The Wildlife Trusts Random Acts of Wildness - June 2018 #30DaysWild

I love being outdoors with the children, even if it is just in the garden. When I heard about The Wildlife Trusts 30 Days Wild campaign I was really keen to use this as part of learning and development with the children I childmind. I tried to incorporate all areas of the EYFS using the prompts - being outdoors with the children isn't limited to the Understanding the World on the curriculum! We managed to cover all prime and specific areas.

The campaign was doing 30 random acts of wild. I kept the prompts really simple because this was something I was doing with children under the age of four. We started off with having stories in the garden under the shade of the trees - I made up a basket of books with a nature/wildlife theme and brought them outdoors so the children could choose the stories for me to read. Stick Man by Julia Donaldson is a firm favourite in my setting, but I included some of my old Flower Fairies books by Cicely Mary Barker and some lesser known ones  - Christopher Nibble by Charlotte Middleton has now become one of the most requested books here (It's a great way for little ones to learn about growing food and plants from seeds). 

We looked up at the clouds and talked about what we could see - did they make a picture? We made daisy chains, played I-Spy along the Wirral Way, practised our sun salutations with some simple yoga for kids and listened to the birds. 

We couldn't have a random act of wildness without looking under the plant pots to see what bugs were lurking there. I printed off some worksheets and we went on a nature hunt. 

We made some wild art using sticks, fallen leaves and other bits and bobs in the garden. I planned to make a wild rainbow with the children on one of the days but this was harder than I thought so it turned into a colour hunt around the garden where we looked for plants and insects to match the colours of the rainbow. Although I didn't manage my wild rainbow, it gave me an idea to get the children to help plant some bulbs in different colours and watch them grown or make a tulip lasagne (an idea taken from Sarah Raven, the gardener, who has the most wonderful selection of bulbs and plants). 

One of the best random acts was listening - the children were excellent at this. We listened to the birds, we listened to buzzes  and we listened to the wind. This was such a relaxing exercise.

Outdoors learning is so good for the children's learning and development. They have learnt about their local environment - almost everyday you can see a heron on the marsh. Even though we have a wide-range of wildlife locally the children (and I) still get excited when we see it. 

And finally, I felt pleased to see a green woodpecker in the garden early one Saturday morning, pecking at one of the trees. I know the children would've loved to have seen it too. Nevertheless, I will tell the children about it when they next come.

I posted a few activities on my Instagram page - click here to take a look, but most of the time we were too busy enjoying ourselves to stop and take a picture.