The Forest Inside Us

Forest day started like any other: fort building, leaf rubbings & story telling when, all of a sudden...

"I heard a BOOM!"

"I think at night time the wind blew so fast and cracked it and then it fell down!"

"It's sad... The tree lost its life. It's dead now."

"Yeah, it's dead now. It can't grow back up. Other trees are sad too and they're saying "Awww it's starting to die."

"If all the tree's fall, we all die."

"Yeah because trees give us oxygen!"

"Can we give our oxygen to other people?"

"Oh no! That means the animals would die too!"

"Now I feel mad and sad."

"It cracked in me. I felt it in my body."

Gentle droplets of rain drizzle all around while a crew of Pre-Kindergartners gathered under their self-made shelter. A serious meeting was taking place to discuss the event that shook the forest: a tree fell down. A tree fell down in their forest. A tree fell down in their forest near enough that they could see it, hear it and feel it. Their observations were sharp and their feelings deep. It was a moment to pause and reflect. A moment to wonder about the bigger picture: What would happen if all of the trees died? These 4 and 5 year old's intend to find out. The "bigger picture" just got way more personal.