Comfort-Challenge-Fear
“So, what makes you feel comfortable?” This was the question I asked a group of seven to nine year olds this week. We were in the woods for the first session of our Forest School sessions and I wanted to help focus them on what they would be doing over the next few…
Let ME play!
Last week a series of posters were doing the rounds, originated from Explorations Early Learning: http://www.explorationsearlylearning.com/shop5/posters.html This one really caught the imagination of a number of people on Facebook. It’s great isn’t it! It speaks to…
Yes, and… Play and learning
Sometimes I feel like describing ‘play’ is like drawing the wind. You can recognise it, you know what it looks and feels like, but it is somehow nebulous and hard to pin down. I have been working in the field of play and playwork for nearly fifteen years and yet I…
Hapa Zome (beating up leaves with hammers)
This is a wonderful creative technique that I often share with participants on training courses and with the children I work with. This week someone on a course made something so beautiful it reminded me I wanted to share this a bit more widely. Hapa Zome is the…
Forest School Case Study: Bradford West
“The Forest School sessions had a quantifiable impact on children’s self esteem and confidence, social skills, language and communication, motivation and concentration and physical skills.”
Forest School Case Study: Carr Manor Primary School
“We’re Going To The Woods Today!”
What impact does a programme of exiting, meaningful outdoor experiences in local woods have on the outcomes of a group of nursery children, mainly boys, some of whom have English as an additional language?
Learning as much in an hour of play….
“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” Plato I recently spent a wonderful 24hrs with my friend and her daughter, my goddaughter R. Now aged six, this is a child I have known since before she was born, we lived all…
One idea sparks another idea, which sparks another idea….
One of the elements I find really rewarding about working with lots of different groups of children and adults in different contexts is that the ideas and inspiration that develops with one group feeds into another and I often find themes emerging at certain times. As…
A change to play-based learning. A parent’s perspective.
I have been working closely with a school as they went through some massive changes. When I first worked with them in March last year the Foundation stage; nursery and reception class were two separate entities. Hilary who leads the unit, has been inspired by a trip…
Making Weapons and Group Agreements
I am, by nature a peaceful sort. However I often find myself building and making weapons. I do like the satisfaction of seeing a stick shooting off into the distance fired by a home made bow and we have made some constructions (that could best be described as siege…
Did you used to climb trees?
I have a source of pride to share with you; I was the best tree climber in my street as a child. I was small and skinny and could hold on to thin branches my brother and his friends were too big to handle. I loved climbing trees, we would climb really really high….
The popcorn maker is dead! Long live the popcorn maker!
I took my fire top popcorn maker with me to the woods this week. Had I known it would be it’s last outing, I might have marked its passing in some way. The children were intrigued by the popcorn maker. A conversation I had with a group of 9 and 10 year olds went a bit…
