On Monday 19th July, Alex from Muddy Feet Forest School welcomed several staff and volunteers from Home-Start Banbury, Bicester & Chipping Norton to Evenley Wood Gardens – the perfect setting for 4 hours of forest school fun! The group settled in the woods under a parachute shelter (perfect for the heat). First they went through some of the theory of play – the play cycle and play types, but it wasn’t long before they got to try out some play for themselves!
The session included many fun activities:
- They made ‘Journey sticks’ – choosing a stick and tying a piece of string to the top like a fishing line, then walking around the woods collecting things to tie to their stick to tell others about on their return.
- They made potions that could be good or bad. First, they found the ‘magic potion’ in the woods and then gathered ingredients to add to their cooking pots to make their own potions.
- They built fairy houses using found materials and the odd cocktail umbrella and cake topper fairy!
- They played hide and seek by calling out “1,2,3 where are you” and listening out for the hiding voices.
- They learnt about making mud creatures, tree protectors and goblin sticks.
- They learnt about risk assessing a site and an activity.
- They made paintbrushes from sticks and leaves and used them to make paintings.
- They paddled in the stream on our way back to the cars.
One of our volunteers who attended the day said:
“Thank you for organising the day yesterday. I really loved it and will certainly being putting it to good use next week when my grandchildren come to stay as they love playing in the woods. A great different take on play which will work in lots of settings.”
All of us at HSBBCN would love to say a huge THANK YOU to Alex for this day. It was a great opportunity to take away some ideas for nature/outdoor play for volunteers and the staff team.
We are delighted that we will be working with Alex again soon to deliver some outdoor sessions for families living in Bicester as part of the Healthy Bicester Initiative.
To find out more about Muddy Feet, please visit their website by clicking here.
