WE are a husband, wife and our two sons team who run outdoor play sessions in woodland settings to engage toddlers and young people in the outdoor environment and the thrills and excitement of becoming immersed in a forest environment and in the sensual world of the woods. Our two boys age 2 and 4 are infectiously enthralled by the outdoors environment and we spent many happy hours tracking deer and badgers, playing in fallen leaves, building faery houses with sticks and helping our garden to be as wildlife friendly as possible.
OUTDOOR SESSIONS
OUR sessions are built around an Explore Walk to a central base, the Walk takes place at toddler pace; to allow investigation and discovery of the small things that are often missed in travel through the forest. Finding mosses and mushrooms, studying leafs and flowers, feeling textures of bark and stone, watching ants march and beetles scurry, these are the treasures found when slowly studying the landscape.
THE Explore Walk ends at a clearing where a series of craft activities and various environments are set out to allow examination and discovery. These include building stick houses, digging, logs around for seating and also to encourage insect and invertebrate life into the area, bird and butterfly feeders and nesting sites for all manner of flying and crawling creatures.
ALSO in the clearing area there is usually a fire bowl or fire pit for essential warmth during winter and also for cooking food and soup and making drinks.
AFTER a snack break we spend time together singing songs, story-telling and sharing our discoveries of the session, after which the group walk back out to the initial meeting place.
DESPITE this plan sessions are informal and the focus is on allowing toddlers to learn things at their own pace and to show each other their discoveries. Due to the seasonal nature of the environment of the woods we alter and shift sessions to change with respect to the season and weather conditions.
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Story Telling Circle
STORY TELLING...