This week I have spent time with some fabulous children in Toronto, Canada, as part of the P.I.N.E Project, whose mantra is ‘be more, need less.’ I had two great days in glorious sunshine with their ‘Coyote Pups’ groups - children aged 4-6 - learning more about plant ID, including wild edible species. We also played lots of games, which I’ll be teaching you on my return and perhaps my favourite moment with one group was taking ten minutes during one of our afternoon sessions for a ‘sit spot.’ Children went off into their own spot, a place that they knew and where they could observe nature in some form, whether it was the river, plants, trees, or just sun, wind, and clouds. The children were encouraged to use their animal senses and let go of thinking, almost like a form of meditation.
During the afternoon I spent with the older children, the ‘Fiery Foxes’ group, we used Dogbane to make cordage (natural string.) Circle games were also played at the beginning and end of the session, involving the whole group and often involving lots of reflective thinking - just like Wise Owl!
The highlight of the week was spending a day with the ‘Adventure Out’ program, which I shall write a separate blog post about soon... However, for now, I will end by saying that P.I.N.E sets out to promote resilience, independence and a respect for our natural world, values which are shared by our forest school approach.
Did someone say Spring? Some sessions have definitely been very wintry with cold temperatures and snow to explore! Children at Sutton tried to melt the snow, make 'snow soup' and mould snowballs. We decided the best thing to do after playing in the snow was to warm up by the fire and toast a marshmallow.
We have had all sorts of weather for our sessions over the past few weeks - snow, hail, rain, wind and a drop of sunshine! To keep warm we have been learning to play different games - the pre-school children are getting very good at '1, 2, 3, where are you?' Year 2 at Sutton love to play 'Giants, Wizards and Pixies.' At Hickling, a very wet afternoon session meant lots of mud play and sculpture.
Some groups have been practicing knots and we have built swings and bridges, not forgetting of course we are continuing to perfect our shelters.
For the last couple of weeks we were treated to our first signs of Spring - catkins, sunshine and snowdrops! Long may it continue!
