A day in the Ami Sabi summer wonderland and in the Ami Sabi workshop

TheAmi Sabi Summer Wonderland is offered three times a week during the summer and fall vacations. This means that, together with the workshop, which is open from Tuesday to Saturday, we offer a six-day program for children. Our activities are aimed at children between the ages of four and twelve. So we are catering to a wide range of ages here. For our program to work, we need a certain group dynamic. Therefore, we can only offer it if we know that enough children will sign up for it.
In addition to Ami Sabi as the storyteller, ski instructors are responsible for organizing the daily schedule and implementing it.

We want to whisk the children away to a magical world where we encounter dragons, dwarves, the water nymph Ritscha, and other creatures. We strive to offer the children as much freedom and variety as possible, while maintaining a calm atmosphere. OnMonday, our program takes place in Falera. Right at the beginning, we sing the Summer Wonderland song together with Ami Sabi. Then we head to the megaliths and visit the church. Since we are going up the hill in the afternoon, which is not without danger, we make a protective stone before lunch.

After lunch, we visit the remains of the old village. We also want to join Ami Sabi in freeing the imprisoned Sun King. Some children become so immersed in the story that we occasionally have to take a child by the hand to comfort them. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, we are always able to return all the children to their parents happy and content.

TheWednesday programtakes place in Flims. We take the chairlift up to Foppa. On the meadow, we learn about herbs, which we collect for our lunch. Then we hike towards Flims. Along the way, we look at trees, mushrooms, and anthills. Sometimes we also see Zwänggen, or at least their caves. While lunch is being prepared, Ami Sabi tells a story. Before lunch, each child will have found a walking stick. After lunch, they will decorate it with patience and dedication. On the way, we will usually see a few gnomes in the Zwänggen forest. At half past three, we will hand the tired children back to their parents.

Friday can probably be described as the highlight of the week. Often with up to 50 children, we head to the Laaxer Bach stream. Here, the children can play in the stream to their heart's content, build dams, make cairns, or simply "be." We deliberately want to give the children plenty of freedom here. This means that we always have enough staff with us at the stream. Lunch consists of snake bread and cervelats. The children roast their own food over the fire.

Then we go on a treasure hunt with homemade leather pouches. Depending on their luck, the children find crystals, gemstones, or even gold. At 2:45 p.m., the parents also arrive at the stream for a joint conclusion. We sing them the Ami Sabi Summer Wonderland song and Ami Sabi tells one last story to conclude the day. Afterwards, each family builds a cairn. With bulging bags, lots of beautiful stones, and rich in experiences, everyone then makes their way home.

TheAmi Sabi workshoptakes place five days a week from July to October. It is held in the Ami Sabi tents in Laax Murschetg. We explore the four elements of earth, fire, water, and air with the children, plus a fifth daily theme: humans and animals. We grind stones, make fire with flint and jute cord, build ships or wooden animals, and craft dream catchers. We want to give the children plenty of freedom to decide what they want to make, craft, or experiment with. During the peak season, there are up to 25 children in the workshop and, accordingly, enough helpers. This summer, we were a young team, mainly consisting of ski instructors. Some of them are otherwise pursuing studies or working at the bike school and are therefore flexible and available on short notice. In the off-season, there are fewer children and therefore less supervisory staff is needed.

A typical day in the workshop begins with a welcome and a story about the topic of the day. The stories feature characters from the Ami Sabi fairy tales and are therefore already familiar to many children, as many of them are in LAAX during the winter and are usually already well acquainted with Ami Sabi from ski school. This often creates a common basis for introducing the topic and program for the day. After the story, we show the children some examples of things they can make. They are allowed to choose something and we divide them into groups based on that, their age, and whether they are in the workshop for a full or half day. Then it's time to get crafting. Many children are very creative! It's not uncommon for us to be quite amazed at the wonderful things the children have made.

Many parents and children appreciate the natural materials such as various stones, leather, wood, wool, and feathers that we use in our crafts and handicrafts, in keeping with the spirit of our patron Ami Sabi. Other children are not so patient when it comes to crafts and prefer to play with water, play board games, or help make a fire and prepare lunch. Our lunch menus range from salsiz and cheese rolls to snake bread and cervelat to tomato couscous. After lunch, we make a delicious dessert together with the children, such as chocolate bananas, or we play "Smarties Enchantment." Later, we wash up, finish our crafts, and tidy up.

The hill on which our fenced Ami Sabi tents stand is our "Patnal," where there is plenty of space for the children to let off steam. They can also play by the stream or with the goats from the daycare center. They should feel closer to nature and the characters from the Ami Sabi stories, such as the mysterious water woman Ritscha, the cheeky Zwängg Fritzli, or the playful chamois Camutscha.

If you ever find yourself in Patnal, you are welcome to immerse yourself in the Ami Sabi experience. As long as the snow is still far away, we are here.