and Halloween was back! Sadly we didn’t get too many photos of it, but here are a few that were captured by the parents. It was a collaboration between Elements and the Parents and Friends of the Steiner School. over 150 people attended despite the downpour! It was a truly memorable evening.
So, what’s next?…
We were very lucky to work once again with the Fostering Network, this time in Antrim. We operated out of the Compass Network farm in Ballymoney and went through four native trees here.
The activities centred around the birch, alder, ash and oak. The sessions which lasted four weeks included storytelling, knife skills, den building and working with trees.
We worked with ten children regularly, ages between 7 and 12 years, with varying abilities. Some of the feedback was…
We learnt…
How to survive
Everything about trees
How to make things
How to stay alive
Doing whittling and deciding to do woodwork for GCSE said an 8 y.o… 
the rain stayed off. Thanks to CAN for the use of their barn and baby forest. Can’t wait to go back and see it in 20 years time. 
We hope to work with them again in the future!
I must apologise for not updating the site since June! Unforgiveable!
In my defence, it has been extremely busy the past few months though.
Here is a run down on what we have been up to:
After School Sessions at the Holywood Steiner School
We have had full session of up to 18 children here on Monday afternoons between 3 to 5 pm. The children who attend these sessions are now so well seasoned, that they engage in deep play. We set out our activities and the children then self direct play. There could be some who play int he hammock.
Others choose to hone their knife skills.
Yet others play in the woods, creating worlds which are limited only by the imagination. Others build dens. It is the sort of thing which you really want to do after school, with friends…
After that, most importantly, we all have a good feed…
And that’s just one thing which we did!
This article from March 23, 2022 outlines not just why and how kids are better in nature but how you can do it and it doesn’t have to cost a million squid (hint: urban spaces are nature too.)
Find out how you can get Elements Forest and Garden School to give your child a great time while learning without learning… if you know what i mean…
Contact us on 07540075991 or email us at hello@elementsschool.net
Nature Deficit Disorder was coined as a term just over 10 years ago. It was the first time someone had done a study on just how not being out in nature was detrimental to our children.
It it now universally acknowledged and recognised that spending a lot of time outdoors – there is no upper limit really – has a positive effect on mental, physical and spiritual health.
Here is a recent news item on this. The clip is not playable but the article does describe the issue well.
Here are a few thoughts after ten years of Forest School… yes I started teaching Forest School in 2012…
Well, my thoughts… what always inspired me was the wish to have children understand and be connected with nature. Yes, true it was about how nature was great for children. How nature was important to us. How they are the future and therefore they are entrusted to nature. And from the very start to was always linked to the unseen beings, the invisible law of physics or pharies, you choose, that surrounded us. Always.
The most important thing though – along with working with all of nature – was bringing this joy, this constancy of love. If the activities were overprescribed and joyless, then it would defeat the purpose.
So Forest School would always be a place of learning, yes, but also magic and play…
Fast forward ten years… that’s ten years of being a Waldorf teacher, ten years of Forest School, two years of Covid, two years of starting our own social enterprise… and here we are…
Here are the top 5 things I have learnt as an outdoor teaching practitioner:
It has been a wonderful 10 years and with any luck there will be another 10 to go! Thank you everyone who has helped along the way.
We have had a return to Forest School After School at the Holywood Steiner School where we focused on foraging and rope… we made a rope ladder, had fun in hammocks, foraged the abundant greens and cooked pasta and rice over the fire… and of course had several games of hunt!
Well, yes it is true, we have been absent online – there is no excuse, but we have been very very busy…
First there was the Easter Scheme which saw three days of wonderfully warm weather and sadly due to my phone being on its last legs, I was unable to take photos of the wonderful time we had. From playing in the river once more to lounging on hammocks and even getting ‘lost’ during our walk there was just so much to do!
After that we worked with the Fostering Network over four Saturdays – Helen’s Bay was home to Wild About Learning – an outdoor classroom where we harvested mud, drew and IDed trees and foraged the tender spring greens.
As you can see we were only allowed to take the set up photos but here are some quotes from the children…
1 What mark would you give the ‘Wild About Learning’ programme out of 10?
Yes (7)
– tell me one thing you really enjoyed and why.
River walk – I like playing in water (3)
Making new friends – I like meeting new people (1)
Starting a campfire – I always wanted to learn to do this (1)
Building a hammock – I liked to swing in it by myself (1)
Cooking marsh mallows – like love eating them (1
Cooking on a campfire (2)
Starting a campfire (4)
Learning about leaves (1)
That you can eat some leaves (3)
Learning about bugs (1)
How to cook on a campfire (1)
How to build a den (1)
How to make things from river mud (1)
Yes (7)
We worked together and listened to others.
– Did you like being part of a team? Yes or No?
Yes (7)
– Did you make new friends? Yes or No?
Yes (7)
Yes (7)
Yes (7)
Yes (7)
Well really you couldn’t ask for more could you?
I found this picture on social media and it inspired me to write this…
As a teacher I see the importance of play. Children are not mini adults. Their brains are different, their hands and bone structure is different, they learn differently. And they long to learn. They are enthusiastic about life. And it is universal. A child in Asia is exactly like a child in Europe. It is astonishing how they have the exact same characteristics and go through the same developmental stages.
When a child plays they engage every fibre of their being. Their bodies, their imagination, their thought and their will. They enter into a world which they utterly believe and they are creating the future. We do them a greatest service in being able to keep those boundaries of childhood as free and as joyful for as long as possible. It is in their sense that the world is GOOD and BEAUTIFUL that they will seek its TRUTH with a hopeful, beatific will.
At elements we do this. Nature, the greatest teacher, is given the space and we enter a partnership with her to create moments of magic and lasting memories. The child develops a confidence and a trust in the world, while also encountering the very limits of their experience.
We were enjoying the amazing spring weather. It has been a wonderful start to it! Frog spawn, pond dipping and finding out the many uses of the world plants around us.
Making tinder from cattails. They are also beloved of goldfinch!
Pond dipping away!!!!
If you’d like to attend the sessions are the Quarries which are very Tuesday, fill in this form!
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