Every tree has a story!
Posted by wasps, November 18th, 2008
Are you sitting comfortably? Then let me tell you the story of a tree;
There was once a fairy that lived in the woods. One day an evil witch caught the fairy and cast a spell on her, leaving her with no magic and stuck in a tree! The fairy could hear children playing and shouting in the background. She shouted as loud as she could but they did not hear. Days passed, then one afternoon some children came into the woods to play. She shouted down, and one of the children looked up. The children could not hear what the fairy was saying, but they could see she needed help. They decided to make something that would fly to help the fairy get down. They decided kites might work. Whilst making the kites, one of the children remembered a story they knew about the bear house at the end of the wood. The story ended with the bears moving out. The children thought the witch may have moved in! Now, these children were very brave, and they decided to see if they could find the witch. They sneaked up to the house and knocked on the door. Tap tap tap. But there was no answer. Since the witch was magical they decided to say a magic spell. “Abracadabra, make the witch come out!” but the witch didn’t appear. The children began to get worried - if the witch wasn’t in the house maybe…she was on her way to get the fairy! The children ran as fast as they could back to fairy. Luckily, she was O.K and they used their kites to help the fairy down. Next, they gathered magical fairy dust they found on the ground and sprinkled it over her so she could get her magical powers back. The fairy thanked the children and wished them luck with the rest of their adventures. With that she flew home to tell her friends and family about the kind children. The next week the children created a spell and banished the witch so she could not hurt anyone else. Then they made Green Men who would protect the woods so they would be able to play there for years to come.
Sessions facilitated by the Wild and Safe Play Spaces (WASPS) team, are spontaneous, creative and hands on. Are we a Play Ranger or Forest Schools programme? No, the WASPS programme in its simplest form is outdoor play in local green spaces. However, as you can see from the story above, anything can happen. The story follows the journey of a group of children playing out in Keighley over a number of weeks. Yes, they really did rescue a fairy, banish a witch and make the woods safe (amongst other things)!
When the children first came to play out with us, they told us that they played outside a bit, but not a lot and the things they wanted to do were play football, cricket, make things, play games etc. We accommodated their needs as much as possible, but as they spent more time in the woods, things started to change, they started to hear the fairies around them whispering, and the whole theme of the sessions became very imaginative. They created the story and led their own adventure. Week by week they shared their ideas, developing their communication, practical and problem solving skills. They started to work together as a group, and to settle into their woods. If things had changed in the woods, they would question why, and if we had not come prepared with the correct resources – we were told about it!
WASPS, funded by the Big Lottery (Playful Ideas) has been running for a year now. It is an innovative, unique programme facilitating outdoor play in the Bradford District. Though there may be similarities between the WASPS programme and other provision, what makes us unique is that we only work on sites that are within walking distance from a group of children, and our focus is on free play, so our resources are dictated by the children. We will work on just about any piece of land in order to unlock the potential of these spaces. Sites already used include; a site of a demolished school, a small grassed area which was mainly used as a walk through, sections of public woodlands, school grounds, open fields and parks.
The programme challenges both adult and child perceptions of play and play spaces and embraces the challenges that playing outdoors presents. Precautions are taken to minimise risk, but we stress to both leaders and parents that we cannot and would not eliminate risk altogether as risk is an important part of child development.
If you are interested in finding out more about the programme, sharing ideas, networking, or you have a group of children in the Bradford District you think would benefit from some outdoor play, please get in touch
There was once a fairy that lived in the woods. One day an evil witch caught the fairy and cast a spell on her, leaving her with no magic and stuck in a tree! The fairy could hear children playing and shouting in the background. She shouted as loud as she could but they did not hear. Days passed, then one afternoon some children came into the woods to play. She shouted down, and one of the children looked up. The children could not hear what the fairy was saying, but they could see she needed help. They decided to make something that would fly to help the fairy get down. They decided kites might work. Whilst making the kites, one of the children remembered a story they knew about the bear house at the end of the wood. The story ended with the bears moving out. The children thought the witch may have moved in! Now, these children were very brave, and they decided to see if they could find the witch. They sneaked up to the house and knocked on the door. Tap tap tap. But there was no answer. Since the witch was magical they decided to say a magic spell. “Abracadabra, make the witch come out!” but the witch didn’t appear. The children began to get worried - if the witch wasn’t in the house maybe…she was on her way to get the fairy! The children ran as fast as they could back to fairy. Luckily, she was O.K and they used their kites to help the fairy down. Next, they gathered magical fairy dust they found on the ground and sprinkled it over her so she could get her magical powers back. The fairy thanked the children and wished them luck with the rest of their adventures. With that she flew home to tell her friends and family about the kind children. The next week the children created a spell and banished the witch so she could not hurt anyone else. Then they made Green Men who would protect the woods so they would be able to play there for years to come.
Sessions facilitated by the Wild and Safe Play Spaces (WASPS) team, are spontaneous, creative and hands on. Are we a Play Ranger or Forest Schools programme? No, the WASPS programme in its simplest form is outdoor play in local green spaces. However, as you can see from the story above, anything can happen. The story follows the journey of a group of children playing out in Keighley over a number of weeks. Yes, they really did rescue a fairy, banish a witch and make the woods safe (amongst other things)!
When the children first came to play out with us, they told us that they played outside a bit, but not a lot and the things they wanted to do were play football, cricket, make things, play games etc. We accommodated their needs as much as possible, but as they spent more time in the woods, things started to change, they started to hear the fairies around them whispering, and the whole theme of the sessions became very imaginative. They created the story and led their own adventure. Week by week they shared their ideas, developing their communication, practical and problem solving skills. They started to work together as a group, and to settle into their woods. If things had changed in the woods, they would question why, and if we had not come prepared with the correct resources – we were told about it!
WASPS, funded by the Big Lottery (Playful Ideas) has been running for a year now. It is an innovative, unique programme facilitating outdoor play in the Bradford District. Though there may be similarities between the WASPS programme and other provision, what makes us unique is that we only work on sites that are within walking distance from a group of children, and our focus is on free play, so our resources are dictated by the children. We will work on just about any piece of land in order to unlock the potential of these spaces. Sites already used include; a site of a demolished school, a small grassed area which was mainly used as a walk through, sections of public woodlands, school grounds, open fields and parks.
The programme challenges both adult and child perceptions of play and play spaces and embraces the challenges that playing outdoors presents. Precautions are taken to minimise risk, but we stress to both leaders and parents that we cannot and would not eliminate risk altogether as risk is an important part of child development.
If you are interested in finding out more about the programme, sharing ideas, networking, or you have a group of children in the Bradford District you think would benefit from some outdoor play, please get in touch