Forest school

Here are some photos from our first forest school session. It went really really well! Thank you to Thomas Baker and Vincent Reynolds of Camphill Glencraig for making it possible. And Jo for doing the driving!!

We arrive and hang out with the King of the Woods

Mini break. Our last one!

Bluebells in flower under the beeches

Thomas unveils our fleg

The fleg is very important.
we use it to help demarcate boundaries

Exploring the limits of the surroundings

Making willow huts

Free play

Gnomey huts

Helping to rebuild them

Kai has added a covered calvurt

Splashing in the stream

The ant hotel

We worked with the earth elementals today. I was told just let children play and explore the element of earth and soil. Thomas and myself chatted at length about this and the importance of getting children at this age to experience the delight of the open spaces. It goes beyond the health benefits which of course are many. It also is a vital part of their becoming adults. It goes something like this - which is by the way Steiner pedagogy: Children must experience wonder and awe, along with reverence and respect, for the world around them. This is because when they become teenagers, they are then called to still be engaged with that world. The danger with adolescence is that the human being will be come apathetic, as the thinking and willing forces start to seperate. This foundation of having this imaginative understanding of the natural world, helps to them create a strong feeling centre - namely the imagination - which will let them engage with life in a meaningful way where they feel they want to give something back, instead of either switching off or lapsing into fantasy ie consumerism, consumption or the image. That's the theory any way. As for the elementals, they are the basis of physics, chemsitry and biology. We chatted about getting them to 'identify' plants and i said, no, do not do that. We agreed that this made them not actually see the thing they were supposed to be looking at. I would not ID anything until they are around 10 or 11 i said. I've done this before and it just goes over their heads. Far more exciting for them is spiky plant or sweet smelling plant. What we want them to do is open their eyes and open their minds. Give them the name and the eyes may be open, but the mind may also shut. They had a great time and i would most certainly recommend the Forest School to anyone. In addition to all the above we also played sensory games and we sang songs, recited the three times table, did story time and recited our May poem by Walter de la Mare. Perfect.