YIS Camping Club

During our camping experience this weekend I was reminded again of the huge importance of this endeavour to our children’s lives. I reflected on my own childhood play, which despite living on a housing estate, involved playing outside getting very dirty and being intimately involved with nature, whether climbing trees, stomping in mud, finding tadpoles or building a den in the bushes. This weekend, I had the pleasure to observe the children inquiring into the magnificence of spiders and their web building techniques, learning to gently handle a grasshopper, engaging with nature and relishing in it’s wonder. The children showed collaborative skills in pitching the tents and cooking as a group. Taking initiative and problem solving as they went along. When one of their friends was hurt they came together and gave reassurance, care and attention. Camping in the park provided so many valuable possibilities.  The opportunity for joyful, sensory rich and adventurous play. A rich context for curiosity, wonder, mystery and ‘what if’ thinking. A perfect space to navigate and negotiate the social world of friendships. An encounter with the natural world and an understanding of our place in it. I am very much looking forward to our next camp in November.