Fledglings Outdoor Play – Inner City Forest School Magic
Last year, our Community Cohesion Grants supported a diverse range of projects that brought people together in East and North Brighton, and one of the recipients of our recent Autumn round was Fledglings Outdoor Play, with the funding enabling subsidised places for East Brighton families.
Fledglings forest school-inspired play sessions have been run by Maddy Alexander since 2019, offering outdoor play and learning opportunities to children and their families.
Wednesday morning’s setting is Race Hill Community Orchard, an open, undeveloped and vast space that quietly overlooks north Whitehawk and the sea, with over 200 fruit trees and thousands of native hedgerow plants.
Just off Swanborough Drive is a well-trodden path to the orchard, and walking along the track last Wednesday felt like a temporary transportation from everyday life.
A short stroll and a friendly welcome later, I was in notably magical surroundings with a lit fire, logs to sit on and a number of children and their families immersed in nature.
Some were exploring, most just enjoying the warmth that came from both the fire and the company.
Suspended over the fire, was a pot of soup that became central to the morning.
Prepared by the families who all brought a vegetable to peel, chop and add to the pot, and who lit the fire together before I arrived, the ‘Potluck Soup’ added to the morning’s sense of belonging and togetherness.
After Maddy had led with a welcome song about tractors that gave flight to the children’s imagination, there was a flexible structure with the option to go and play or stay to do some bird-watching.
Located a minute’s walk away, the mud kitchen was a marvel for many, while other children and their families chose to stay by the fire.
Maddy spoke about the benefits of children being outside:
“The more time we spend outside, the more connected we feel, and the more we care about the environment. The more time children are outside, the more they care. All children should be outside more.”
It was inspirational to see how Fledglings gives children a chance to develop an early and long-lasting connection with nature, and in this setting, for them to experience how the orchard grows and changes through the seasons.
Maddy spoke more about her passion for deepening children’s connection with nature:
“I feel schools, especially now, should be helping children to find pleasure in the outdoors, and let them play more. I love watching the kids play and see what they come up with.”
It was heart-warming to listen to Teresina who brings her son Aster most weeks: “It gives us a place to come and play in a community setting where you get a hello, there’s a fire, warm food and a little song. It can be difficult to get out when it’s cold and when you don’t have a garden. It’s also really accessible on the bus”.
While Teresina spoke more about their love of Fledglings, Aster was clearly spellbound by the mud kitchen and the wilderness around us and didn’t stop playing for a second.
Before everyone headed back to the fire to enjoy the pot-luck soup together, Teresina added:
“It really is such a special place”.
You can find out more about Fledglings here.