Time for a break!

Well, it’s been a great year. Since we started in September, Strong Roots has grown from strength to strength but, now it’s time for a bit of a holiday. We’re off to France for a few days so there will be no contact on here from Tuesday 30th – Saturday 10th Aug.

The Tiny Acorns scheme has developed a great following and is building a strong community of like minded parents, who just want to get their little ones out and exploring the wealth of incredible natural space around them.

 

On top of this, we have run holiday schemes and individual workshops, where each and every person involved went home happy, relaxed, (comfortably exhausted) and having learnt something new.

 

Even more still, we have been booked for several birthday parties. These have been incredible opportunities to give a quick, condensed forest school experience.

But, as I’ve said before, Forest Schools isn’t just for the kids. In this past year we have also worked with adults, offering workshops and schemes to those recovering from addiction or dealing with mental health challenges. (For privacy reasons I can’t post pictures from these)

Still to come this year

There are two weeks of Summer scheme coming up still

12-16th August – Donard Forest

(7-11 years) – 10:00 – 12:30

(12-15 years) – 13:00 – 15.30

19-23rd August – Canal Woods

(7 – 14 years) – 10:00 – 15:00

Plus… We have a family workshop coming up on the August Banks Holiday – Monday 26th

Going into next year

Tiny acorns will be resuming in September with a new flexi-system, and an extra week day. Not only will we meet on Monday mornings, but also Friday afternoons.

We are in talks regarding delivering Forest School schemes to a number of schools in the area.

We will be continuing and extending our holiday schemes.

More one off workshops.

We are also looking into acquiring a permanent space.

Plus much more… so keep a look out for interesting and exciting opportunities to get involved.

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A new way to play

Tree rubs and wriggly bugs

We came back this week, after having to take a surprise, one week, hiatus, following the early arrival of daughter number two. Florence was born on Sunday morning so there was no way of getting out to the woods the next day. In fact, I don’t think I even left the house until Wednesday and that was to take child one out to a toddlers group and give Mum a bit of a chance to sleep whilst the baby was.

Our focus this week was bugs so we started by getting ourselves warmed up with a bug hunt.

We searched under rocks…

and inside logs…

to see the different bugs to live in those different habitats.

We also looked under some dead bark to see what lived there.

After all that, we needed a bit of a rest so we read about some bugs…

Further showing my love of Julia Donaldson

and ate some cake.

It’s always nice to see your own daughter waiting until she’s offered. Today is not that day.

After all that, we got to know the different trees, and the varying textures of their bark, by doing some tree rubbings.

And there we go. That’s our weekly round up.

We have four weeks left of this run of Tiny Acorns. The next block of six will begin on March 11th.

If you’d like to get your child involved, why not drop us a message and we’ll get you signed up.

 

Bear hunts and bug hotels

Happy New Year!

We have just had our first session of the new year  and, I’m delighted to say that it was absolutely fantastic fun. It was so great to see the kids happily running around, reaffirming friendships and re-establishing their boundaries in a familiar place.

Everyone seemed to have come back a little more confident and a little bolder. Maybe it was the excitement and the beautiful, crisp weather. Either way, they all had a blast!

We kicked off with a bear hunt.

We’re going on a bear hunt!

Hoo Woo! Hoo Woo!

What could live here?

Next, we enjoyed cake made by Maggie-Rose, washed down with some milk.

Before making some super-cool bug hotels out of left over Christmas boxes and bamboo.

We even found time for an impromptu leaf fight!

It was so great to see every one of these wonderful, vibrant individuals today.

If you’d like to get your child involved, why not drop me a line and we’ll get you signed up.

New year, new look

Well, it’s 2020! Yes, I know it has been for quite a while but I’ve been a little lax with things.

First, let me apologise for the relative radio silence from Strong Roots Hollow. Roseanne went back to work earlier in the month ad I wasn’t completely sure how we would proceed with sessions and schemes and things. It’s one thing to run a toddler’s session and take a toddler along with you but it’s completely another thing to run a session and also have a one year old, who doesn’t yet walk. It’s doable but it’s a little more complicated and I would feel like my attention would be too divided to run things effectively.

Anyway, that is all sorted now and we are now back up and running as of next Monday 3rd February. YAY!

So what does the year have in store?

Monday

10 am – 12 pm – Tiny Acorns (Donard Park) – 2 – 5 yrs

Tuesday (Pending)

10 am – 12 pm – Tiny Acorns (Moneydaragh Hub) – 2 – 5 yrs

3.30 pm – 5 pm – Wild kids (Moneydarragh hub) – 7 – 11 yrs

Fortnightly Saturdays (22nd Feb onwards)

Natural Families (Donard Park) – 11 am – 1 pm

 

You may have noticed that there are a couple of new headings on the weekly timetable. We are expanding our service to give other age groups the chance to enjoy time in the woods.

Stay tuned for more information and further individual posts.

Ready for the coming season

Well that looks like the end of summer! There’s definitely no greater way to mark the the end of a lovely trip away to the sunshine than a full week of rain.

It’s not all bad, though. The end of summer means the start of the next season of Strong Roots and a fresh boost to the Tiny Acorns.

We will be restarting on Monday 2nd September and will run from 10 – 12 every week after that.

But wait! That’s not all. We will also be starting a Friday afternoon session, which will run from 12:30 – 2:30.

What is more, there is going to be a whole new way of paying. We twigged that, with people paying for six-week blocks, something would invariable come up, causing them to miss out on a week and putting the weekly cost of each session up.

From September, this will change. I’m bringing back the option to pay for single sessions. These will cost £8 and can be pre-booked any time up until the start of the session.

Alternatively, you can make a saving for every session by booking seven sessions for £49. On your first session you will receive a card with the date of your first session and six more spaces, which will be punched every time you use a session. The card will be valid for two months, meaning you can miss a session here and there or even come to every Monday and Friday until you run out of spaces and need to refresh.

All of this of course comes with the 10% sibling discount that we offer with everything else.

You could say that we’re really branching out!

We’re taking bookings now so, why not drop us a message for a little more info or use one of the convenient buttons to book your spot.

Tiny Acorns Goes Wild!

Welcome back folks. Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been super busy with a new baby, planning, supply teaching and (more importantly after all that) sleeping.

I tell you what, this current block of Tiny Acorns has gone off! Our numbers have gone through the roof so much that I’ve actually had to turn people away and start booking up the next block. It’s absolutely mental, I tell you.

It is fantastic, though. The kids absolutely love it and, with the extended timing, we’ve got so much more scope to explore and get involved in more in depth activities.

What have we done so far?

We’ve explored the dark and wild places!

 

We built fairy houses

We painted sham-rocks for our Saint Patrick’s day special

We’ve made magic wands

And, of course, we’ve had banana cake and milk to keep us going.

 But even better than all that, we’ve a new piece of kit that joins us on all our sessions. Say hello to the portable fire pit.

With this we can toast marshmallows, make popcorn and even rustle up a nice cup of hot chocolate (some day soon)

It doesn’t taste too bad either.

If you’d like to get on to our next run of Tiny Acorns, why not drop us a message? The next six week block will begin on April 29th and will cost £36 per child.

Hurry, though, spaces are filling up fast.

(If there is enough interest, I will start a second group on another day of the week.)