Month two of the “365 day nature play challenge” has passed and it’s time for another check in and general overview on progress, discoveries and challenges. We become very aware of how much differences in weather affect us. We find some fun new ideas, suffer a tragedy and get more used to the challenge lifestyle.
Variations in weather
Maybe it’s not surprising, as we edged closer to Spring, but I’ve been much more aware of how the challenge and our feelings towards it are affected by weather this month. The start of the month saw a couple of weeks of cold, dry, dull days and it became harder and harder to get the motivation to get out. Weirdly the consistency of boring cold weather was a bigger issue than the storms and more variable weather we had in January. We just got bored and struggled to find new ideas. The idea of Five Minute Nature Play Challenges helped a lot as I stopped trying to move mountains and found smaller things we could definitely manage. The second Scavenger Hunt (319) was definitely a clarifying moment in realising what is and isn’t going to work in uncomfortably cold windy weather.
Then, a week before the end of the month, we got high pressure and sunshine and the difference was ginormous. Suddenly B actively wanted to be outside as much as possible and we found ourselves staying out for hours and hours (Playing on the beach in Spring). It was a brilliant way to end the month and made both of us excited about where the coming months might take us. I’m certain that the fact we did make it out, if only briefly, in the bad weather also made us much more ready to embrace the glories of nature in Spring.
A surprisingly consistent positivity
One really nice thing I’ve found this month is that B’s attitude towards the challenge has continued to be good. I was sure she’d flip at some point and refuse to go out in the grey anymore but she seems to be really enjoying it. There are definitely some challenges she liked a lot better than others but she’s been great at thinking up different ideas if there’s anything she really doesn’t want to do (see Making an animal feeder (320) for a good example). I think the fact that the challenge is every day and is marked by the creation of a number helps to provide a consistency and routine. There’s been very few days that really haven’t worked. The biggest challenges are probably when she gets wet or cold – such as in London week (313-309) when we got muddy and wet on Hampstead Heath. I’d say this was understandable but I also hope that when things do go wrong it increases her stamina and her ability to deal with adversity.
Some new ideas and a new place
My highlight of the month has definitely been the Wayfinding challenges. It had never occurred to me to make finding your way somewhere into an activity for B but she’s absolutely lovely doing it and is learning by leaps and bounds. I think it’s a great way to increase older children’s confidence outside. Beach combing (333), way back at the start of the month, was also a new one for me and one we’ll definitely keep going back too. I have always felt short of ideas of things to do on the beach when the tides’ out (which happens a lot near us). Thanks to our three beach days I’ve now got lots of ideas for when you turn up at the beach to find a muddy endless wilderness of sand and mud. We had a completely different interaction with sand during our morning out at the sand dunes (326). I’m hoping we’ll get more days like this as the weather gets warmer. Our obsession with the garden tree has also paid off handsomely with B getting a bit obsessed with the possibilities. That one’s going to keep growing I think. Finally, looking for wands in the woods (329) was a real highlight for me this month. Suggested by the B’s school topic this term, it was something we hadn’t done before and I really enjoyed it. I’m planning to take B back to do again when it’s less cold and she’s got more energy.
London week
The other big surprise for me was how easy it was to find nature play ideas in London. There are so many parks and free green spaces, but also so much nature (particularly foxes and starlings) just hanging around in the streets to interact with. It was lovely rediscovering the joys of fancy pavements and small walls too. It’s been a while since B has played with those but finding the posh metropolis pavements at Stratford inspired her to continue to interact with the more mundane ones she’s encountered since.
The hardest challenges
We have definitely had some tricky days this month too though. The two challenges we ended up doing in the dark were real struggles, though ironically both ended much better than they began. Listening to night noises (323) was a classic example of the dangers of hoping to wing it when it’s February and you’ve not got out early enough. Standing around in the dark was not fun but the joy of unexpectedly finding the moon was amazing. It’s not the only time the natural environment has helped us out in a way we didn’t predict. Blowing bubbles in the cold and the dark (328) was again completely last minute after the tragedy of losing one of our pet rabbits earlier in the day. It was a surreal and strangely beautiful end to a sad day. I described it as a failure in the blog but it was definitely one of the more memorable things we’ve done.
The road ahead
Looking forward I think we’re both excited about where March will take us after experiencing the beautiful Spring weather that saw it in. The challenges are definitely shifting and changing now with more light and warmth. In January we went out, did one thing, and came back in. Now we’re tending to go out for longer and explore more. I intend to keep picking one thing to talk about each day. I’m planning to group ideas together under different blog headings so that, by the end of the month, each blog is a list of several different ideas to try in a specific environment. This may mean some of the blogs are quite short to start with but will hopefully grow over a few weeks.
Finally, with the changing of the seasons I’m also going to bring in new ‘winter’ and ‘spring’ tags. By April I’d anticipate all new blogs will be spring ones but I’ll alternate through March depending on the daily conditions. Here’s to more interesting days to come…
