Wild Soul Woods CIC

This 💚👇💚

Meaningful conversations to have with your child today! 💬 Here are 3 open-ended questions to get them talking:

1️⃣ What was the best part of your day and why? 2️⃣ If you could change one thing about today, what would it be? 3️⃣ What’s something new you learned or discovered recently?

And when they answer, remember—sometimes the best thing you can do is just listen. You don't need to fix difficult emotions that present themselves during these chats. By giving your child the space to express themselves safely, you're supporting their mental health and strengthening your connection.

Here are 3 active listening tips for you:

1️⃣ Give them your full attention—put down the phone and use their name, maybe a gentle touch on the arm. If they respond well to eye contact then use it. 2️⃣ Reflect on what they say by repeating or summarising their thoughts. 3️⃣ Before responding, consider your words, refrain from ‘fix it’s statements. If they just need you to listen, try saying something like, “That sounds really tough, and I’m here for you.” (Check out our free downloads for more empathic responses!)

If there’s a problem to solve then try and do that together, mind map, use a problem solving guide or get creative to allow time for ideas.

You can do these chats whilst walking, playing or snuggled up next to each other on the sofa - you don’t need to be looking at each other, often it’s easier for your child if you’re not.

You’re doing a great job. For more tips and resources, visit our website and spend a while exploring each page. We’re here to support you every step of the way. 🌈💚

https://www.jwbridgethegap.com/

We're back! Please SHARE this for local families 😍 We'd love you and your families to come and join our FREE community play day behind HUT 16 at Tilgate park this Wednesday 😁

Last time we went a little mud mad... this week we're all about the sticks! Try your hand at stick balancing (stupidly simple, and sooo addictive!), create your own little stick people and maybe a mini home for them? Make yourself a stick frame and get arty... And have a go at stick throwing! How far can you throw?!

Activities for all ages - parents and carers get stuck in with your smaller humans, or find a quiet spot and relax while they're busy.

Babies might like a 'nature rattle', so grab one of our empty bottles (or bring your own) and upcycle it with a foraging trip 💚

Bring a picnic blanket and water bottles - nearest toilets are in the main car park in tilgate park.

Please note - this is an FREE unsupervised play session - all children must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Thank you 😚

Can't wait to see you in the Woods!
Tori & Team 🌳🐾💚

Look for HUT 16 - K2 ENTRANCE TO TILGATE

Love this! We're all about Seasons & Cycles and Change... Some of our young people really struggle with 'growing up' and the changes that happen to us - physically, mentally, emotionally, socially... We share that it's okay and natural to be scared of change (the unknown - our brain is protecting us!) but also that change and growth is a natural part of life and not a 'real' threat 💚🌰🌱 Nature has all the lessons 🥰👇👇👇

How amazing it is to see the lifecycle like this. A wonderful picture to show the children 🌿

Happy Friday all! Absolutely delighted to share details today of our fabulous supporters Resolve Financial Solutions Ltd . The Company and their team have made it possible to get up and running and deliver our Community Play Days with Crawley Play Service for FREE! Although all our staff are volunteers, we still need to cover insurance and resource costs, and we couldn't have done it without their generous financial support 🤩🎁

They have a wonderful ethos - they plant trees for friend referrals and they are as excited as we are about working together in the future to create opportunities to empower young people to live independent confident lives... Watch this space!

Thanks again Team Resolve - we wouldn't be here without your support 🙏

Have a fabulous Friday all
Tori & Team 🌳🐾💚

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Taking some time to recharge on this Self-Care Sunday! ☀️🧘‍♀️ Whether it's a good book, a relaxing bath, or a walk in nature, today is all about looking after yourself. How are you practicing self-care today? 🌿✨

For more self-care resources check out these ones on our website 👉 https://www.jwbridgethegap.com/coping-tools-anxiety-support

Evening all... Where has the week gone?!

Thank you so much to all the families that made our Community Play day just awesome!

So good to see the movers move and the creatives create… Always magical watching the connections happen - between both our fellow humans and our ‘nature’ family 🌳💚

Huge thank you to our fabulous volunteer team that make it happen (including our Junior Playmakers!) - we're ALL volunteers so all support welcome 😉🤩

Julie Tozer Maloney maria cyranek

🎉 Also incredibly grateful to our craft geniuses & Bev at Forget Me Not Faces for the masses of bunting we need to create a 'safe' space - all beautifully made with love and tonnes of goodwill!

