The choices during our time in our outdoor classroom come from the children. I help to scaffold their ideas, connecting their work in the woods to our work within the classroom. For example, construction is an interest of most of the children. Construction is a choice during our outdoor classroom, but the building materials are found on the forest floor. There can be large and small construction. I offered "small building" as a choice while exploring and working in our outdoor classroom, thinking about building letters with sticks or constructing rock towers.
There was a group of children two weeks ago invested in small building - their plan was to build fairy houses. Building fairy houses continued to be an interest, thus a choice, this week. I offered additional writing and drawing materials for the children to represent their tiny fairy structures. The paper was used instead for a welcome sign. One child asked if we could bring some of our special gems and stones from the classroom next week, to make the fairy houses even more beautiful. While I love this idea, I also love the opportunity we have to find or make something beautiful. I wonder if this group of children would like to go on a walk to collect beautiful things for their fairy houses? There are more stones on the hiking paths than in our outdoor classroom space. Or perhaps I can introduce permanent art pens sooner this year, allowing for the children to add color to the sticks and stones they collect. There is something exciting about seeing a collection of moss next to a bright streak of purple ink.
An old log is...
a place to sit.
a place to observe from.
an invitation to rest.
a cozy spot beneath the branches.
a balance beam.
An old log is...
an invitation to hammer.
a place to pull apart and relieve stress.
a place to practice hand-eye coordination.
a place to practice strength.
a place to explore force.
an opportunity to deconstruct.
What did you love about outdoor classroom?
I loved hammering the old log!
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