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🔆Spending Summer Days as a family, trying new activities , mastering skills in the sun and shade of the trees..

💕… meeting new friends and catching up with old friends whilst crafting, dancing, then perhaps chatting and cooking around a campfire, and being a part of, oh many more summer woodland adventure possibilities💚….

🌷🌸🌼….If this sounds like your kind of start to Summer, then Jenny Flude Buckley, Beth Allen and Sonia Williams would love you to join us for the Woodland Adventures Northampton 3 Day Camp! 💚☀️🌳

Email us at woodlandadventurescamp@gmail.com for pricing options amd more info!

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30dayswild

🌲🌳🌲WELL I knew I’d never remember to post every day 🤦🏻 …. BUT every day is a WILD day 💚😊. FROM planting and weeding 🌱🌱, mud pie and sandcastle making, barefoot water splashing 💦 to crown making, den building, sitting staring at the light coming through the tree canopy, sitting in a tree 🌳 or hammock to tracking games, stick whittling and wand making and LOTS of hide and seek – a FAB first week back and loving the sunshine 🌞.

🌳💚🌲💚But the BEST thing of all has been the look of JOY on faces as we listen, share, communicate, practice our fine motor and gross motor skills, as we negotiate the rules of the game, as we take turns and share, as we work in teams and solve problems, as we have the confidence to try new things and develop a curiosity of the world around us, as we are engaged and motivated, growing in self confidence and able to get it wrong and try again building up our self esteem and relationships with others as we play 😊🌳🌲🌳💚

🌳🌲Happy Friday everyone! 🌳🌲🌳

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🌳🌲💚🌳🌲LOVED the first ‘Woodland Adventures’ session this morning with the lovely Sonia Williams and Beth Allen …. 🌳🌲💚🌳🌲

🌲🌳💚🌲🌳I was set up further in the site with activity possibilities aimed at around the 8-11 year mark … we called ourselves the ‘Tree Monkeys’ and started off our session stripping the skin off nettles to dry out a bit for our cordage which we went back to later … we made a den as a team which had the watertight challenge, some of us had a go with the knives making tent pegs and we finished off having a go with the fire steels before joining everyone else to help set up and light the main fires 🌳🌲💚🌲🌳😊

🌳🌲🌳💚IT was lovely to see both NEW and OLD faces all out enjoying the activities in the sunshine. Thank you so much for coming to join us 🌳😊💚😊. Summer session dates will be posted soon along with a ‘Forest Friends’ picnic date later in August to celebrate our lovely outdoor community🌳🌲💚🌲🌳

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🌳💚🌳🌲💚The STRANGELY addictive process of making nettle cordage … not sure I’m doing it quite ‘right’ (go easy on me please ) BUT I’ve obviously been paying attention to my daughter’s friendship bracelet making 😂😂

🌳🌲🌳SO how to do it … I picked tall nettles and then holding them by the end (rather than the top where the leaves are) I swept my hand upwards to take off the stings. The stings point towards the tip. I picked off any remaining leaves. I then used a mallet to gently bosh the nettle down a bit especially on the nodules and using my fingers – but you could use scissors or a knife – opened down the middle of the flattened nettle. The next bit is a bit fiddly, you need to peel out the hard middle as it’s the outer skin that makes the cordage. This may take a while and is VERY relaxing. I then left mine to dry for a bit – the nettle skin will shrink down a bit. I then folded it in half and hung the middle bend off a nail holding the ends taunt and plaited them together. That’s the bit I’m not sure I did right but I enjoyed the process and I’m pleased with the result – I also think I could now show others 😊😊🌳🌳🌲💚

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🌳🌲🌳🌲💚WooHoo! It’s Friday! Happy half term to everyone whether you are in OR out of school it’s lovely to have (hopefully 😉) a slower change of pace for a week 😊🌳🌲🌳💚

🌳🌲🌳IT’S been a busy week of playing; from camouflage hide and seek, mud pie making, bee 🐝 and bug 🐜 🐛 🕷 activity possibilities BOTH in and out of the classroom, digging and planting, mini bug hunts, water play and a lovely chance to soak up some sunshine 🌞🌳🌲🌳

🌲🌳🌲EARLIER in the week I watched the UpStart Scotland “Play is the Way” webinar focusing on inclusivity and diversity which was REALLY thought provoking – how politics defines childhood through policies, how we need to respond to children in ways which empower them and recognising the balance or imbalance between holistic practice versus business/ data driven practices. Worth a look and linked again to ‘Forest School and Nature Pedagogy’ (Jon Cree & Marina Robb) by reference to Sue Palmer and Upstart and overuse of screens by our children and the impact of this (Toxic Childhood).🌳🌲🌳💚

🌳🌲If you can’t find the links let me know and I’ll direct but I think it’s on YouTube now. 🌳🌲🌳

🌲🌳💚NOW looking forward to Mondays Woodland Adventures with the lovely Sonia Williams and Beth Allen … watch THIS space for little teasers as to WHAT we could get up to … this session is FULL but don’t worry if you’re NOT booked on as there will be some dates in July🌳🌲🌳💚

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🌲🌳🌲🌳Hope everyone ok and got to enjoy some MORE wild weather today … the wind BLEW 🌬 so unsafe for us to use the Spinney at school today BUT that didn’t stop us exploring the elements; making our own hapa zome kites 🪁 and using Willow from our school site to make wands. Happy Friday! 💚🌳🌲🌳

🌲🌳I think my kite looks like two dancing partners facing each other … 💚🌲🌳🌲😊

🌳🌲🌳HAVE a lovely weekend 😊🌳💚🌲🌳

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🌳🌲🌳LOVE a rainy day session! THE chance to HEAR the rain as it falls on the tarp or our hoods, to FEEL the rain as it falls on our faces and to TASTE the rain as we raise our faces towards the SKY 🌧🌧💚. WE made story sticks and used some fairy doors as prompts to help create some MAGICAL doorways 🧚‍♀️ 🧚‍♂️💚🌳💚🌲🧚‍♂️💚😊

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🌳🌲🌳🌲SUCH a busy week and a great morning at school. TODAY in our group we carried on looking at WHO might live in our Spinney and our challenge was to be a bird. WE had a look through mirrors to have a birds eye view of the canopy and sky, we SOARED as eagles in our game swooping as we flew through sky, we made a GIANTS bird nest, found woolly worms, played an OWL call hide n seek game and finished up with a belated May Day ribbon tree and some collecting and sorting 💚🌲🌳🌲

🌳🌲🌳💚I loved using ‘What The Oak Tree Sees’ by AK Scott and RM Brink and my game was from Chris Holland ‘I Love my World’🌳💚🌲🌳💚

🌳💚🌳DATES for Summer Woodland Adventures with myself, Beth Allen and Sonia Williams will be posted shortly. THESE sessions are part of the new collaborative direction that Nature Noodles is taking as I am working in school term time. THERE will also be ad hoc sessions offered by Sonia and Beth independently at either The Outdoor Classroom OR another site AND I am hopeful to run some mindfulness sessions at Top Ardle Wood in the Summer. Watch THIS space also for some ‘workshops in the woods’ that are coming together 😊🌳🌲🌳🌲

🌳🌲🌳AFTER the year we have all had WE can’t wait to get back out there in NATURE 😊🌳🌲

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