The team will be back again collaborating with Crawley Play Service on Wednesday 28th August 2:30 - 5.30pm…

📌 Find us in Tilgate Park: come in the K2 entrance, and find Hut 16. Follow the path to the left of Hut 16 and you’ll find signs and bunting!

🏃‍♂️ We’ll be offering different activities as well as the favourites - returning families are very welcome and we look forward to welcoming new faces too!

💡 More info to follow so please ‘like’ our page and share with other families who might enjoy joining us - the more 'Wild Souls' we can welcome to the woods, the better!! 🙏✨

Have a lovely weekend all,
See you in the Woods!

Tori & Team 🌳🐾💚

How do we stay safe when we play in the woods?

We use all our senses to take in our surroundings, and follow the Take Care Agreement...

"Take care of YOU
Take care of ME
Take care of everything that you SEE!"

At normal small group sessions we have a little intro that uses play to highlight safety around fire, tools & sticks...

We won't have fire and tools today because of drop in format, but there will be plenty of sticks!

When making dens - if it's longer than you, it takes two! (Make sure someone is steering 😳😅)

When stick fighting, stick-to-stick contact only, agree rules first 😊⚔

Most importantly, everything's a learning opportunity and we listen & validate all feelings from everyone 🥰💚

Can't wait to hear the shrieks from the kids running around the woods this afternoon!

Join us at our FREE community play day at Tilgate with Crawley Play Service 2.30pm TODAY!

Path next to HUT 16, K2 entrance - bring drinking water and picnic blanket 🥰

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Happy Saturday! Here's a quote from our latest blog post 🥰

"Remind your child that they are doing it – they are sitting through emotion every day, facing new challenges and learning all of the time. They are amazing for that and you are amazing for supporting them through that and being their cheerleader."🌈

🌟

Read the full blog on navigating change by Nikki here 👉 https://www.jwbridgethegap.com/single-post/supporting-a-child-with-change

Come and keep COOL under the CANOPY! With gorgeous dappled sunlight and a breeze through the leaves... bring your picnic blankets and help the kids stay cool tomorrow 😍😅🧊 🌳

We're creating a dedicated mud pit so your young people can keep their hands cool creating mud faces, woodland creatures, camo stripes and anything else that inspires them!

Find us along the path behind HUT 16 at Tilgate Park (K2 entrance).

BRING DRINKING WATER (please note we do not have drinking facilities. Smith and Western Tilgate is nearby for drinks and snacks.

There are toilet facilities in the main car park - a 5 min walk from the site.

Can't wait to see you there tomorrow with Crawley Play Service !

Activities on offer:

🌸 Community Mandala - add your contribution to our giant mandala at the heart of the site
🏃‍♂️ DIY obstacle course - create your own 'Obby'!
🍏 Mini Dens - scavenge for your apple 'head', create your face, build your creature a mini den in our mini village
💩 Mud faces - forage for features (acorn nose? leaf wings?) and create a tree face
🍳 Mud kitchen - for the little ones to potter in
🌳 Woodland play / meet with new people
📖 Quiet time for you in a corner while your young person plays 💚

Evening all! Really excited to meet all the families coming to our Community Woodland Play Day next Tuesday 🤩

I'll be sharing more details over the next few days, so please share this post, like our page and put it in your calendar! ⏰📅😁

Have a lovely weekend,
Tori 🌳🐾💚

Play Service

Excited to be starting this today! I've spent the last six years grilling every Therapist and professional I've come across; dissecting & analysing reports and EHCPs; working out ways to integrate all those strategies into our sessions... and now we can consolidate it all and validate our learning 😍 🧠💡

Come and say hi at our free play sessions over the Summer with Crawley Play Service 🤩🌳🐾💚

This is why we do what we do 👇 And you don't need a diagnosis to know your young person isn't thriving... if you need a safe space for your growing human to 'be', please get in touch.

Tori 🌳 🐾 💚

https://researchfeatures.com/children-frontline-neurodivergence-school-distress/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2s_9IB4QulAGbuFUZPRt8vZR2Ul1hDyz_vonHT3nMU3I4yV5n8TNV3buQ_aem_-pqzQrPLhGZIVi-VeiCEFA

Children at the frontline — neurodivergence and school distress Cognitive neuroscientist Dr Sinéad Mullally and her team surveyed over 900 parents of children displaying school distress.

