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!

Plants are like people...

One of the young men I work with made the observation last week that 'plants are like people' and in that one short phrase he summed up my working life. At one level people are all the same, but all different-just like these daffodils he grew which was what prompted the comment.

But it goes so much further than that; whilst working with him we've talked about what plants(we) need to grow well, what makes plants(us) sick and how plants(people) need space, time and the right conditions if they are going to blossom to their full potential.

This boy has witnessed terrible tradgedy in his young life and last week we talked about a scar running down a tree we were working near. How although the tree would never be the same because of a huge trauma resulting in a large scar, it could still grow and ultimately blossom. Just like him. 

He's right-plants are just like people...

Practically Perfect

I've been working with some guys lately who are struggling with perfection-and the idea that if its not perfect then its not worth having. They come from chaotic and traumatic backgrounds and desperately want to find a new, perfect world to inhabit. Using their plants and the world around them we've been discussing what perfection is and whether as humans we need to desire it as strongly as they do.

My time with them is coming to an end and when I was thinking about a way to strengthen the message that imperfection can be beautiful and valuable I remembered this picture taken at a local ice cream farm last summer...

That is a serious scar, an impressive imperfection and a magnificent tree. It is a true beauty and home to hundreds of insect which support a much wider eco system so its value is beyond doubt. I shall give my charges a copy each and I hope that they can look at something that they would see as far removed from perfect and remember that a life that is altered by drama and sadness can still be both valuable and wonderful .

Water, water everywhere...

Despite the gorgeous spring sunshine its been a wet day one way or another. Two small groups went pond dipping-no frogspawn sadly but we did find plenty of larvae and nymphs to make up for it. Some of the children were really keen; leaning over the water trying to spot their targets...

And others showed no fear whilst emptying their nets...

Others were more timid; expressing anxiety at what may lie beneath...

Or their nervousness at the creatures they caught, but they've all asked to go again, keen to face their fears.

Then we arrive home and my two have decided summer is here and commence an impromptu water fight using whatever containers were to hand...

I wasn't too happy this morning but I've had my own nature therapy today: sunshine, water and children; my three personal mood enhancers!

Birds v Bees

The children(ok and me) have spent all morning watching a mighty battle between a red-tailed bumble bee(Bombus lapidarius) and a pair of blut tits vying for our nestbox. The blue tits had been checking it out for about a week, hanging outside and looking around and occasionally nipping in for a few seconds before heading off out again.

Today though they seemed to be keen to move in and start building up a cosy home, frequent visits and lots of pecking at the entrance hole-putting their mark on it I guess. Then the bee appeared. Its been around for a day or so, seemingly circling the house, and at times getting confused and coming into the conservatory for a quick look. Wh and I discussed where she might be looking to start up her colony but never thought she might fight the blue tits for her new home.

So the bee heads in to the box, the tits reappear and whilst working on their front door notice the queen and retreat to the beech hedge twittering wildly, the queen leaves and the tits bombard her chasing her madly until she disappears. This has been going on all day-with no winner as yet-who will be left with the new apartment ready to raise their family....?

As if that wasn't enough excitement the frogspawn is developing well, the black dots are now more like dashes and you can start to see the tadpole shape appearing. Fingers crossed that they continue to grow well as Wh has been talking all about 'the cycle', and it would be fantastic for him to experience that up close and personal.

Nature at its best, right outside our window.

Examples of a sterile playground

Following on from my post yesterday about the lack of loose materials in school playgrounds have a look at Teacher Toms latest post for photos of a truly uninspiring playground...
http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-big-playroom.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TeacherTom+%28Teacher+Tom%29&utm_content=Google+UK

Loose Materials

So many of the school or playgrounds I visit have no loose material at all, the only activities on offer are sport, or maybe games like hide and seek if there are any plants left to hide behind.

