February half term was Woodland Play Scheme half term!

What an exciting week that was! The holiday playscheme was in full swing on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Over the course of the week we had nearly 30 children attend, which we are really pleased about. The playscheme is organised for the holidays so that parents who need to go to work during the school holidays, can leave their children to play in the woods all day, and pick them up later when they are happily exhausted from a day in the beautiful outdoors.
The woodland is so beautiful at the moment. The buds are just coming oute on the trees and the ferns and the snowdrops have replaced the snow with their eagerness to come out and tell us that spring is just around the corner. February half term is always one of our favourite times of the year to play in the woods because of the air of expectancy that accompanies the woodland, encouraging you to look forward to warmer days with more sunshine.
The Playscheme is always great fun as some children only come for a day and others for the full three days. Many children are old hats at playing in the woods and others come for the first time. It is always interesting to see the camaraderie and interaction, and mentoring that goes on between the children. Its always fabulous to see the team work too! The Tuesday was a fun day because it was Kanga's (Aka Kangaroo, Roo) birthday, so she went with Louise to the woodland, alongside Meg and Woody. The dogs and the children had a great time, but one little dog in particular enjoyed it more than the others. Someone had left the pan off the sausage pan lid and when Louise came to check on the sausages she found Meg, in the pan, with the remainders of the sausages! It seems that little meg who is a Jack Russel had managed to eat her way through 9 sausages! How she was still in the pan, we don't know, but she had celebrated Roo's birthday in true Meg style. The dogs came back on the Wednesday by popular request from all the children, and spent the day running around and looking in rabbit holes. This time we kept the sausages under lock and key.
The tuesday was a very eventful day in itself. Louise managed to get the Land Rover and the Trailer stuck in the mud and actually had to have someone come and tow it out! She was not best pleased and is now looking into ways of making sure the ground can be driven on, just at the entrance, even if the weather is wet and muddy as it has been this half term.
On the wednesday there were lots of children and we spent the day exploring, playing and making a bow and arrow. It was the best bow and arrow Lou had ever been part of making, she said when she returned. There can be little doubt about that, when the wood came from her own woodland!
It was intended that Thursday should be spent hurdle weaving. For some reason we didnt get around to that, but the children had a brilliant time putting up the hammock, playing on the rope swings, and they even volunteered to help clear the rhodedendrums, so that we had a huge and warming bonfire. We had more sausages and more marshmallows, and lots and lots of fun!

EASTER HOLIDAY PLAYSCHEME
Dont forget that we will have another playscheme available for the easter holidays and of course for May half term. Bookings are currently being taken for 11th april through to the 15th April, and there will be single events being run on 18th, 20th and 21st April for families. Content is yet to be decided and will be published in the April blog.