And the Seasons and Cycles keep on rolling...! We've been hibernating here at Wild Soul Woods, but not gone for good 😉💚

Hello! 😍👋

Sad not to be doing my First Aid with our usual Derby-based TheBosk and the wonderful Matt Jackson, but the ELST Team working with Circle of Life Rediscovery did an absolutely fantastic job (including full stage makeup (🙈) and I met some fabulous Sussex & Surrey based practitioners in RIngmer last week...

Most of you will know, we've been slowly spreading our roots and nurturing our shoots this past year, both personally & professionally.

We're gradually emerging - with Woods in both Derbyshire & Sussex! - and more passionate than ever about what we're doing 💚

As the pieces fall into place, I'm looking forward to sharing new projects and faces with you over the next few months, as well as a huge welcome back hug from the folk you already know 🥰

Thank you Wild Souls for all your support over the last year 🙏

Stay wild!

Tori 🌳🐾💚

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/oct/26/the-best-apps-for-nature-lovers-from-identifying-birdsong-to-tracking-lions

The best apps for nature lovers – from identifying birdsong to tracking lions Phones often get the blame for distracting users, but technology can also be a powerful way to connect with the natural world

https://derbyperegrines.blogspot.com/p/our-webcams.html

If anyone's following our Derby Peregrines, we have babies on the way! one of four eggs hatched already 💚

Thank you Dominique for sharing!! x

Our Webcams *Derby Peregrines – Nest Cam 1* *Derby Peregrines – Nest Cam 2* We now have two nest cameras on the side of Derby Cathedral's tower. A...

THIS SATURDAY! We will be joining RSPB , WWF and The National Trust on their WILD WEEKENDER!

Our kids will be learning about things we can proactively do to encourage nature 'back in' to our woods.

We'll be using hanging baskets to try and grow some wildflowers, as well making seed balls to throw into the wild! For those who like a more practical project, we will be making bug & bee houses to tuck away within the trees.

"Nature is essential to all our lives. It provides the food we eat, the air we breathe, and a home for the precious wildlife on our doorsteps. Devastatingly, 1 in 7 of the UK’s wildlife species is at risk of extinction. By taking part in the Wild Weekender, you’ll be joining a community across the UK that want to make a difference."

Join us this Saturday:

https://bookwhen.com/wildsoulwoodscic

(If anyone has any peat-free compost or native wildflower seeds or plants they can spare to help with this ongoing project, we would be very grateful! T x)

You can find out more about how to get involved by following any of the pages tagged in this post and accessing the schedule of live events! It looks really good :)

Simple pleasures for our Wild Souls this weekend... Forage. Fire. Food. 🤘💚

Happy Saturday all!!

I'm so excited to have our Saturday Wild Ones back in the woods today after our long break 🙏😍

Not only have the Bluebells (finally!) joined us, but there is an absolutely magical OCEAN of beautiful white Wood Anenomes which I can't wait for them to 'discover' 🤔😉🌸

So much is changing for us right now, but the important things stay the same...

🌿 Toasting snacks
🌿 Hot chocolate
🌿 Unlimited cold drinks
🌿 Fire!
🌿 Cargo net, hammocks, swing (new swing!)
🌿 Digging / construction zone
🌿 Den building
🌿 Raft / boat building
🌿 Crafts
🌿 Group games
🌿 Quiet time / meditation
🌿 Anything they can dream up!!

And throughout the whole session of play, they will be

🥳 Making risk assessments with our support
🥳 Learning about & naming the natural world
🥳 Building up their resilience
🥳 Using their bodies
🥳 Problem solving
🥳 Using their emotional intelligence
🥳 Being creative
🥳 Navigating sharing / resources

And just BEING in a beautiful Woodland space, with nature bursting into life all around them 💚

They'll feel amazing after they've been, they always do 🙏🌿💚

Join us!

6yrs +
£10 session including drinks, snacks & all craft materials
2-4pm
Derby

https://bookwhen.com/wildsoulwoodscic

Excuse all the image reworks 🙈😆

Was so happy to discover I didn't have to start from scratch! 🎉

Also just realised I haven't even posted a single pic from our awesome Holiday club 😮

(I'm much happier in the woods with the kids than doing this stuff lol🌳😉)

While I'm here - our Saturdays are back! Our after school clubs are back! And the next holiday club dates for the diary are Tues, Wed & Thur in half-term... SAVE THE DATES!!

