live in, the friends we have and the beauty of spring!

Cedar River Spring Break!

Cedar River Academy, a private school in Enumclaw, had their spring break last week and that meant loads of fun for Enumclaw Adventures!

The proof is in the pictures!


We started our week off with play time, picnicking and hiking at Mud Mt. Dam.
 

We spent Wednesday at the Pacific Science Center.

It was a beautiful day!



Did you know the Pacific Science Center holds the world's largest electric guitar!?

Just about his size, right?

We spent lots of time in the butterfly room!

We learned about animals and their skeletons.
 



We played

We even spent some time with a little kitty!

We made kaleidoscopes at the Mountain Aire Mercantile craft time!

We met a lot of friends at the Point Defiance Zoo.

We went crazy on our bikes at Deep Lake despite the rain!

Of course we ended our fun-filled week with some delicious Avalanche Delite!

We had a great week! Enumclaw School District's spring break will be 2 weeks from now so stay tuned for memories and pictures of that as well. Thank you everyone for following us!!

Friday Fruitcakes

It's March, welcome to spring everyone!

Enumclaw Adventures has started a new tradition on Fabulous Fridays...we are cooking! That's right, look out, our little chefs are learning frying, brewing and baking up a storm in the kitchen.

What's been on the menu you ask?

Linda's oatmeal chocolate chip cookies...so tasty!

We were too busy running around the kitchen to get any pictures of the process or the chocolate chip covered faces afterward, but they were DELICIOUS!

 

Potato Wedges!

 We found this simple recipe in a kids cooking book at the Enumclaw King County Library. All we did was cut a couple of potatos, cover them with some olive oil and seasoning, plop in the oven and walla!

Chocolate Covered Bananas

This was another simple and very tasty recipe we found in the kids cooking book. This is not our picture, but I would say our finished product looked just as great...the two seconds between it being complete and gulped down by all of us Fruitcakes;)

 

Strawberry Fruit Leather

 We found this recipe on pinterest and decided to give it a whirl. We simply put 3 cups of fresh strawberries and a tablespoon of honey in the blender, spread the blended contents on a cookie sheet and put in the oven for 1.5-2 hours.

Eeeeeek!

(What we hope for next time!)

 

As you may be able to see this was a learning experience for us. We burnt the edges terribly and the middle was still uncooked. But this Friday Fruitcakes group was great at taking the positives from this flop. We had fun in the process and learned not all recipes are as easy as they seem. We also learned parchment paper is different than wax paper! So there you have it!

 

Friday Fruitcakes is having a blast making messes and new creations in the kitchen each Friday, we will be sure to take more pictures and share our delicious wins...and disasters...with you!

New Friends

Enumclaw Adventures continues to welcome new faces and new friends! In the month of January we have made many new memories with our growing group of kiddos!



Getting ready to play hide and go seek freeze tag:)

Asher and Elliot playing tic tac toe

 

The morning crew!

Play time outside



Alexis and Anna, great new friends!



Owen is quite the ladies man;)

Heading to school in style.

Popsicles for snack, yum!!

Autumn and Natalie

Getting excited for the Seahawks game!


The cold hasn't stopped us from doing all the fun things we love, indoors or outdoors, we are having a ball!