Mud, Mud Glorious Mud
Ooze, squelch, gloop - there was some great onomatopoeic language in the woods today and A LOT of mud!
Birch Group had a go at trying to extract birch sap by cutting off a small branch and hanging a Billy can from the tree. We know this is the perfect time of year to do it and Bumblebee had done a bit research BUT although we did get a little sap it was not enough for even one glass! Which was a real shame but a good conversation starter to wonder about why the sap is rising? which trees have sap we CAN drink and which trees might have poisonous sap or if their sap might be useful for other things? whether there might be different ways to extract sap?.....Next year we will try Birch tapping. Watch this space!
Elder Group went on an adventure down onto the farm looking for Hawthorn trees (again with no luck) but, boy oh boy, did they have fun running and gamboling like spring lambs. Well, until they found the muddiest bits they could possibly find and then it was almost a competition to who could get 'stuck in the mud' and I don't mean the playground game! The giggles were delightful!
On our walk, we came to another stream and where it was particularly slow flowing, we saw that the water was orange. We wondered why? Rosehip was able to tell us that it was because this stream was a tributary of a Chalybeate Spring which are mineral spring waters containing salts of iron (just like the famous one in Tunbridge Wells Pantilles). Read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chalybeate
Even with all the rain and mud the wildflowers were creating bright pops of colour and the children were discovering them everywhere and were keen to discover more about them. Not only have they challenged my to research flowers and fungi for the nature diary they have also taken on the challenge for themselves and produced some FABULOUS research of their own. We are so impressed by this curiosity and drive for self-led learning.
The children came home looking like mud monsters. However, every muddy cloud has a very silver lining and I have attached some research below into just why we should be encouraging messy play. So when you're hosing down those waterproofs just repeat the mantra "I'm doing for the kids" or even better get them to do it!!
