Growing Together: Exploring ‘Nature Builders’
Written by Laura Zotova
A few years ago, I decided to incorporate my love of children and life-long passion for nature, to become a Forest School leader. I truly found my calling at Kinship In Nature, a forest school in Bushwood. It is so inspiring to see how much children’s physical and mental health thrive in a Forest School environment, as well as their social conscience and understanding that humans must share the Earth with its wildlife. With KiN’s support and blessing, I founded Nature Builders in order to share the gift of Forest School with children who would not otherwise have the means to attend.
The majority of the sessions take place at The UP Garden, a community-created space in a council estate yard in one of the top 20% neighbourhoods for deprivation and high crime. The location and free session fees reduce barriers to access, thanks to grants and commissions from organisations like Culture Within Newham.
Apples and birds
“Oh look, a catepillar!”
We offered two after-school sessions each week for up to 20 children. Several of the students are neuro-diverse. They come straight from school, all scattered and over-stimulated. We always start our sessions with a sharing circle, where we acknowledge each other and choose our ‘nature names’ for that week. Whoever we were during the day – maybe it was not our best self – is shaken off. We start anew and equal.
Afterwards, the children choose whether to play a physical game with me or join my assistant (usually Jo, a wonderful artist) at the craft table. Only a few join me at the beginning, but the rest observe from the table like hawks, checking that the game won’t be too rough or scary. Others circle around, trying to figure out the best tactics first. Before long, almost everyone has joined in, and the initial players – worn out and rosy-cheeked – eagerly collapse at the table with their pent-up energy expended, ready to focus on a mindful task.
“Everything was my favourite bit!”
Our Autumn term theme was apples. We expressed our creativity by printing muslin flags with sliced apples, noticing the central star caused by the seed hollows. We practised our fine motor skills to create felted apples, and our hand tool work to make bunting out of crab apples, conkers and leaves. We created edible mandalas for the local wildlife, learning which creatures eat what. And of course, we ate apples and made apple tea, helping the children to detect delicate scents, with a different fruit tea each week.
Fire was the Winter term theme, though we cannot have real fire at our venue. My fairy lights create a magical glow as evenings draw ever darker. One of many tasks is to create decorated lanterns from spare jam jars and (battery-powered!) tea lights. The handle is made from twine, and I show the children some knot techniques. Soon, the children explore with their own lanterns as dusk falls on us. At another session, we talk about humans’ discovery of fire, the evolution of tool-making, and how stories were shared across history, before whittling our own pens from twigs and drawing picture stories from ink made from oak galls.
Our Spring theme is birds, and I cannot wait to see their new crafted creations, and the stories, songs and games they will co-design with me at Nature Builders!
“It is such a beautiful space that you create for the children (and adults!!) - R has thoroughly enjoyed it. He has always loved being outdoors but he has got a new level of confidence and interest that is so beautiful to see and be around. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts ❤️”
Laura Zotova is the founder of Nature Builders, which runs urban forest school sessions in and around Newham. Culture Within Newham supported Nature Builders as part of the Shaped by Community commission. Learn more about the project here.