You're not going out in that? Part 2.

 

It's been really cold the past few days. Playground are icy so children are often kept in at break and lunch times. So, even though there's not a lot of gardening to be done, it's great to be able to get out for a short time and experience the cold, see the frost sparkle, touch a piece of ice and feel the hard frozen ground beneath your feet. 

We found this spectacular piece of ice hanging from our rainwater collection bucket at Ravensbury. Of course, as I marvelled at the shapes, the children just wanted to smash it!

September bounty

 

Back to school means seeing what has survived the weather, birds, cats and foxes over the summer. At Ravensbury, this enormous mustard leaf and rocket had self-seeded.  It's spicy. Ask the children!

And it was a good year for the apples.  We've made some jelly from the crab apples (the taller trees in the background) and one girl took some home and made it on her own. 

Mud painting

As part of our outdoor learning at Heald Place in Rusholme, we've been experimenting with painting using mud.  Children dig up some soil and mix it with food colouring or paint. Some go full Rothko with slabs of earthy colour and texture, some add more soil, scratch marks and some go for simple designs. It's up to them. These were done by Year 2 children. 

You're not going out in that ?

 

On Monday the snow lay thick on the ground at Cheetham CE Primary. But we got our wellies on and went out. 

There were numerous animal tracks to follow: birds, cats and, we think, a fox.  We picked snow-topped  green apples. We made snow sculptures.  We threw snowballs at empty plants pots for a snowy fairground game.  Then the children repurposed the pots as buckets to make snowcastles. One even decorated hers with leaves to make a snow tree. 

Needless to say, the children loved it.  Several said they had never played in snow before. 

A forest in the inner city

 

At Heald Place Primary in Rusholme, there is a lovely wooded area in the far corner of the field. It's full of hazel, sycamore and silver birch.  I've started taking small groups out to our "forest school". We've been hunting for minibeasts, flying "helicopters" (sycamore seeds), making small houses for the "forest people", but the favourite has been making shelters using tarps and bungee cords.   It howled it down today for 15 minutes but our shelter stood firm. 

A city centre harvest

 

A group of families came down to the Great Northern community garden for a real harvest festival. They dug up potatoes, picked runner beans and ate sorrel.  Everyone should have a go at digging up potatoes. 

You hear a lot about mindfulness these days. This is what mindfulness looks like:

Sunflowers and beans in the city centre

 

The planting at The Great Northern in central Manchester has gone well. Sunflowers are lighting up the amphitheatre where we also have potatoes coming on nicely. 

It has been difficult due al the restrictions to get the community side going but we are planning a harvest event in September. The runner beans are looking good.