Great to see learning in action today at The Elmsbrook Community Event.

We had set up a lovely Nature Trail for the children to do and had begun a communal Mandala on the ground as well as a hanging line of treasures.

All went down really well and kept a good few children entertained and outdoors for a few hours, but the real highlight was one little boy who had absolutely no interest in any of our pre-arranged activities. At just under 3 years old he was curious and intentional in everything he did, and after wandering along the nature trail and flitting about a bit he finally settled right in the middle of the nature mandala where something obviously caught his eye. First, he grabbed the few stones and began balancing them on top of one another.

Then he decorated his creation with two bright red rose hips. He pointed out that the red was the same colour as the fire engine on his waterproofs, before deciding that the red berries needed burying.

He then spent some time hiding and refinding his berries, sometimes marking the spot with a stone so he could locate the hidden gems again. He was then joined by an older girl who began chattering away and assisting him with digging a small hole to bury the treasure.

In all he was fully engrossed for a good 30minutes. An impressive period of concentration for a child of under 3.

He experienced gravity and balancing, and used fine motor control of different sized items and textures. The burying was most likely an enveloping schema at work, as he experiences and imprints information about how the world around him works.

He showed colour recognition as matching and interaction and communication with a peer, showing clearly that play knows nothing of language barriers. As well as important physical inputs such as squatting, balancing, tripping (the nature mandala was full of obstacles!).

The organised activity meant nothing to him but he is perhaps the child that got the most from our session today. It was wonderful to observe. Child led learning, facilitated in the natural environment, prompted by set piece activities but all of his own initiation and therefore all the more valuable.

Here are Muddy Feet we thoroughly enjoy helping with these community events. It brings us such fulfilment to see the happy, muddy faces of the children who have the opportunity to try a little snippet of what Forest School is all about and hopefully will encourage all of them to spend that little bit more time surrounding themselves in nature…its not so scary after all!!