Today I went into the playground at one of the schools I visit regularly and was greeted by a group of year 3 pupils, who I don't know, demanding that I follow them to see their 'settlement'. When the group of around 20 pupils parted I saw the most amazing village, created from the few loose items they had scavenged from their flat and featureless landscape...



They have even found some labels which they have used to name the different areas including the circus and the church.

3 year groups, upto 20 children at a time were working together, communicating their ideas and sorting out any difficulties to create an amazing fantasy land.

Several staff are now keen to enourage the creativity and we've discussed other loose materials that we could import from the vast parkland that ajoins the school.

I can't wait until I visit again to see how the settlement, and its creators have developed...

Spring Flowers

Went on our favourite snowdrop walk on Sunday, and it wasn't that the snowdrops were past their best, more that they had been outshone by the crocuses and the daffodils! Hence Cj has filled the camera with numerous shots, but at least in the digital age its easy to pick the best, as above and delete the rest.

I'm not a great fan of children mixing with technology too much-in fact theres a no tv on school days rule and a 2 hour screen time limit at weekends which makes me pretty strict according to my two.

However Cj spent a happy two hours looking closely at her surroundings, thinking about what makes a good composition, trying to create a few arty shots...

...and enjoying the beauty around her.

Maybe just a little technology can be a good thing, only don't tell my two I said that!!

Get Outdoors!!!!

Held an explorer session in some local woods today(see http://swwgblog1.blogspot.com/ for more info). The children had a fantastic time, getting muddy and helping with a litter pick despite the cold and the damp. Yes there were signs of spring to look and listen for, but actually they, and us grown ups, were just enjoying being outdoors...

Raindrops are falling.......

Torrential rain today but much milder so we went out for a welly walk(without wellies sadly as they had been left at school in the friday rush). After investigating how wet we got by shaking a tree over our heads and stood listening to the torrent of water in the drains Cj decided to see how many times raindrops bounce...

...whilst Wh was more intererested in how many swings it took to empty the puddle...



...the answer-about 15, with most of the water having soaked into his trousers!!!!

We had a great time and got throughly soaked, which was a good excuse to head home, wrap up warm and have hot chocolate. But while we got dry and warmed up I realised we hadn't seen any other children out playing, in fact the only two other people we had seen walking were out with their dogs.

Where was everybody else.......?

What is it about Ice???

Another cold one today-barely above freezing all day and the fog never did lift. So much to Wh's delight the bird bath was frozen when he got home. Only a thin layer maybe 2 or 3 mm thick but enough for him to spend half an hour exploring it.

He started by tentatively breaking the sheet into smaller pieces-one of which looked like a dagger so was used to pretend he was a rampaging pirate. Then he realised when he dropped the ice it shattered, so started to experiment how hard he needed to throw it before it broke into really small pieces, he'd clearly been paying attention to a conversation with his Dad last night about 'force'!! (For the safety conscious amongst us Wh and I did have a conversation about when and where you are allowed to throw things before he got too carried away.)

Once all the ice was scattered across the road he thought he would investigate how cold the water that was left was, by dipping his foot in, school shoes and all-at which point I decided enough exploring for today!

The whole thing left me wondering what is it about ice that we want to test it with our weight, watch it crack, and enjoy throwing things onto it. All through the cold spell the canal near to us was frozen and the debris on the top was astounding by the time it started to melt-people, yes adults included, seem compelled to try to break it.

I worked with some young people recently and they spent a happy hour smashing the ice on the (nearly empty/under renovation/no wildlife in it) pond. The energy they expended turned them from angry and unhappy to calmer and able to verbalise their emotions. Yes it appeared destructive and negative but that's how they were feeling!!

I enjoyed breaking the ice too, but I was also able to enjoy its splendour, holding large sheets up to the sunlight and seeing the patterns created there. The students weren't ready for the beauty yet-but hopefully after a few more sessions working on their anger, they can start to really see for the first time some of the wonderful nature that  surrounds them...