(Home Ed groups, bear with me!! I'm juggling day times so watch this space 💚)

You can book Sats on the link below 👇

Mondays will be up by the end of the week , as will half term 👍

Thanks for your patience all, more to come soon!!

Take Care
Tori 🌳🐾💚

https://bookwhen.com/wildsoulwoodscic

Early morning start at the fabulous Alter Rock... (they've kindly donated 100s of metres of rope for our projects🥰💚)

Prepping for our Easter Egg Hunt with a difference! We'll meet some bird friends and their beautiful REAL eggs... Hide them ourselves and make some nature maps... And finish off the hunt with a chocolate egg for every child! 💚

Angela Hanscom is a Pediatric Occupational Therapist and founder of TimberNook. In her fantastic Ted Talk, “The REAL reason children fidget — and what we can do about it" she argues that children are not getting enough movement throughout the day. She says that children should be playing outside as soon as they get home from school. Angela argues "twenty minutes of movement a day is not enough! They need hours of play outdoors in order to establish a healthy sensory system and to support higher-level attention and learning in the classroom."

You can watch her Ted Talk here: www.ted.com/talks/angela_hanscom_the_real_reason_children_fidget_and_what_we_can_do_about_it

This! We can help 👍 Emotional literacy is at the heart of everything we do 🤎💚🤎💚🤎💚🤎💚

Endless opportunities to talk through emotions, from anxieties & fears, through sadness & anger to over zealous expressions of joy!! We have the space, the time, the inclination - and we really, really care 🥰

Our expectations of our kids can be so incredibly unfair. They are learning everything. It is our job to teach and guide. Emotions are hard to negotiate. Adults often find it hard, so why do we expect kids to know?

www.thetherapistparent.com

Sneak preview of our Easter Holiday Club prep!!

These beautiful 'Easter egg' Spring offerings need, well, eggshells 🙈😅 (well done Tracey Marinelli for the monster collection effort!)

And our awesome neighbour Dave has been hard at work making these rope ladders for some new climbing action... We're thinking rope bridges?! 🤘

The bluebells are poised... and Julie, myself & the team are working hard behind the scenes to get our new sessions up and running 💚🙌

Please follow the link to book your place on our Holiday club next week, and big thank you in advance for all shares!

https://bookwhen.com/toriswoodlandadventures

Take care
Tori 🌳🐾💚

Thanks as always to our amazing team of volunteers! 🙏🙏🙏

EEEEEEK!!! We did it! After an amazing couple of years, Tori's Woodland Adventures has evolved!!

Huge, huge thank yous to all the incredible folk who are making this dream a reality. Little did I realise back in Summer 2020 that we would create something so precious and so needed.

I started this Adventure as a means to an end for my own little gang, to keep us mentally healthy and keep some pennies dribbling in. With the unwavering support of the fabulous Julie Tozer we discovered a whole new world.

Turns out there's an awful lot of us out there struggling, especially families with kids whose needs aren't being met by the education system - and isolated adults struggling on their own.

You are NOT ALONE!

Over the next few weeks we will introduce our growing team and more details about what Wild Soul Woods CIC will be able to offer.

It won't just be my voice online and you'll meet some new faces in the Woods too 🥰

We have BIG plans and BIGGER dreams, so give us a shout if you'd like to be involved!

We are currently planning our first sessions for children who don't attend school on Tuesday mornings, and we also have our last Easter Holiday sessions as 'Tori's Woodland Adventures coming up, so watch this space 👀

At some point we will be changing all the names, and I am NOT a FB expert lol, so bear with us through the changes...

Thank you for all your support over the last couple of years.... And here's to NEW beginnings!! 🥂

Take care and have a fabulous day
Tori 🌳🐾💚

Easter Holiday Club Bookings:

https://bookwhen.com/toriswoodlandadventures

I love this time of year... So much hope and just perfect for fresh starts and new beginnings 😉💚🌞🌿🌼🪷 wishing you all a happy Equinox! xx

All of this, this is how we support child mental health, both proactively and when they’re experiencing challenging times.

We validate, listen, empathise, understand their perspective is their truth.

