Woodland Walks and Story Telling

I love to try and get outside everyday with the children, sometimes in our garden, up to the allotment, walks around the woods or just a short walk around the block. I like to get the children looking at the world around them, pointing out the seasonal changes, how their shadows change depending on where they stand, seeing the different cobwebs, looking at the tracks the pushchair makes after it has gone through a puddle, listening to the different sounds they hear.

The children have started to notice that the blossom is beginning to come out on some of the trees.

I always love to see the seed case on the honesty plants, love the way the sun is coming through the trees.

I got the children to stand in the sun, shaded from the wind by the trees and asked them to close their eyes and see what they could feel, after a short pause they answered "we can feel warm" I explained that was the sun. They then moved to the shadows and then back into the sun noticing the changes they felt, getting colder or warmer.

We have been spotting all the ivy covered trees and holly bushes and comparing the differences between them, shiny, smooth, spiky etc.

The hedgerow slowly waking up with some beautiful white flowers.

We have spent time exploring the moss on trees and stumps

 and spotted a small clump of snow drops.

 Our woods have a lovely shallow stream running through them, shallow enough that the children can paddle in it but you can also see the water moving in places.

Our woodland walks are great way to get some exercise, practise some climbing, to explore the natural world around us and to watch for the changes. We have also started story telling as we walk. The other week the children were asking if the big bad wolf lived in our woods, after reassuring them that he didn't. We set about telling the story of the three little pigs, they nearly know this of by heart, so they join in with a lot of it. We have on other walks told the story of little Red Riding Hood but in our version the wolf hides Grandma in the cupboard now, as they didn't like the version where Grandma was eaten, a good time to talk about not talking to strangers and the importance of listening to what their Mums, Dads etc say. We also make up stories as we go, the children becoming characters in the story which they really seem to enjoy. They don't have to be long or fancy stories just about things the children can see or could imagine doing.

EYFS links :-

Personal social and emotional development - Making relationships,

Physical development -  Moving and handling

Communication and language - Listening and attention, Understanding, Speaking

Understanding the world - The World