We need more organizations like Nature Nurture, that's for sure! What a wonderful experience for the kids & adults alike. Just goes to show you that it doesn't take much effort to get kids outdoors & exploring the natural world.
This project has been over 18 months in the making owing to bureaucratic hurdles and funding! The final result really doesn't reflect what was involved to get this going.
One example is Council policy about fire light and use of sharp knives outdoors. To get round this, Terri had to do her Forest School training - which is the UK equivalent of an A-Level or 9 months study time on top of a full time teaching commitment.
Although the day looks incredibly simple, there is a huge amount of organisation involved - everything required risk assessing - down to hand hygiene prior to eating food. Because of the needs of the children, every eventuality had to be accounted for. Even things like making sure the donkeys were ready to ride and had a place to be left needed attention.
I also didn't flag up enough about the skills of the staff involved. The project works because Terri, Daniel and Kahren are highly experienced when it comes to working with children who have huge needs. For example, at one point during the day, a child came to one staff member requiring time out...she had spent the previous night sleeping rough on the streets. She is 10 years old. When providing a project for such children, the activities may look "ordinary" but the context in which they take place sadly isn't.
What an amazing project Juliet - no wonder you were so inspired. Such a shame there aren't more like this around. Oh, and I'm particularly enamoured of that wooden guttering!
I can only begin to imagine what a positive experience this was for the kids involved. So much of what I read is really focussed on the younger children, so it is wonderful that this project has been able to be extended to the older kids, the ones who are probably more aware of the difficulties of their situations.
Hope that this project is around for a long time to come, and that many kids get to enjoy it :)
Wow that looks like an amazing day! What fun and enrichment.
Thanks for dropping by my blog, I do realize he irony of the situation, LOL. All I can say in my own defese is that my son is 17 now and I'm SO out of touch with what to do with littles now. It seems like so long ago.
"I'll do your maths if you'll do my dishes :) and give me make up advice." - - You've got yourself a deal! :-)
As always, love your post! Can we come play in Scotland??? the Nature nurture program sounds and looks just great. Love the wooden gutter work and the parachute work. We have a parachute but have never used it outside...guess we will have to get crackin' and play with it outside. Have a happy week, Colleen:)
My treasured childhood memories are when I was playing outside. Rope swings, flying foxes, building long grass cubby houses, eating fruit from street trees, or wild blackberries, grass slides on flat cardboard boxes, damming creeks and making daisy chains.
What a fantastic adventure and a wonderful example of how little it takes to engage children with nature, a credit to the team involved in undertaking such a huge project.
12 comments:
We need more organizations like Nature Nurture, that's for sure! What a wonderful experience for the kids & adults alike. Just goes to show you that it doesn't take much effort to get kids outdoors & exploring the natural world.
I very much enjoyed your post. Thank you.
This project has been over 18 months in the making owing to bureaucratic hurdles and funding! The final result really doesn't reflect what was involved to get this going.
One example is Council policy about fire light and use of sharp knives outdoors. To get round this, Terri had to do her Forest School training - which is the UK equivalent of an A-Level or 9 months study time on top of a full time teaching commitment.
Although the day looks incredibly simple, there is a huge amount of organisation involved - everything required risk assessing - down to hand hygiene prior to eating food. Because of the needs of the children, every eventuality had to be accounted for. Even things like making sure the donkeys were ready to ride and had a place to be left needed attention.
I also didn't flag up enough about the skills of the staff involved. The project works because Terri, Daniel and Kahren are highly experienced when it comes to working with children who have huge needs. For example, at one point during the day, a child came to one staff member requiring time out...she had spent the previous night sleeping rough on the streets. She is 10 years old. When providing a project for such children, the activities may look "ordinary" but the context in which they take place sadly isn't.
What an amazing project Juliet - no wonder you were so inspired. Such a shame there aren't more like this around. Oh, and I'm particularly enamoured of that wooden guttering!
I can only begin to imagine what a positive experience this was for the kids involved. So much of what I read is really focussed on the younger children, so it is wonderful that this project has been able to be extended to the older kids, the ones who are probably more aware of the difficulties of their situations.
Hope that this project is around for a long time to come, and that many kids get to enjoy it :)
Wow that looks like an amazing day! What fun and enrichment.
Thanks for dropping by my blog, I do realize he irony of the situation, LOL. All I can say in my own defese is that my son is 17 now and I'm SO out of touch with what to do with littles now. It seems like so long ago.
"I'll do your maths if you'll do my dishes :) and give me make up advice." - - You've got yourself a deal! :-)
What a great program. It sounds like so much fun for the kids.
As always, love your post!
Can we come play in Scotland???
the Nature nurture program sounds and looks just great.
Love the wooden gutter work and the parachute work. We have a parachute but have never used it outside...guess we will have to get crackin' and play with it outside.
Have a happy week,
Colleen:)
An amazing and inspirational project. I'm very impressed by the dedication and skills of those who pulled it together .
My treasured childhood memories are when I was playing outside. Rope swings, flying foxes, building long grass cubby houses, eating fruit from street trees, or wild blackberries, grass slides on flat cardboard boxes, damming creeks and making daisy chains.
You are making great memories for the future.
I can see why you didn't want it to end. I must say, I agree with Jenny about the wooden guttering. We might have to make our own! =)
I like the new look!
What a fantastic adventure and a wonderful example of how little it takes to engage children with nature, a credit to the team involved in undertaking such a huge project.
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