I have just finished our first week of Holiday Club and can honestly say it's been a joy... text book Forest School... if there is such a thing. Or rather the kind of Forest School that you learn about during teacher training days or on Forest School qualification programmes. All children engaged in genuine free play, making new friends, learning new skills organically because they are interested, developing routine and safety rules that become second nature. Kids going home tired and hopefully telling parents what a great day they have had. To be honest, this has not always been the case in the past and it got me thinking about; what is it that has made this week so successful?
After considering reasons for this such as; maybe it was the luck of the draw with the dynamics of the children, maybe some of the children knew each other already or maybe it was the introduction of what was on each day, in terms of a theme?
I personally think it was because we were able to interact and co-play more with the children and I have genuinely loved this element of the Holiday Club. In the past I have been tied to the fire area and Siobhan the same in the tool area. If I'm honest I may have forgotten my roots; the woodland being the playground and adult facilitated experiences should be secondary to that. Is this another example of the positive things that come out of lockdown and corona restrictions? Is it because I have had time to reflect, re-group and remind myself about what true free play is. I have crept back into packing too many activities in that we think the children will like instead of valuing the children's interests and play. In reality too many adult led activities ends up being a frustrating experience because children are happier doing what they want to do rather than what adults think they would like to do or what they would like them to do.
An example of this last week was tie-dying. The kids had the opportunity to make brightly coloured tie dye patterned T- shirts each one individual and with the colours that the child chose. Most children jumped at the chance and I thought everyone would want to do one but when asked, there were a few children that said no, not even to take the white T-shirt home to draw on. One of the children said 'I don't need a new T-shirt so I'd rather play'. Makes perfect sense.... and it's these subtleties that we, as grown up children, miss sometimes. The fact that all children are different and, although an activity may attract some children, it will not attract all but that's ok. It's not a failing on the adult's part it's natural, just as adults don't like doing the same things, children are no different and yet we expect them to all be the same in so many elements of life. In order to respect a child this should not be the case. Instead we should try and find a deeper understanding of what they are interested in and this starts with LISTENING to what they are telling you. Children speak the truth if you are open to hearing it. The young man who said that he already had a new T-shirt at home didn't resonate with the creative process of tie dyeing the T-shirt to make different patterns, dipping it and then opening it up and discovering the result. He saw it as a pointless process that he was not in need of. Interestingly enough, this is not to say that he was not creative, in fact he was very creative but in a different way. He wanted to be down in the dried up stream exploring and digging. While he was digging he was imagining different scenarios of what he was looking for and creating; treasure, a dam. After he had been busy for a while he asked me to come and look at what he had made. He had been playing in an area that had very little sunlight due to the thick canopy of trees so there was little in the way of colour from flowers so he had dug holes in the bed side of the stream and pushed some plants that he had found from another area into the holes to make a garden....love it!
For me, being able to join in children's play is an absolute honour. It gives you so much insight into understanding children when it comes to the inevitable fall outs I understood where it had come from and had seen and heard all the events that had led up to a child lashing out in anger. What's great about children though is that they do forgive each other quickly and, what parents feel worried about when a child gets in the car and re-tells how they have been unfairly treated by another child, quite often is forgotten through play and they are the best of friends again. Meanwhile, parents have quietly worried and even got involved themselves taking it to an adult level of fall out! It's actually really interesting when you put yourself in a child's shoes, an extremely valuable thing to do! Imagine a child having a fall out with a real trusted friend and everyone knows about how they lost their temper and they were so angry and frustrated that they hit them. Parents are often more embarrassed than children and keen to fix it by getting their child to 'say sorry', 'look them in the eye', even 'say it again because I don't think you meant it'. This is really difficult for a child who has already lost their temper, lost a friend and done something they regret. I think we have all been there, asking our children to say sorry, but it wasn't until recently that I changed my opinion from asking children to say sorry to give them the opportunity to start playing together. I believe that more is metaphorically said through play, that is genuine, than a verbal sorry that is embarrassing for the child but ticks a box for adults.It is more about making us adults feel better that our children aren't rude and disrespectful. I completely understand this but think how it feels if you had to say sorry to someone face to face, usually with an audience that you had fallen out with and already felt really bad about. You were asked to do it on the spot when you may not have been ready and would have rather gone for a drink with them or seen them at work and in your own time started talking again. I'm just trying to demonstrate how putting yourself in children's shoes is so useful and respectful to children that is sometimes forgotten.
In summary, we have had a great first week and coming back after 'lockdown', having belief and faith in children's ideas and ability to learn, knowing that there is always a reason for their choices if you look close enough. I am absolutely knackered but love my job and so glad I made the leap from being an Early Years teacher to running my own Forest School. I have the opportunity to make a positive impact on children who have high levels of scrutiny and expectation in an often 'over the top' health and safety society and enable them to be children, make memories and be care-free so thank you to all those parents who sign up to the Forest School ethos you are doing a great thing for your children.
Thank you for taking the time to read this week's blog and I hope you have found it interesting. Let me know your comments below. I am so grateful for any feedback.
