Saturday 25 February 2012

W is for Wonderful Woods

(Goblin is 28 months)
We found some more amazing woods! I have come to the conclusion that Essex is littered with wonderful woodland and I just haven't been paying enough attention. 
We wanted to do something new with Nanny so we decided to explore some woodland less that a half hour drive from our house. It turned out to be a huge actively coppiced wood with some old Roman roads running through it. We thought we were going for an hour long walk but Goblin was still hurtling three hours later.
 There were plenty of logs for Goblin to climb and balance on - great for his gross motor skills. 
 Some of the more mature trees were big enough to climb. Goblin said this one was his Pirate ship. We made "aaargh!" noises and swayed with the motion of 'the waves'.
There were loads of gnarly trees to explore. They looked like fairy dwellings.
  Goblin found some interesting plants and asked me what they were. I think they were a type of moss but I try not to tell Goblin something unless I know its correct, so I said I didn't know but pointed out the interesting star shaped leaves.
Later Nanny confirmed that it was indeed a type of moss, so Goblin learnt a new word - "moss".
 Clarrie, Nanny's dog, drank from every puddle we came across. Goblin treats Clarrie like a friend and follows her around whenever he can keep up. So of course he wanted to go in every puddle we came to.  
 Unfortunately some puddled were deeper than others.
But he didn't let that stop him! 
He managed to find some opportunities for imaginary play. There were a few ready made dens scattered through the woods. Goblin particularly liked this one which was big enough for us all to fit in, and had little log stools inside. 
 
He also found a triangle of log seats and some sawdust. He put the sawdust onto the logs and invited us to sit and have a tea party eating the sawdust. 
 I was reading a post yesterday at Nurturestore about making your teaparties posh. Well, Hublet had quite the opposite effect on our tea party when he pretended to puke the sawdust! It was, however, absolutely hilarious and Goblin made him do it again about twenty times. 
 At several points during our walk Goblin paused to dig up the path. 
 And when Goblin started to get a bit tired Hublet flung him around a bit and pretended to piledrive him into the ground, which was just the play Goblin needed to get his second wind.

In my usual disorganised way I managed to remember my own waterproof trousers, but completely forgot to put on Goblin's - even though we'd brought them with us. So by the end of the walk Goblin was quite muddy.  
But being covered in mud seems to be Goblin's preferred state of being, and that is absolutely fine with me. Its a sign of a good days play.

I'm sharing this with
 Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

12 comments:

  1. WOW that looks like so much fun! Happy you had such a great day.

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a fabulous forest, complete with fairy homes, ancient roads and sawdust vomit - LOL. Looks like you had lots of fun!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks guys, we did have a brilliant time, definitely going back there soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love trees, and mud and anything nature. Those pictures are so good (and the descriptions) that it made me feel like I wanted to be there too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post and that is a fantastic forest! Be good for picnics in the summer :)

    http://mygorgeousboys.wordpress.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love the stories and learning that goes with all your lovely posts. that looked like a walk and a half for Goblin in that beautiful wood. I bet he slept well after!

    ReplyDelete
  7. A lovely account of your visit. Thanks for sharing. Woods are indeed wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a beautiful day!! I'm so glad that you are giving your son wonderful outdoor experiences at an early age. And how lucky you were to find ready made dens! Thank you for sharing at The Outdoor Play Party. I hope you share again tomorrow.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for linking up at the Kid's Co-op. :-) What a lovely post. Happy Earth Day Weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  10. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I plan to feature your post on my Kid's Co-op post tomorrow where I'll be blogging about learning and movement. Thanks, Robin @ Sweet Tea Classroom

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a beautiful day you had! I love the tea-party antics! I've featured this post on my blog today as one of my favourites from last week's Weekly Kid's Co-op. :)

    ReplyDelete

I have decided to turn off comments on the blog as I am being inundated with spam. I do this with sadness as I love genuine comments from readers. If you would like to leave a comment please email me at TamingtheGoblin@gmail.com or visit the TamingtheGoblin FaceBook page (you can access it through the FB icon in the top right corner of the blog homepage).
Thank you for taking the time to read the blog.

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...