Little Muddy Boots run inspired outdoor forest school style sessions, combining nature activities and gardening. We were excited to try out one of their special summer sessions in Henley.
The outdoor sessions are based on years of experience from founder and mum of 3, Hannah Brewer.
Each session includes a great mix of free play as well as guided group activities. It’s the perfect way for children to get really hands on, explore, learn and experiment.
When we arrived at our class, we had a lovely warm greeting and my son was given an egg box with a different colour painted inside each of the empty spaces. He was tasked with finding different things to match the colours. It was a great way to get started and once he had a good selection he settled down to make his own nature sun catcher. It’s now hanging in our kitchen.
The mud kitchen had instant appeal with a ready bucket of soil, water in a sprayer and a good mix of pots, pans, trays and spoons so nobody had to wait their turn.
After a delicious mud pancake, we noticed Hannah teaching how to make bubble wands. Bubbles have such big appeal and we made our wand from a piece of elderflower stick and a little piece of pipe cleaner.
My son spotted some hammers and we were taught to art of Hapa Zome which is the Japanese art of beating up leaves and natural materials with hammers, pounding natural pigment into cloth. It was fascinating to do and I enjoyed getting stuck in too.
I really liked that my son could pick and choose what he wanted to do at his own pace but also that the Little Muddy Boots leader was actively there helping, teaching and encouraging. Add a dash of maths and science, learn some new vocabulary and top it off with easily accessible crafts. My son trimmed a lot of toilet roll tube heads and named them all. Little did he know how great it was for developing his fine motor skills, as for him it was all about the fun, and that’s how it should be.
Bringing everyone together, we finished with a camp fire started with a flint fire starter which had all the kids totally focused. Everyone had the chance to scrunch up some newspaper for the fire and Hannah talked us through how she was building it and how to keep safe.
Armed with a big long whittled hazel stick, we toasted marshmallows then sandwiched them in biscuits to make smore. Grown ups included too!
Little Muddy Boots run regular sessions in Henley, Windsor, Cheltenham, Bracknell, Woodley and the Isle of Wight, each with their fully trained and experienced ground leader who’ll inspire your child.
