Session 2: Healthy
During our second session of outdoor learning and play, our focus was ‘Healthy’, from the GIRFEC SHANARRI Wellbeing wheel.
We brainstormed the word healthy, and discovered it didn’t just mean how we ate, exercised and washed our hands, it also related to how we felt.
We then discussed how we felt outdoors.
We also brainstormed how our senses can help us to enjoy outdoor learning and play.
We practiced mindfulness outdoors and children used their senses to describe what they liked to touch, smell, hear, and see!
“I like the feeling of the tree, it feels rough”, said Tom.
“I like the feeling of the smooth leaf”, said Olivia.
“I like the smell of the water mint”, said Grace.
“I like to look at the pond”, said Chloe.
“I can hear the birds and the pond feels cold”, said Ryan.
We can practice mindfulness at home too by clicking on the following link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LCP5wUl-0c
In response to ideas suggested in Session 1, children used great teamwork and collaboration skills to tidy the garden leaves, by sweeping, shovelling them up and putting them in a bin bag. Tom said he felt like Santa, because the black bag was so full! Niharika suggested that we use some of these leaves to make compost to help us grow plants (which we did!). We also planted water mint in the pond, to attract more wildlife (thank you Mr Miller for donating!). We reflected on what plants need to grow (water, light and soil), and decided we needed to cut some of the branches down in our Magic garden as it was too dark. Children were supported to safely use garden loppers to do this, and we discussed that they should only use garden tools with an adult, to prevent accidents. The children all agreed we should use these branches for a den!
