Outdoor Play Party - simple is best!

Welcome to another Outdoor Play Party, it's that time of year when school is manic for me - reports to be written, new parents & children induction days, my class meeting their new P.1 teachers & getting ready for graduation as well as the usual every day learning experiences. So sometimes at this busy time of year it's good to remember that the best things are often the simplest. 
This week I watched my class play contently with Bottle Babies, sticks, water, snails,  buttercups & daisies. This week when we made our weekly visit to Bear Woods the grass had got really long & it was full of wild flowers or weeds, depending on your point of view! The trees are getting much taller & have loads of leaves now & the willow is really bushy. The little space has turned out to be a great asset to have within school grounds.

I love to see how excited the children are each week when they start to get ready for going up into this space, they love the walk up the hill & the fact they can run safely on ahead seems to make it even more special. Best of all is the fact that until this time last year this was just a piece of grass that had to be regularly mowed, so apart from providing us with an incredible asset for outdoor play it is saving the school some money!

 This photo was taken in September when it was just fenced off & now the children have worn little paths through the grass as they weave along the slope playing with their friends.

There were lots of great posts linked up in the last OPP but one of my favourites was from Rain or Shine Mama on how to make simple dens from sticks - I hope in the new year to get donations of old Christmas tree branches so we can make some dens up in Bear Woods. And Linda has some links to other great 'sticky' posts too!

• Any kind of children's outdoor play-related posts are welcome!

We'd appreciate it if you included a link back to this post (either in your post or sidebar) to help us spread the word about the importance (and fun!) of outdoor play! In return, we'll gladly further share your post on Facebook/ Twitter/ Pinterest. Please feel free to grab the Outdoor Play Party button from the sidebar and/or include a text link back.

Please note that by contributing you are giving permission for an image and link to your post to be republished if featured.(If you have been featured, please feel free to grab the 'featured' button from the sidebar.) Share your ideas for outdoor play activities with us every other week!

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