Enchanted Valley
Students play the role of adults in various occupations and attend a Town Meeting, where a developer proposes to turn the Ashokan property into the Enchanted Valley Recreation Complex. The intent is that the students leave with a sense of empowerment, knowing that they can make a difference in their community and the world if they choose to get involved.

Students will be able to:

• develop and express an informed and thoughtful opinion on a controversial subject;
• realize the value of their input in the group decision making process (e.g. small group, school, global community, etc.);
• evaluate the impact, both positive and negative, that major development has on the local economy and environment.

New Games
These are fun, challenging activities which give the students experiences that develop a sense of trust and cooperation among themselves. These games are designed to de-emphasize competition and encourage creative play, spontaneity, participation and use of the imagination. Games involving the earth ball and parachute are options.
New Games Festival: This is the same as New Games as described previously, but done with the entire group. This can also be done as a Welcome Festival or Evening Program (daylight permitting).

Students will be able to:

• have fun playing in a non-competitive setting;
• start, or finish, their stay at Ashokan in a positive and active way;
• remove barriers and pre-conceptions of classmates through non-competitive games;
• work cooperatively.

Web of Life
The students are assigned a role of an organism in the food web, with some designated as herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, natural disasters, etc. They each need to discover the location of food, water, shelter, and space, while tagging others and trying not to be tagged. Humans, pesticides, and disasters each play a part. At the end, those who have survived and those who died are tallied up, and then there is a conclusion and discussion on the laws of nature, biological magnification, interconnectedness of life, etc.

Students will be able to:

• explain in their own words herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore and provide examples of each;
• explain in their own words food chain, food web and food pyramids and provide examples;
• list the four basic needs of all living things;
• understand the role humans and natural disasters have in the web of life and describe the positive and negative effects of each;
• explain in their own words bio-magnification and provide examples.