Waking early, I could hear Brahms the Robin singing outside my bedroom window. His chirping and chirruping sounded different today and opening the curtains, I saw why: snow had arrived. Not the thick-set, knee-deep snow of my East Midlands childhood, but a sprinkling and one that needed exploration if nothing else - time for some adventures with Bonnie and Eppie...

Pathways are central to my concept of co-play. The idea that education can be done with children, not to them is key to creating education-as-adventure. I often think that phonics teaching typifies the 'to children' approach, a zombie apocalypse of letter sounds, sound blending, comprehension, tricky words, book band books and do-this... As we followed the path through the woods, Eppie couldn't help think that there might be another way to teach phonics. Bonnie and I looked at one another and winked because we both know that there is one and that it's coming...

As the traces of snow became more apparent, Eppie couldn't help but play in it. It's because play is in her DNA, as it is in children's too - the impulse to explore and discover, not out of triviality, but out of the need to make sense of the world. Eppie's play drew Bonnie in, a reminder that play is a solidarity, a coming together of energies - an inter-play... When they'd finished, Bonnie and Eppie got to thinking about how the Adult World breaks the Natural Order of childhood by constructing High Ability, Low Ability, intervention groups and Red Table/Blue Table/Green Table. I wondered how many children begin their school lives on Red Table and then spent the next seven years there....?

Bonnie decided to have a sniff about to see what she could see. While she did that, Eppie was really quiet and just took it all in. We both got to thinking about how the Adult World always seems to have the expectation for children to prove they are being busy and yet fails to see how quiet reflection is equally part of the magic of children. Eppie knew that this reflected the inability of the Adult World to value the mystery of childhood... We got chatting about the idea of children writing a TripAdvisor review of their educational experiences and wondered what they might say, especially if those days are dominated by 'do-this-do-that'....

Previous to the snow, a hard rain had fallen and filled up the giant dips in the woodland ground. Some of the pools were waist high and reminded me of those in the Wood Between The Worlds in the Narnia tales. Eppie began to story dream about which world she would like to adventure in. She thought she'd love to go to a world with Bonnie, and together they could sniff for bones and just be happy. I like the idea of a World of Good Things. I wonder what you'd find there and who you'd go with. Bonnie reminded me that the World of Good Things is coming in 2021 and with that all three of us smiled because we instantly knew who is in that world and who isn't...

When we got home, Bonnie immediately fell asleep. And she dreamed of a place where childhood is truly valued, where children have choice and can collaborate, where their creativity is 'seen' and where their day is defined by them, not by the Adult World. I wonder if she was dreaming about your setting? I hope so, because Bonnie was actually dreaming of the World of Good Things.

We hope to see you there...

A photo story exploring places, story dreaming and wonder-wandering...

Bonnie, Eppie and I went into the woods to see what we could see. As ever, Bonnie decided to dawdle, and as it turned out she was chatting to the Minpins who told her that the Poggle was out and about so we should look for his portal...

We hadn’t gone far before we discovered the Poggle Portal, a gap in the hedgerow where the sunlight was poking through. We tapped our feet three times and of course the Poggle popped up and led us down to lane...

The Poggle showed us the Triple Trees and it was here that Bonnie remembered how to number dream so that we can 3M the world at will. She dreamed up three more trees so that there was now double 3, 6. Eppie had a go and number dreamed one less than 3, taking one of the trees away so now there were just two...

The woods gave way to a view out across Somerset. Bonnie wondered about how many trees we could see and Eppie wondered how far she could see. I really liked the way the clouds looked so we chatted about how clouds were made. I told Bonnie and Eppie that it was a really placid view and it made me feel calm looking at it.

The Poggle showed us a hedgerow Oak tree that had six squirrels in it that were all playing and chasing one another. Eppie reminded us about how there was something wonderful even in this little corner of the world and how play is the ‘natural light’ of childhood...

The rain that had come overnight had swollen the little ford and although the horse could get across okay, we felt that it was too deep for little dogs and feet in trainers. We went over the rickety wooden bridge instead and Bonnie story dreamed about what might live underneath it. Eppie said that there was a passcode to get across - we had to say ‘placid’ and then we’d be safe if there was a troll lurking around.

Bonnie and Eppie followed the Poggle up a hill and into the woods. After a little bit of running around and playing, they both went really still and took in their surroundings. Eppie said she felt like it was a placid place to be, although my heart was beating very hard as the hill was pretty steep. Bonnie and Eppie ran on ahead but waited at the top for me to catch up...

At the top of the hill stood the Owl Tree. We didn’t take a look as we don’t like disturbing the owls who live there. We did find some litter nearby so we picked that up. Eppie hoped that the owls would be happy to know we did that. We chatted about how important it is to look after nature and Bonnie wanted to know why people drop litter. We didn’t really have an answer...

We left the Owl Tree and headed homewards. On the way, we found a really beautiful part of the wood and Eppie said that it felt tranquil which then led to us talking about other words for ‘placid’ - we thought of four other words. Bonnie said she felt calm when she sniffed and dawdled which didn’t come as a surprise!

Bonnie wondered what other places there are that are placid. Eppie knew that children need placid places and that play isn’t always about noise and ‘doing’. It takes many shapes and all are valuable. I wondered why the Adult World always wants child be to be busy - as we headed home.

I wonder what your placid places might be and what placid places you provide within your practice?
Why not comment on the blog and let us know!

You can discover more about Adventure Island via the button below - the Poggle, the Minpins and story dreaming all await you...