Letter from the woods

In a world increasingly dominated by high speed connectivity, structure and control, I believe there should still be a place for the simple pleasures that only nature can provide.

In my work at The Secret Garden, a pre-school in Letham, south of the Firth of Tay, I offer children the opportunity of playing in nature in whatever form it presents itself every day.

Each morning we set out on our adventures with no set agenda other than being wholly in our environment, connecting with the elements in all their gentleness and extremes. Earth, air, fire and water provide the backdrop to the discovery of life and learning through the senses. The undulating woodland offers protection from the elements with the canopy of trees providing an umbrella from the lashing rain, wild sleet or blazing sunshine. Their physicality sparks the imagination and helps the children create new worlds to play in, providing the physical and emotional strength that they need to prepare for the onslaught of ‘normal’ life.

Here they can witness the changing seasons, emerging bulbs, spread of fungi, buds, blossoms and array of wildlife. There is sky watching and puddle jumping with no limits. We share the magic of the child’s imagination, sparked by seen and unseen mysteries they encounter or dream up in the woods.

Here the child has the freedom to make discoveries about themselves and the world, allowing ideas and creativity to flow in this vast and wild space. There are no restrictions on the greatest learning tool, the senses. No doors and walls, no windows too small or too high and no fences that create the paddock-like mentality of containing, rather than freeing, creativity.

Through our adventures I like to believe that each child can develop a sense of place and being in the world, yet there is no fixed place and no fixed being, just an acceptance of the space provided by Mother Earth and what this offers to each creative being. Architecture? Who needs it!