Forest Fun & Earth Day 2022
Rendlesham Forest. Another place I’ve grown up visiting many times. There’s a photo of Mr J in the forest with his grandparents as a toddler too. I’m amazed it’s been over 8 months before Leo’s had his first trip there, but it couldn’t have been a more beautiful day for it.
Leo loved playing in the sand with the pine cones and sticks and I loved watching him interact with the environment. There’s something so seemingly primal about the way he picks up the stick and scrapes it across the pine cone, and that little focus face when he studies the pine cone closely. The cheeks drop, the bottom lip hangs out, and my heart melts every time.
Which leads me to say, Happy Earth Day! Our beautiful Earth offers a world of open ended play, doesn’t it?
I mean, is this a pine cone and stick? Orrr:
A percussion instrument?
Bat and ball?
Cheese grater?
A drum stick?
Natural toys like this allow children to really use their imagination. For Leo at this age, it’s all shapes and patterns, new noises and textures, but watching his curiosity and catching the intense wonder on his face is precious beyond words.
Getting outdoors and exploring nature’s sights, textures, sounds, and smells is arguably the best sensory play of all and - in more ways than one - it doesn’t cost the earth. I just hope that when Leo’s older there’s still a beautiful world left to experience, and that this home we all share is worlds more cared for.
This visit to the forest was actually a couple of days before Earth Day but we ended up going back to the forest almost every day that week as it’s such a great place to relax.
On Earth day itself, we attempted a little Earth Day baby painting. I was thinking we might try a handprint tree, but handprints are proving impossible at this age with such wriggly fingers and it’s obviously important it’s always fun for Leo so we settled for some abstract hand painting instead. Leo painted the green paint for the trees, then I added the trunk, Earth and writing afterwards. We just used washable paints for this and I may have used the odd colouring pen. All in all not a bad little craft for an afternoon.
