Start of a new term, new jobs, a new era...

Well, after 6 weeks of playing with the children,

finding fossils(this is a diplodocus bone apparently!),

and getting cold and wet

its time to reenter the world of work.

And the start of this new term is a new start for me in lots of ways;

although I love horticulture and am passionate about its value as a therapeutic medium, for me, personally, I've found I have to be too directive within sessions when the pupils I work with are growing plants.

Yes plants want to grow, and will do everything in their power to do so, but if you want a plant to grow well there are so many things to consider-time of year, light, heat, compost type, watering, the list goes on. And there are so many pests and diseases that might cause sickness or even death it can be fraught getting a plant to reach its potential(the parallels to raising children are not lost on me here!!)

I've found with my pupils that to avoid regular disappointment required me to offer my opinion too often for me to feel comfortable. My work is always about process not product but I've found it too difficult to repeatedly allow my charges to plant seeds at the wrong time or in the wrong place, knowing that those plants wouldn't succeed.

So this year I am concentrating entirely on nature as a therapeutic medium.

Last year I trialled this approach with 11 pupils, they could choose to do whatever they wished within the school grounds, which included some horticulture. We also:

made art with items we found

built dens

and watched wildlife

I can't wait to see what the coming years sessions bring.

I'm looking forward to being in the here and now, whilst wondering where I will find myself in twelve months time...

 

Endless holidays....

It feels like a summer holiday should, warm and sunny(well mostly) and with seemingly endless time to spend together, mainly outdoors, enjoying whatever experiences come our way. So far this summer we have...

...walked amongst thousands of tiny frogs, trying not to step on them or harm them with our 3 and 4 year old boundless enthusiasm!!

We worked together to create a den, so involved in the building we only had a few minutes to play inside...

Then we visited Cannock chase and found a whole village of dens that somebody had made, but somehow they didn't have the same attraction as our self built home!

We've flown kites at the seaside...

...and rescued a bee that got caught in our conservatory overnight and needed a honey reviver, watching fascinated as it drank through its proboscis.

We've spent hours playing pooh sticks...

...and several more sliding down this bank, until most of it ended up in our shorts!!!

But most of all we've spent time with people we love, enjoying life...

...gaining memories to treasure forever.

Time together

Its been a busy few weeks, finishing with some schools and pupils and making a start with others but we managed to grab some time to head out as a family and do some exploring at the newly opened Brockholes Nature Reserve http://www.brockholes.org/about.

Amongst our finds were a giant foxglove...

A piece of wood that looked like it could have been a weapon but was actually used to film the local wildlife, look out Charlie Hamilton James!!!

We completed the spring nature trail...

...and finally found a woodlouse which led to great excitement for at least one of the party!

Sadly the last minibeast on the list, the shield bug, eluded us, so watch out...we'll be back!

Only 6 sleeps til the end of term and lots of time to explore together, but maybe not as together as this...

International Mud(Compost) Day!

In honour of International Mud Day I'm posting some photos of the compost creations some of my charges have created over the years...

Never made a sandcastle?-Compost will do the job too...

...mark making...

...a self portrait...

...patterns using pots.

But sometimes its about a lot more than fun...

These two young people hated the outdoors at the beginning of their sessions, they started to conquer their fears by a nice bit of squelching in some very sticky mud.

Whilst these two pupils had just been told their sessions were unexpectedly being cancelled (funding had been pulled), so not surprisingly they didn't want to use the compost they had mixed to plant anything new, so they spent their session throwing the mud and venting their anger at the abrupt ending by creating this piece of modern art. They gave it the title "Lifes a B..%*!"

I don't usually get modern art, but this one is a very different story...here's to Mud!!!!!

Planting for the future...

Personally I'm a winter girl but professionally I love this time of year.

Most of the children I work with will have been having sessions for nearly twelve months. We will have spent weeks weeding, preparing the soil and  mulling things over during the colder months and then in some cases, but not all, started to make plans for the future; thinking of practical or beautiful things that they want to bring into their lives.

Then we will have spent time sowing seeds or planting tubers and cared for their plants over the unusually early hot and dry spell. Later watching in amazement as their seedlings have enjoyed the recent rain and really started to get their roots down into the warmer soil.

And now those children are starting to see how they can change their worlds:

We've had things to eat:

 

And beautiful flowers that "Are really cool!"

Sometimes that one achievement is enough but for others they've tasted success and it leads to a whole new session of planting for the future...



Holidays and Loose Play

Sat inside watching thunderous clouds roll across the sky and rain stream down the window. Supposed to be putting together a talk to help one of my schools develop their grounds and the experiential and educational opportunities. Became distracted looking at photos to use whilst going through old holiday snaps...

It seems to me that once again my children have taught me whats important, and what I need to share this afternoon...

...time, space and the natural world for inspiration leads to many wonderful opportunities and creations.

 

Therapeutic Value of Digging

I've just been reading Lily's latest post over at http://kindlingplayandtraining.blogspot.com/ about the compulsion to make weapons and throw stones. It left me thinking about other compulsions that occur within sessions and for me recently there has been a lot of digging.

Either digging alone...

Or with a friend...

Sometimes holes get left. Just sitting waiting for something to fill it, whilst at others they are actively filled with bulbs and seeds planted for future growth...

By digging am I searching for something?

Looking for treasure?

Or my Self?

The Wood for the Trees....

After a long break it can be difficult to find anything worth looking at or working for.

"This bed is overgrown and full of weeds. Whats the point of all my hard work?"

Sometimes its hard to see anything good in life...

'Look closer. Is everything bad?' 'Can you see anything in there you might want to keep?'

Working together we slowly removed everything R wanted to, at his pace, talking about what was worth keeping, what might need some care and what we should throw onto the compost heap to be used again-in a different way.

The end result...

Onions, potatoes and beans-good things to come and space to sow more seeds for the future.

Endings

Because most of my sessions run through an academic year, rather than a horticultural year, we are starting to work towards endings now as there are only a few weeks left of term. It has transformed in a couple of sessions into a theme of 'loss'.

A hole being dug for planting became a grave of an unknown man dug by a year 5 pupil. "I don't know who he is, but I need to bury him."

He gave him a headstone and looked solemn at the graveside before walking away "...to start something new."

For two slightly younger pupils we had a full ceremony when they lost some of their beloved crops due to the very hot weather.There were holy words, singing and even some weeping, expressing their loss in the best way they knew how.

I always feel a sense of loss too at this time of year, that the time I get to spend with these fantastic children  is coming to an end. This year that sense of loss is heightened by my leaving my current post, at present without any definite plans.

What I have to trust, both for my pupils and this year for myself, is that...

"If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow."
Rachel Carson.



But your only pond dipping...

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...

Further Inspiration

Sometimes working with children and young people every day I forget to acknowledge that the children in my family are gorgeous exciting individuals too, so I have spent the last few weeks nurturing and cherishing them and in turn they have reminded me of why I am so lucky.

We threw rocks in the lake...

We felt small in nature...

We found beauty in natural materials...

Cj tried to find the biggest Wisteria flower she could...

Whilst Wh found a giant catapult...

And we all found a 1000 year old man...

Just what we needed to feel recharged and ready for another busy term!!!!

Creativity and Flourishing...

Seeking inspiration that I am doing the right thing(its been a bad week) I found these two amazing talks...

http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html (2006)

http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html (2010)

Inspiration found!