Wild about Play here we come.

We have a ridiculous number of amazing resources on our doorstep here in Sheffield.  We are so lucky.  We have decided to make use of one we have been aware of for a while now in the form of an outdoor Kindergarten with a Home Education session.  Wild About Play is run by a fantastic group of enthusiastic professionals who are totally passionate about giving children the opportunity to explore nature and natural materials in an autonomous and exciting way.

We went to an open morning a few months ago, but due to it being really busy Evan wasn't eager to return; so we had been doing things with local group FoCAL  at Woodland Camp, and Forest Kindergarten, both of which starred the inimitable Emma Condor.  Circumstances have coincided now that we have decided to indulge our passion for the woods by attending Forest School, with the added bonus of Emma now working here!!!!  Today was the first day, and I had the pleasure of staying as Evan felt he needed me there.  I was really glad that I could stay as I got to see the amazing resource come to life.

How many ways can you cross a river?

The Home Ed group spent part of the morning developing a waterway to the river, this a small portion of what they created after much problem solving and creative thinking. 

I was most impressed with the lack of rules - only simple rules to keep people from seriously harming themselves.  It gave all the children the real sense of freedom that really we all desire in our lives.  Exploring the idea of conformism this week has been a theme for me due to a number of circumstances, and finishing the week off in this magical atmosphere really foots the bill for me.

Thank you to everyone at Wild About Play for creating such an amazing and inspirational environment which gives children the space they need and crave.  You are wonderful. 

Woodland Camp with FoCAL

Cooperating fetching water from the river with a pulley system

Making Pewter trinkets

Evan helps make a stool

Using the Bill hook and a mallet to split the wood

Blob making

Tree adorning

Sparkly potion making in the mud kitchen

Forest bathing

Just the most idyllic way to spend 30-40 minutes I can imagine.  This wasn't my actual view, but it was a view from the camp as I looked up.  I was excited at the prospect when it was introduced to me... especially the fact that the woodland camp leaders wood take charge of the children, so I could have uninterupted time just me and the woods.  So I lay there without a book, phone or even my camera to distract me.  A beautiful little spot had been set up on a warm sunny afternoon next to a small stream out of earshot of the main camp.  My first thought was, what am I going to do to make the most of my time and really fill myself full of the forest as much as possible?  

I decided to start with looking, really looking at what I could see above me.  I looked at the branches, the twigs, the buds and the tiny little thread holding a small bit on. I meditated on these for some time.  then I focused on the shape of the branches;of the differences in the branches, and the Y sections that are created at each junction. I've seen them before of course, but I don't think I really saw them before this moment.  

I moved on to what I could hear at this point so to concentrate this sense I closed my eyes.  I noticed how comfortable I was at this point, that there was a beautiful stillness in the air meaning that I could fully relax my body onto the soft grass beneath the blankets.  Then I began to notice the birds around me.  I listened out for more, they came.  After a while I began to notice a conversation between two birds.  My questioning mind, now thinks how nice it would be to study the different birdsong so I could differentiate further.  At the time though, I was simply noting the sounds for what they were, without need for labels.  I think you can really truly say, I was in my element.  

After a while I decided to draw my attention to other sounds in the space, the first of which I noted was the stream.  It was small and close-by, so I heard a lovely gentle babble and glugging.  An immense feeling of joy welling up inside of me.  I really felt like I might cry.  During this period of having my eyes closed I was in deep relaxation and found it immensely peaceful and powerful at the same time.  

After a while I drew my attention back to my sight, and this time, when I opened my eyes I decided to look back to where I was looking previously, and noticed that the tiny thread holding something onto the tree that I saw before was still there.  I wonder what that thread was made of.  I turn to one side and looked from a bugs eye view at the luscious grass, my attention was taken by a flying creature which seemed like a dragonfly, though I was sure it was too early in the year for dragon flies.  Then I noticed little midges in a clump.  I watched their movement, to see if they moved off, and gradually they did.  Even with my concentrated attention I didn't notice the subtle shifting they must have done to move away from their first spot.

I began noticing outside things at this point I believe, a few shouts from the camp made me think of the children.  I thought how wonderful it would be for Evan to enjoy this space, but perhaps he is still a little young, to manage this activity.  Perhaps with support... My mind began to get back to the day to day of educational experiences and children, I drew it back to the environment again.  The sky gained my attention this time.   The subtlty of the wispy clouds, again I was filled with gratitude for this overwhelming and simply magical experience.  Not easy to capture when I have 24h responsibility for children, or am working.  I wonder how I could capture some of this magic in my life on a regular basis.  Better for relaxing than a massage most definitely, but I have to say I would have found forest bathing a little more tricky had the weather conditions been a little less perfect.