You don’t have to fix it.

At times where you’re scared for your child and your worries are escalating bring it back to the facts, the moment…and this 🌈💚

🌳🔥 Important (quick) update - please read! 🐾💚 -

🌳🔥 Important (quick) update - please read! 🐾💚 It is with a very heavy but hopeful heart that I need to let you know that we have suspended all sessions this half-term.

Another fabulous afternoon of adventures yesterday! (too busy for any decent photo taking 😬)

12 kids, 4 adults, a dog, a rabbit and several woodland critters 😁💚

Huge thank you to one of our cherished regular Adventurers Mariam ( May El Sayed) for treating us to a visit from Lola the RABBIT! We loved petting her and chatting about all things rabbit for a nod to the Chinese New year...

The cinnamon apples were amazing, the fire blazing and the kids fabulous 🥰

Thanks as always to the wonderful Julie for her support and graft!! (the cups seem to magically wash themselves 🤔😍😘)

See you next week!

T 🌳 🐾 💚

We 💚 children who challenge 😁 the curious questioners, the righteous fighters for justice, the 'PDAers' that know their minds...

We love walking the magical journey of self-discovery beside them... Sharing emotional regulation, witnessing the joy of social connection on their own terms, and being prepared to be led by them... At their pace, in their own direction and for their own purpose...

And we're here for you & your families 🥰 because - while these traits of curiosity, justice-seeking & self-determination are fundamentally important when we're adults... being fabulous, magical and awesome as a child is sometimes just a little bit exhausting - for everyone 😉🙈😴🙃😘😘😘

We did this, and my kids turned out….

Parenting is rife with claims of causation. ‘We didn’t allow our kids screens, and so they love reading books and do really well at school’. ‘We took them camping from birth, and so they love going on long walks and climbing mountains’. Even ‘We’ve been gentle parents since birth and so it’s never occurred to them to hit other people’.

All said, no doubt, in innocence. These parents really do believe that they’ve created these behaviours and attitudes in their children, by their parenting practices.

And so they are seemingly deaf to the judgemental flip side of these statements. Usually unspoken but there nonetheless. ‘Maybe your child hits because you weren’t gentle enough’, ‘Maybe your child hates school because you bought her an iPad’ or ‘Maybe your child won’t leave the house because you haven’t insisted on enough camping’. Sometimes they say cheerily ‘We just don’t give them the option!’ as if you told your kids that one option in life was to be unhappy at school, or not to enjoy walks in nature.

Some parents get kids who fall in with their expectations, and so they can happily go through life, thinking that it was all down to them. They showed the children what they expected, and the children complied.

Then there are other parents whose children defy their expectations. Who make it clear right from early on that parenting is something which children allow - or don’t allow - their parents to do to them. Who show their parents that children make parents as much as parents make children.

These children sometimes turn their parents’ lives upside down. All the assumptions they had are swept aside. It turns out that the neatly planned out life with the children happily skipping to the local school will not be happening, and instead you’re on a different path, one which you have to chart for yourself. The road maps don’t apply. Annoyingly, others will frequently ask you why you didn’t just stick to the original blueprint and take life easy. To which you can only sigh and wonder if they really want to know.

Parenting isn’t something you do to children. It’s something you do with children. It happens in the relationship and the children have as big a part to play as the adults. The parents who are lucky enough to have children who show them this find it out, and they discover that it’s time to question everything.

And that’s when the magic starts. When a child arrives who challenges everything their parents had thought to be true - and the parents step up to the challenge.

Photo Juliane Lieberman, under Unsplash.

Can't wait for our Saturday session tomorrow! Last time kids requested 'Chinese New year' related crafts plus sweet cinnamon apples....

I'm hoping we can create a giant dragon out of the beautiful leaf colours still carpeting the woods... So watch this space!

As it's the year of the RABBIT 🐰 we're going to share what we know about our fluffy friends... Both wild and pets 💚

Of course, as always we're child-led... So best laid plans... We may end up bridge building or making charcoal... Who knows?! 🙈 😂 💚

We're pretty full tomorrow now but spaces available on 4 & 11 Feb...

Also two days half term Adventures available to book now 😍

https://bookwhen.com/toriswoodlandadventures

Building resilience through risky play, emotional literacy & nature connection 🌳💚🌳💚🌳