As promised, here’s a short post on Yesterday’s session at Ashmead School. We began with each of the two Reception groups by showing them some images of different animal homes, nests, and nest-inspired sculptures/constructions. The children talked about what they reminded them of, where they’d seen similar things before, and of their links to College Lake (Rabbit holes, Swan nests etc).

We then went outside where a selection of materials was waiting - wooden tree stakes, bamboo, willow, rope, string, tape, scissors, hay etc. We told the children that they could make whatever they wanted, and then stood back a little to see who had a clear idea of how they wanted to start, and who might be less confident in taking the initiative.

One of the most interesting things about this kind of open activity in an outdoor space, is the relationships between the children, how ideas pass from one to another, and how relationships form as group-work takes place.

Some children had clear plans, were able to see several steps ahead and so decided what they needed to do/use accordingly. Others preferred to explore the materials and see where that led them. A few who were maybe not so used to such freedom, waited or asked for approval or instructions, and were supported in learning what possibilities lay within the choice of tools and materials. For example I showed two boys how to push stakes into the earth or join them with tape, and how to use the hacksaw. Slowly they began to try things out for themselves, and to join these new experiences together to create their own ideas and structures.

Several children made nests, one of which evolved into a basketball hoop. One group of girls ‘bandaged’ the trees with masking tape, and lots of the children explored the spaces between the tree trunks and branches by wrapping, tying and connecting with wool and rope. Its fascinating to see how when provided with connecting materials in a rich outdoor environment, the children connect the features and make sense of the spaces between them, in ways that seem to echo the relationships that they are negotiating and creating.

Some children also chose to mark-make, creating signs for their constructions with their names on, or in one case using a drawing of a bird to show the birds where to go to find the nest. Another girl created a measuring stick with pencil marks drawn up her length of wood to measure the height of different children, whilst a third hung written labels from a scarecrow that she had created.

There is such a richness in sessions like these, with learning taking place in lots of different areas of the EYFS Framework, so documenting the processes involved rather than the end products in isolation becomes vital.

Although I can recognise and relish the buzz of a group of children in a state of ‘flow’, as they explore, form ideas and experiment, the value in terms of the learning that takes place becomes more clear for me afterwards, when meeting and reflecting on that documentation with the teachers and TA’s.

By drawing on their knowledge and experiences of the children, and offering my fresh viewpoint, we can start to understand how certain activities can support language development, mark-making, the development of social skills, empathy etc

Next Thursday is my last session of this project at Ashmead, and we are planning that one right now, drawing on our reflections, and on the ideas of the children… more to follow here next week.