I emerged later,I must have been bathing for about 45 minutes to an hour, though I didn't time it.  I felt at peace and found it a bit weird dropping back into camp and interacting with it rather than passively experiencing it.  Thank you, thank you to Emma Conder and her team for introducing me to, and facilitating me in this amazing experience.

Exploring pipes in the river

Do you think the hen wood like to see my stone in a jar of river water?

My mini stool

"I'm under here!"

We've been on a bug hunt 

Autumn's bug

HUGE thank you to all the wonderful Woodland campers and leaders.  We had a wonderful homely time and felt very welcome.

Our Mini Forest School

We seem to have staked a claim on the spot in the woods behind our house. We have a 'making' tree, for our creative projects, and are looking at developing a seating area, inspired by the brilliant forest playgroup we've been going to. This afternoon we made a scaredy caterpillar of enormous proportions, a smiley face, a mini den, and a downhill slide complete with flags like in the downhill skiing! We attempted a large den, but the surrounding trees were not great at facilitating this, so we decided to do this elsewhere. The sun was shining, it was quite warm, and plenty of birds were singing. I feel so much gratitude for this wonderful afternoon, and all the wonderful things that have happened to make it so carefree, easy and so scrumptious with my very amazing children. On returning home we let the guinea pigs have a play outside whilst autumn enjoyed the swing.

Forest kindergarten morning

We popped along to the playgroup at Fulwood scout hut,  where they run Forest kindergarten.  It was super cold,  but despite that autumn had great fun making the clay mud for buildings,  and evan and I made a giant dragon egg nest,  weaving willow sticks.  It was a great value morning at £5 for our family,  with tea and food for the kids round the campfire.
We got super muddy and smoky,  and the kids had a great time.  There were stories and games after food.

Thanks to Helen,  Emma,  and Flys.

Grandad came to visit

We have just had a great two days with the addition of my dad to our little home ed team.  We did usual things with our days,  so lots of fun was had,  if a little ramped up on the moan status.

On Thursday we went to mini works, on the kids request,  but having been there  three times already this week,  we're not in the most enthusiastic of spirits.  This was followed with a trip to get autumn some new shoes,  where she chose a pair of comfy closed toe shoes,  and a pair of hi-tops,  which are now her Zumba shoes!  I want a pair,  they look so good.  We popped into pets at home and discovered that tanks were on sale the following day,  and our plan to get fish would start then.

Then a magical visit to Honey pie tearooms for a spot of lunch. It was totally delicious,  and great feel.  Everyone loved it,  despite the arguments about a toy squirrel  (nutkin). Beth my dad and I wrote reviews for trip advisor to give thanks.

We went to Weston Park museum in the afternoon.  The highlight was the craft room,  where we made some additions to their rainforest scene,  and were given bags full of craft supplies.  Here they are exploring colour using a fab idea, frames on a white surface with melted bottle tops - We are soooo going to collect and melt our own for some fun craft activities.

The evening followed with bath,  and then chatting with my dad. It was so great to spend time together.  We battled with computer apps for the tail end of the evening,  password became a comical word.

The next day we had a slow get ready, whilst inventing lifting machines out of k'nex I made some biscuits and prepped our picnic lunch,  as we went to forest friday.  

Lucy and Lesley were there with their little broods.  I brought the stick book and chose a fun activity of weaving flora and fauna into a stick loom.  Then me and Lesley made and wove stick looms whilst the kids ran about or hung out in lucy's voluminous parachute hammock. Ha ha!  We took a statutory stroll to the stream to finish our time there.  There were no late comers and as we had young ones in need of naps we were done by about 1. Whilst at the stream much fun was had,  and autumn followed Annie's idea of washing clothes in the stream,  thankfully I had brought spare clothing.

We spent the afternoon in the Botanical gardens,  which was great.  Autumn climbed up ridiculously high in the yew tree,  but her second go led to a very skilful and speedy descent.  Evan enjoyed the clues and riddles,  which we have planned on fully documenting.

Thank you so much to my dad for taking advantage of his unexpected gap in his schedule and joining us.  We loved having him.