National Play Champions

Go Wild are National Play Champions! How exciting! It's all to do with National Children's Day which is on the 17th May.  

Apparently 'Play Champions are children’s centres, playgroups, schools and other settings where children find space and time for play of all kinds – creative, exploratory, imaginative, deep play, rough and tumble play, role play, mastery play – any type of play that involves children's natural creativity and being able to do lots of things without needing to focus on specific, pre-determined outcomes'. Which is a complicated way of saying that Play Champions give children the time and space to explore, create, discover, delve into their imaginations and have fun without telling them what to do... or being scared that they're not learning.

I think the same applies to adults too. 

Woohoo! Nature Kits are go!

Take a look at that right there! That's a labour of love that is. After a year of fundraising and planning and writing and spending days and days trawling the internet for a box that was made of recycled materials, the first Go Wild Nature Kit is ready to go! Woohoo!

To be honest, I'm sick of the sight of them at the moment but I'm sure in a couple of weeks I'll feel quite pleased with myself. And my friends. I really do know some talented people who have helped me in all kinds of ways on this journey. Thank you, you lot. You know who you are.

Next step is to get widgets and stuff onto the website so people can buy them. Watch this space!

Focaccia on a campfire

Just take a look at that! That's a rather yummy focaccia that one of my level 3 Forest School trainees made on the campfire this afternoon. There was spelt bread too. And banana bread.

On a separate course, somehow we came up with making bread in a bag and it's all too simple and easy not to share! Read on to find out how to make bread when you're outdoors without getting your hands all sticky.




 To make the bread mix you will need:

• 500g strong white flour
• 5g dried yeast
• 10g fine salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 325ml water
• Semolina flour for cooking
• Extra salt and oil for finishing
• A sturdy, sealable food bag (Ikea do great ones)
• Some kind of water bottle

Method:

1. DO THIS BIT AT HOME. Put all the dry ingredients into the food bag.
2. Put the wet ingredients into a water bottle. Go camping.
3. Once you get where you're going and decide that it's time to start the bread mix off get someone to light a fire and then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and seal the bag with that little clicky thing at the top, pushing out as much air as possible.
4. Knead the bread mix through the bag. Give it to the kids, or someone else. It's a lot less boring when you're sat by a fire. You need to do this for about 10 minutes.
5. Put the bag somewhere warm for an hour or so. Put it under a coat, or in a sleeping bag, or just somewhere off the ground. Remember to check it occasionally to make sure it doesn't explode!
6. Meanwhile, once the fire has got some good embers going, preheat your oven' by putting the casserole onto the embers and put a few on the top and leave for at least an hour.
7. Once the bread dough has risen and the oven is hot, open the bag and knock back the dough.
8. Take the casserole off the fire and remove the lid. Dust the bottom with semolina flour so that the bread dough won't stick. If it goes black instantly your oven is too hot. Tip it out, wait a little and then try again.
9. Pour the bread dough straight into the casserole, spread out with your fingers and make those little dimples. Sprinkle with posh salt and drizzle with olive oil then put the lid on and put it back into the embers.
10. Put embers back onto the top of the casserole and leave for about 20 minutes, turning the pot around every 5 minutes to get an even bake.

And at the end of that you should have a lovely loaf of focaccia to munch. If not, it's a good excuse to light a fire and try again!






You will need:

• A cast iron casserole or dutch oven (with lid)
• Bread mix
• Water bottle with oil and water in it