Excitement at Hidden Woods!
Our Little Crickets enjoyed a day of discovery and magic recently as they visited Hidden Woods in Bath. There were so many activities to explore, including a rope swing, mud kitchen, campfire, den building, nets to watch the tree canopies, logs to balance on and marshmallows to taste!
On arrival, we were met by the Hidden Woods team who enveloped the children in the magical experience they offer. Every child matters at Hidden Woods. They listen, involve and lead the children in noticing the details, sharing the love they feel for the natural world. They engaged the children through songs and stories and offered an experience that reflected their deep understanding of children, their behaviours and their needs. After a safety briefing, a tour and a pine cone hide and seek team game, the children and adults set off to explore the vast site. The children demonstrated a range of approaches to this adventure. Some hurtled headlong into a physical, adrenaline-fuelled activity offered by the climbing challenges, others became absorbed into crafts or the mud kitchen, some children initially tried every activity for a few minutes excitedly moving on, others queued genteelly for the rope swing and others watched and observed it all from the safety of a familiar adult who toured the site with them until they were confident to choose an activity to try themselves.
The very best part of Hidden Woods is that children are able to roam safely across the site independently. It is well managed and accessible to our children, so adults stationed themselves at specific points to support, challenge, offer advice and play. Steve and his team brought well-planned activities at perfect moments; the den building session before lunch involved the youngest children and the oldest working together cooperatively with Steve listening and developing their ideas along with teaching skills and understandings of physics, maths and Bushcraft along with health and safety.
Lunch around the campfire was a gathering with songs, clapping and listening to each other to create a community feel.
After lunch the energy changed with children, now familiar with the woods, combining together to play favourite games, examine and experiment in more detail and depth, their environment. The day ended with a gathering together to share with each other all the children's favourite moments.