Learning about the world, with active support from parents
"We are a forest school, which means we have adopted an innovative educational approach to outdoor play and learning, based on the philosophy of encouraging and inspiring individuals through positive outdoor experience. Using this approach we want to help our foundation stage children develop their understanding of the world, make connections between natural materials, elements and colours with their own creativity and become problem solvers. We also want to enthuse and inspire parents to extend the learning into the home, engaging fathers in particular."
-Jo Springthorpe, Centre Coordinator
The activity was delivered across a number of sessions, commencing with a planning session that included parents, carers, children, staff and creative practitioners, during which ideas were put forward that then formed the basis of the plans for the forthcoming sessions.
The two creative practitioners, Matt Shaw and Anna Ryder were chosen for specific skills. Matt has creative building skills and can build outdoor ‘spaces’ from natural materials, something that would appeal to male carers and boys. Anna works with sounds and has an interest in the natural environment and so would be able to help children explore sound in the forest school environment as well as develop ideas beyond the scope of ‘sound’.
The children have built shelters, dens, climbing structures and developed problem solving skills working in non-designated teams. One group of boys came together to build shelters before going on to discuss the purpose of the shelters and developing stories around the need to hide while observing what went on around them. Registering the fascination of the children for small and intricate things, project leaders gave the children the opportunity to examine the finer detail of their discoveries in the environment.
One boy was more fascinated by the impressions left in the soil of his treasures than the treasures themselves.
Parents and carers in the community have been encouraged to be part of the project throughout. Information about the activities is shared with parents on a digital screen in the centre’s entrance and journal books are shared with parents at subsequent forest school activity days, in other outreach sessions to ‘promote’ forest school and via display boards at the centre and our ‘sister’ site at St Augustine’s.
Impact
- Over 50 children and 20 parents, carers and child minders took part;
- Parents and carers gained a knowledge of creative play;
- Children learned about their natural environment, how to handle risks and grew in confidence;
- A staff training session was held with the artists - all staff (100%) who took part in that session said that they felt more confident about working with children in an outdoor environment and had gained creative ideas they could use.
Feedback
"The sessions worked incredibly well across a wide age range."
"The children have worked really well together, fostering positive relationships and developing ideas. Three girls who didn’t know each other developed a story about being in the woods and acted it out, sharing ideas about narrative."
"It has given us an opportunity to think about how we introduce ‘outdoor creative learning’ in a way that can reach parents who may not otherwise attend our outdoor projects."
"The children were able to lead their own learning in this context, and through teamwork."
"Staff have gained new ideas for exploring features that are ‘already there’ in the forest school environment and have, through Anna’s provocation, seen how children can respond to those ideas."
"We have previously used song at Forest school as a way of reinforcing boundaries and safety rules, Anna has demonstrated how we can be much more experimental with songs and let children develop the songs and sounds we use to do this."
"One parent who had not been to Forest School before was uncertain about it being a ‘muddy’ environment but it was clear her child enjoyed making the miniature gardens and experimenting with the natural textures. This has generated the idea of lending out ‘miniature garden kits’ for parents who may be reluctant to join in the Forest School environment."
If you are interested in this project and would like to find out more about this or any other projects, please visit www.cre8us.org.uk
