💐 SPRING equinox blessings to you all … and a fab time had over the last few days, avoiding the showers, LOVING sticky weed tag, lots of tool work, clay daisy pots, clay tool making, seed bombs and SOME very cute alder cone bees. AND it’s only Wednesday…. 🐝💚🐝💚
🌲🌳🌲A different sort of week for me this week, and a shorter one too! Using a fenced or ‘contained’ site defined by physical boundaries or otherwise, our environmental impact must be considered, alongside the impact of the recent weather 🌧️ 🌧️. SO, sessions have been very limited this week to avoid further damage and for plans to be put in place for moving the fire circle and rotating some areas of use.
🌳🌲🌳With over 200 children visiting the school site each week, there are lots of opportunities for tree planting, seeding and bark moving around. Let’s face it: no Spinney = no job! With a focus on sustainability balancing up our environmental impact versus benefits of use is a must, it’s not just about the mud but explaining these reasons and building that relationship with all users of the site. The future caretakers are our children. 🌳🌲💚
🌳🌲🌳BEAUTIFUL webinar last night with the Children’s Forest, definitely looking to seek to be an advocate of their work. Already a BIG fan of their book and this is frequently referred to. 💚
🌳🌲🌳Inspired today to reflect on our ancestors use of plants and trees and wondering how different our view today of them is. Providing opportunities for peeling and exploring willow, braiding reeds and some wool wrapping. Looking forward to celebrating the Spring Equinox next week with some simple foraged treats.
🌳🌲🌳ENJOYING conversations surrounding our use and view of plants, nettles featured highly!, compared to how our ancestors may have viewed them.
Food for thought 🌳🌲💚
💚💚 I mentioned this a little while ago on a video on Facebook (Nature Noodles group page) – I passed! Really proud of this one, so important in helping teach our children to develop their own toolkits to use, if not now, but in the future. Always be kind.
Just awesome … if you’re local, this was Sixfields, Northampton. Genuinely breathtaking. 💚
🌳🌲🌳AMAZING 3D shapes this week with year 1, they lasted overnight and are still standing! 💚
🌳🌲outdoorlearning KS1
🌳🌲🌳Camp fire cooking challenge for some young people doing the NOLA (Institute of Outdoor Learning). Wrap pizzas. One box of resources, one demonstration then … over to them. Yummy results!! 🍕 😋
🌳🌲🌳photo from an entirely different session but it all looked pretty much the same ☺️
🌳🌲🌳SOME of my group this week enjoyed investigating brambles and we talked about making cordage with it. A fiddly but really satisfying process, they used loppers to cut the brambles and I removed the thorns. We used a mallet to break it down before peeling the fibres. It was a little tough, as I feel not quite the right time of year but great fun to try and easier than nettles. 💚🌲🌳
💚💚 Simply no words to describe the cuteness.
🌳🌲🌳THIS week introducing ‘The Lost Words’ to one of my groups. Discussing the history behind the book, prompting lots of questions around why did “they” [the dictionary producers] think we didn’t want or need or not use these words. Conversations about balance using social media and getting outside and looking after our green spaces. 🌳🌲💚
NATURE NOODLES 