Artist Rebecca Begley-Smith is very excited to bring nature learning and artistic fun filled sessions up to Blockhouse Park this summer. Every Wednesday morning through August, we focused on a different nature subject, where we learned and then had fun making. Each child received a journey booklet where they could unlock a sticker medal at the end of each session. Our last week was a fun filled graduation week where the children receive a badged to remember the fun they had learning about nature through the summer.
Here are some photos from the Saplings Forest Club:
The sessions were:
Tree Guardians (3rd of August) – We will look around the park identifying what trees we can find whilst foraging items to then decorate masks to become guardians of the trees.
Fabulous Flowers (10th of August) – We will talk about the importance of flowers whilst planting some in the park. The children will then be able to paint their own plant pot to take home.
Sensational Sights (17th of August) – We will look out from the top of Blockhouse park and talk about all the amazing sights we can see. The children will then be able to decorate their own cardboard binoculars.
Mighty Mini-beasts (24th of August) – We will look and identify what bugs we can find around the park. The children will then have the opportunity to help build and decorate a bug hotel which will permanently live up Blockhouse park.
Graduation (31st of August) – We will have lots of fun celebrating the work we have done over the previous sessions with fancy dress, story time and games. Each child will then receive their badge as a memento of the fun we had learning about nature.
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This project is part of the Green Minds ‘Saplings’ Creative Commissions, where students from Arts University Plymouth were guided through a mentoring process by The Village Hub, and enabled to pitch to the local community for their proposed community art projects.
Additional funding and staff time was also drawn in through the Growing The Village Hub project (in partnership with Take A Part, and co-funded using money from the National Lottery by Arts Council England, Heritage Fund and the National Lottery Community Fund).
