I’m so fed up of walking through mud every day and having to clean my boots. What do you think we should do?’ declared senior teacher and Forest School leader Jo Skone during an exceptionally wet period earlier this year. The problem that she posed for the children at Randolph Beresford Nursery School in White City, west London led to them embarking on a series of investigations over many weeks, as they developed and tested different theories of how to get across the mud in their Forest School area.
These unplanned explorations are at the heart of the nursery’s Forest School ethos as staff focus on the process of learning rather than the content – the ‘how’ instead of the ‘what’.
‘Our teachers are very good at playing to children’s strengths, such as to the leader children and the followers or deep thinkers,’ says head teacher Michele Barrett. ‘Exploratory investigations are great at getting out the best in different children because it is the children who are generating the investigation.’
A high level of importance is attached to creating an enabling environment accompanied by a ‘can-do’ attitude and a ‘try and see’ approach from the adults. Importantly, adds Ms Barrett, children know that their voice is important and that their ideas will be taken seriously, which makes a difference in how children approach new and challenging experiences.
PROBLEM SOLVING
Why building a zip wire seemed the best solution
The children started by trying to construct a path through the thick mud using pieces of concrete paving, which worked temporarily and then sunk. They then tried to put wooden planks across the top, but the wood sank too. When refining their plan, the children started to think how else they could solve the problem. It was then that the children decided to avoid the mud altogether by constructing a zip wire, inspired by one they had previously made at a Forest School session outside of the nursery. Children worked together to attach a rope from the back fence across the mud to a tree.
‘Rather than Jo and the other teachers solving the problems for the children, they would pose questions, such as “I wonder how it can work?” The children would realise that one bit was not working and that it could not be a proper zip wire because there was not enough height, but the children were able to come to these conclusions themselves,’ explains Ms Barrett. What they ended up with was two lengths of rope, one to walk across and another to hold for balance.
Long ladders were then placed across the mud to form a bridge. Jo wondered aloud what else ladders could be used for. ‘The children knew that they needed height from the zip wire to make it move and that a ladder could go up as well as across,’ says Ms Barrett.
TRIAL AND ERROR
Children’s attempts at making their own ladders
Children became intrigued by ladders going up high and borrowed the caretaker’s ladders before deciding to make their own using the nursery’s woodworking equipment. The children drew designs of ladders and made small ones out of sticks before using nails and hammers to construct larger ones.
‘There was lots of “big thinking”, with children exploring ladders and realising that not everyone can go up a ladder. If a ladder is not strong, then it may hold the weight of a toy but a person is too heavy to go up it,’ says Ms Barrett.
‘An adult needed to be ready to prompt thoughts and explorations and allow the children to make a ladder that’s too rickety or not the right size so that they could try it and see for themselves how it does not work and then try to refine it.
‘They explored the specifics of how many rungs are needed – three rungs may not be enough for a long ladder – and used their science and maths skills to explore how wide the rungs needed to be to fit feet on and how far apart they should be placed, which they realised depends on a person’s height and how far their legs can reach.’
The practical maths conversations that evolved from exploring ladders were much more interesting than a formal session discussing numbers or naming shapes.
‘There is often the polarisation of the belief that maths is everywhere, so children don’t need specific input, in contrast to out-of-context rote learning,’ Ms Barrett adds. ‘Both can do children a disservice rather than teaching children the skills they need to solve a real problem and to keep going and to use trial and error. The children needed to know numbers and concepts such as angles and trajectories and put them into use.’
A DIFFERENT VIEW
Climbing high and completing the zip wire
While testing the ladders, the children realised they could climb onto the top of the huts in the Forest School area, with many children, specifically those on the autistic spectrum, enjoying being up high and gaining a different view of the nursery grounds.
‘It probably felt quite powerful being the ones who are looking down for a change,’ she says. ‘Although the huts were not hugely high, they gave a very different view and had space just for one or two children, so it was quite a peaceful place to be.’
Ultimately, the children succeeded in creating an interesting way of going across the mud with a mixture of ladders and ropes – what the children chose to call a zip wire – but Ms Barrett believes this was secondary to the ladder explorations.
‘There was lots of climbing up and over and along, and seeing how high they could go took over,’ she says. ‘The back gate is 15ft high and children were up ladders as high, but they did it gradually as they were ready for it. Once they had mastered going so high they then moved on to another fascination.’
STICKING AT IT
How children of all ages worked together and persevered
The children persisted in their task for weeks and kept going even when they realised that there was no easy solution and their attempts were literally sinking. Ms Barrett says they demonstrated many of the Characteristics of Effective Learning, but particularly perseverance as they contemplated traversing the mud.
‘They stuck at it because they wanted to find a way around the problem for Jo because the mud was driving her nuts,’ she says. They worked out quite quickly it was not something they could solve alone and needed their friends to help.
‘It was lovely to see three-year-olds and rising fours being able to work together in that way. We also have a rota for the Forest School area which means that children were not there every day. They had to hold in mind their plans in order to return to them. They had persistence in wanting to complete things when they returned next time.’
It enabled the children to use their thinking skills for a purpose, rather than a set-up activity. ‘I like outdoor learning because it gives children lots of opportunities to think in this way,’ Ms Barrett adds. ‘The children got an opportunity to explore and investigate a real problem when they had been trudging through the mud for weeks.’
BOOK CORNER
Stuck in the Mud by Jane Clarke and Garry Parsons
Chaos descends when Hen discovers that one of her chicks is stuck in the mud! One by one, all the farm animals try to help pull the chick out, but they get stuck too.
Mud by Mary Lyn Ray and Lauren Stringer An ode to the arrival of spring and gooey, gloopy, mucky, magnificent mud.
Mud Book: How to make pies and cakes by John Cage and Lois Long
A combination of art book and cookbook that encourages the simple pleasure of playing with and investigating mud.
One Duck Stuck: A mucky ducky counting book by Phyllis Rot and Jane Chapman
Down by the marsh, by the sleepy, slimy marsh, one duck gets stuck in the muck.
Iggy Peck Architect by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
Iggy Peck is creative, independent, and not afraid to express himself through his passion for building.
Rosie Revere Engineer by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts
Rosie may seem quiet during the day, but at night she’s a brilliant inventor of gizmos and gadgets and dreams of becoming a great engineer.
Rain School by James Rumford
At the beginning of the school year in Chad, a group of children must first build their school from mud before classes can begin – only for it to be washed away by the rains.