Amazing day visiting poetry sculptures, pond dipping and exploring water and biodiversity at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen thanks to our lovely Natural Wonder team and Rivers Trust Norfolk, WWF Aviva Access To Nature fund and staff at Strumpshaw Fen. ‘Toes Dangling’ invites us to immerse ourselves in the beauty of nature, biodiversity and the spirit of Strumpshaw and dangle our toes in the water – which we did! Some of the of the children wrote a collaborative poem called We Can Heal – see below (children chose the title and created the lines in the poem) inspired by the magic of nature while at the reserve.
This was a trip supported by funding to Extraordinary Communities CIC for children who have attended our Natural Wonder holiday workshops before based across Norfolk. We keep our group size small to facilitate social connection, boost confidence and ensure wellbeing and participation for the children.
Each of these participatory workshops is inspired by a poem in the Natural Wonder collection (written with support from Arts Council England and now an inspirational case study in the Curriculum Compendium published by Bloomsbury July 2024). Being out in the wild has a very positive effect on confidence, learning engagement, self esteem and social connection for children and really improves mental and physical health.
Since working with children in small groups in April 2023 contracted by Norfolk County Council, we have supported around 150 children eligible for Pupil Premium from across Norfolk and not just seen a lot of fun and happiness, but amazing breakthroughs in communication, wellbeing and confidence – with new friendships being made.
Our team are a cross section of nature lovers, artists, educators, teachers and learning support assistants who work in schools and professionals in nature and conservation sectors. We liaise with all families and carers beforehand to ensure the best possible support is given to the children so they have a positive experience – taking into consideration any extra needs.
Thanks also to Magic Cat Publishing who donated books to our Natural Wonder library of nature inspired reading to share with children.
You can find out more about the Natural Wonder participatory poetry collection here.
Find out more about Strumpshaw Fen here. Take a copy of their Adventure Map to find the Toes Dangling platform!
Feedback
‘Today made me feel really happy.’ ‘Today made me feel amazed.’ ‘Putting my feet in the water was my favourite part it made me laugh.’ ‘My favourite part was everything.’ ‘There’s magic in the water’.
‘Really enjoyed it. I don’t know what they did but he came back talking confidently and freely and really opened up – at school he shuts down and is completely overwhelmed, can’t talk at all – he’s not in school at all at the moment. He wants to take her (Natural Wonder team member) to school with him as really trusted her as she was so good with him.’
We Can Heal
We are the butterflies flying in the sky. I see a marsh harrier flying, why?
We are a massive beetle swimming around the pond dipping.
We are my brother tripping & butterflies gliding in the sky, fly!
We are the dragonflies and bumblebees sitting in the flowers,
for hours and hours and hours and hours.
by Natural Wonder children
