A night in natures playground

My usual friday consists of rushing around in the morning to get ready for work in the salon, this week however was different I was mentally preparing myself for the night ahead as I had exchanged salon life for a 2 day venture into the woods. In hand my fushia faux croc weekend bag,my sleeping bag and hunter wellies. I try to be practical and fashionable but its a difficult task.

As usual the rest of my play work group were running late, a 9am meeting time dragged out until 10 am, I passed the time by reading the latest Comso magazine. We awaited for my tutor Jackie and when she arrived I was gob smacked and amused, we were traveling to Kent in bright yellow mini bus.

A couple of hours later we approach the gates, we unload our luggage and are told we have to walk to get our tents. I have been camping previously but to be honest I played the damsel in distress act to avoid pitching the tent or carry logs for the fire however this time I chose to be more independent, a strong female. That was short lived lol but I did help with the tent. We waited for Alex to arrive with food and other resources, not that i knew who she was.

I made sure i came prepared, I made a list of all essentials including a portable Blackberry charging as most users know that the battery life is short lived, but to my dispear I left it at home in my other bag so unfortunately I had to turn my phone off so I couldn't take pictures of activities.

There were many experences that i enjoyed, during the night the sky was so mesmerising, the stars peirced through the deep blue sky, as was flames of the camp fire, we're so bombarded with technology we become blind to beauty of nature.

The reason for this venture was to explore the elements, i'm currently gainig a qualification in Play work which is the study of how children/ young people develop during playing.Living in inner city London most children are deprived of playing with the elements and the objective of the visit to natures playground was to explore and develop ideas of what activities we could provide a group of children if we brought them to the woods.

We went back to basics no electricity, walking to all destinations and collecting logs to keeps the fire going for warmth and to cook with . Not only do this encourage being resourcful but it encourages working as a communtiy. Im a city girl so I could never subject my self to using a man-made toilet with no running water for more than 26 hours but this experience made me grateful for the conveniences I have and often take for granted.

This is an experience a lot of people should take advantage of if the opportunity arises