My morning with the Kindergarten - Forest Play

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This morning I go to DOC to fill in some paperwork which allows me to drive the pool cars require later on in the week. I then cycle up to the woodland and spend the morning with the Kindergarten. I have an amazing time and am astounded by the children there. All play is lead by the children, they decide what they want to do, so we all sit round the fire to decide, and they want to go to the Gnaff house, so that is where we head to. On the way there, we look at the stoat traps and take one apart to see how they work, we hear some bird calls and stop to identify them, we the find a dead hedgehog – and we stop and the children discuss the hedgehog – what may have killed it etc and then make a nice little stone circle around it in a form of burial, and stop on the ‘singing log’ to sing some songs before reaching the Gnaff house (which is only a 10min walk away really). All the children are so excited! When we reach the Gnaff house the children play in the big house made of twigs and wood, play on the logs which they can sit on and bounce up and down like horses and get the tools out and are sawing wood, using a hand drill (wind round type) to drill holes in tree stumps etc, hammering nails in and all sorts. It is amazing to see – they all know how to do it properly to stay safe, and are fantastic with taking turns at things. The skills these children are learning at age 3 and 4 are things that older children can’t even do, and it is a fantastic opportunity for them to play whilst learning – both practical skills and connecting and engaging them with nature, so hopefully they will grow up respecting it, and helping to preserve it, instead of not taking an interest or helping to destroy it.

We have morning tea at the Gnaff house, with water boiled over a little fire, and after more playing we head back. This time we find some bones and the children guess which bones they are, how they got there etc….suggestion include from dinansours, dragons and many other creatures! We then find some more – a jaw with and the top of a skull and the children look at how they fit together – they aren’t scared of handling them at all! After examining bones we continue back, with the last stop being the rolley polley hill! All the kids roll down it, myself and one of adult included. It was fun but it actually made me feel really dizzy and quite sick…apparently that is something to do with the adult brain not being used to it, and children’s are!

When we get back to ‘the shed’ the main base in the forest, we light the fire, the children sit on the logs round it and eat their lunch. The leader and I quickly mix up some damper, put it on the designated branches/logs, and the children stand around at cook the mix over the fire. Once done they take the damper off and put honey or jam on it to eat. There is lots of damper mix so I get some as well, it tastes very yummy. As a treat the children then toast some marshmallows over the fire if they wish and then it is time to head out of the forest at 1.30pm.

This afternoon I went round to Caroline’s to discuss further the ‘Kids Restore The Kelper’ project, specifically how it came about, and an overview to put what I am seeing and experiencing into context. This was very helpful, as well as fascinating. I spend the remainder of the day pulling information from things I have learnt from doing my volunteer work with Eco-Schools in England and seen here to make suggestions about work that primary schools specifically could do regarding the kelper which will fit in with the curriculum, as this is the area which has had the least work, due to focus on other areas. Hopefully some of the suggestions will help aid the project in one way or another.

This evening I spent several hours chatting to a retired English couple who have a house in New Zealand and a flat in London, but have been walking some of the tracks here, and a Canadian couple who are working at the hostel for free board for a while. It was a lovely evening chatting, although the English lady did rather chat on after a while!

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