It is no secret that this mama LOVES Bluey. If you haven’t watched the Australian kids’ show that has captured the hearts of more parents than kids, please head to Disney+ after this and watch your new obsession. Bluey is centered around the adventures a young heeler pup named Bluey and her younger sister Bingo. This week, I want to dive into an episode that makes me smile on so many levels, The Creek S1E29. I’ll go scene by scene of this short 9min episode, and explain how my kids and campers are just like the Heelers and Mackenzie.
We start off at the playground. The kids have grown bored of the equipment. You even see Buddy, a young pug, falling asleep at the top of the slide.
During afterschool, our campers ask to go to the same place every day…the field. It’s our job to shake things up from time to time. They don’t know they need it, but new unstructured surroundings, such as our creek and bamboo forest, can inspire them to be more creative in their free play.
Bluey’s friend Mackenzie asks Bluey’s dad if they can go play at the creek. Bluey is hesitant to leave the playground, especially when her dad explains they have to bushbash (bushwhack) to get there. Mackenzie urges her to come with them, describing the creek as “beautiful”. These words are an important theme throughout the episode.
If kids/campers aren’t used to being in the outdoors, they can be nervous to explore in the woods. The unknowns are scary to them, and it seems like a dangerous place to be.
As they begin their trek, Bluey notices the bushes and thorns. Her dad tells her to watch out for Drop bears, a fictitious creature that locals tell tourists to beware of. He explains that they aren’t real, but to watch out for snakes. Bluey starts to run, but then plows right into a spiderweb before having an encounter with a leech.
This is exactly how our hikes and campouts start out (minus the leeches…usually). We head down the trail, telling kids that we are hunting for snipes (also fictitious for those who don’t know), and walking through a spiderweb is a rite of passage.
Bluey walks down a steep uneven part of the path and falls, hurting her knee. Bandit makes the traditional dad joke, “Well should we cut it off?”. In the meantime, Bingo notices her surroundings and exclaims, “The creek is beautiful.”
The creek is crystal clear. Bandit suggests they rock hop. Mackenzie encourages Bluey by telling her to take her time. He cautions her to watch out for the wobbly ones and the green slippery ones. Bluey slips on a slick rock and falls into the water. She exclaims, “I swallowed mud! What could happen?!” While reciting self-affirming statements, she continues on saying, “The creek is beautiful.” “I’m not scared of it at all.” Then she makes the jump across a small waterfall. They reach the better part of the creek, and Dad says “I don’t think I’ve been here since I was your age. It still looks the same.”
There is so much to unpack here! Most of my afterschoolers love to get messy, but when they first arrive it takes a few adventures for them to fully embrace the mud. They are taught to avoid germs and clean up (for the most part rightfully so), but there are so many benefits to squishing mud between your fingers and toes! You should spit it out though if you eat it…
Saying self-affirming statements is amazing too! When our campers are tackling a new skill, we often tell them to say their fears and challenges out loud, but also to talk through how they will overcome them. “I am scared of stepping off this platform. It is okay to feel this way. I also feel brave. I want to zipline. I’m going to be okay. I am brave. I’m going to jump now.”
How incredible is it that Bluey’s dad remembered how to get to this special place after so many years? I LOVE sharing experiences like this with my campers, and I can’t wait until my girls can fully feel the magic of where we live. The moments we create inspire future adults to share these special places (including camp) with their own families. Seeing the value in this reminds us of how special our mission is each day.
The kids start to experience all the best parts of the creek. Tadpoles tickle their toes. They find a crawdad. They skip stones, create boats to race, and build a dam. Bandit also becomes their customer at a spa complete with flower crowns. Bluey has a moment to herself and looks up to see a wallaby. She smiles before saying, “The creek is beautiful.” This time when Bluey says the creek is beautiful, she actually believes it. It’s the mark of her growth across the adventure.
Big take away: They don’t describe the creek as merely “fun”, but beautiful. Let’s break this down. How often do we try to coax kids into trying something new just by saying “C’mon! It’ll be fun.”? I want to inspire staff and parents to be intentional about using different adjectives to describe expectations and activities. I vote that for an entire week. We delete “FUN” from our vocabulary. “You should try that. It will be thrilling.” “You should taste it. It is cold and sweet.” Fun isn’t a bad word but using other words in its place not only teaches new vocabulary, but also produces imagery alongside the experience.
They head back to the playground and emerge from the woods with their paws covered in mud. Bluey is more confident as she hops along the beams. Bandit warns Bingo of Gonzantapedes (they don’t exist) relating back to the drop bear comment from before. Then he says they seriously need to check for ticks…
One of my favorite parts of the day at camp is when parents pick up their kids and say, “Oh man you are dirty.” “Or oh my gosh, you got really wet today.” We let families borrow towels for the car ride home every day. Our families quickly learn that we are all about playing outside, and dirty kids is something to be celebrated. We also suggest a tick check from time to time.
Each day we have campers who are anxious about exploring past the sidewalk away from the comfortable boundary of the playground. It’s our job to introduce them to a new environment, a new adventure, and a new beauty. Next week, grab a tissue…we are watching the episode, Baby Race!
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***Some of the images above are not my own, but were found and shared from third party media sites***