The woodland canopy provided us all with some shady respite from the sun this week. With the heat, has come thriving wildflowers and grasses, and this has inspired us all.
The Elderflower was in full bloom, so lemons were peeled, mint leaves picked and scents a plenty were sniffed as we prepared some elderflower cordial.
The children spent their time identifying wild flowers as they tried their best to find the perfect hiding places in the bolting grasses and buttercups in the meadows on the way to the woods. This hiding got them up close to the plentiful flora and fauna and in doing so they were intrigued by the many insects and small creatures which they found. Spiders which had created funnel webs, bumblebees feasting on red clover and birds foot trefoil amongst others.
This led to collecting some of the flowers, first in bunches and then with the plentiful sticky weed, the children started to create nests as they were walking. They found a broken egg and considered that it might be a pheasants egg. So once in the woods, they used the clay we had dug to create eggs for their nests-shaping them, then using the old asked from the fire and leaf litter to create speckled egg patterns.
Then it was drinking and creating their own orange juice by squeezing their tangerines into cups and snacking and talking and generally hanging out and enjoying the shady summer day.