I've spent a lot of time pond dipping this last few weeks, which has been noted by staff at several of the sites where I work, I guess wondering how dipping in ponds could be therapeutic..
Well firstly just being outside in nature, especially near water, is shown to have restorative properties
Second its been really interesting watching which of my pupils will use their hands to empty the nets, and which are more cautious just turning the net over. One year 2 pupil today readily picked up a pond snail, whilst his year 6 partner preferred to put the container into the water and let the snail swim out.
For some pupils its been about life cycles and there have been endless discussions about parents caring for their babies, why is there so much frogspawn and also about death as we have found mortally injured tadpoles.
For others its been about numbers, 1 pupil caught one tadpole and happily watched it for the whole session, although ultimately declaring it was time to return it to the water 'as it was probably a bit lonely', whereas for others its been about filling the box 'until its completely black with tadpoles.'
One activity, so much learnt...
