Your outdoor calendar: May

ACTIVITY

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

The elder is one of the most valuable plants to have in an early years garden. It provides abundant, fragrant flowers in spring, nutritious berries for birds in autumn and nesting places for them year round, plus the branches can be used in many craft activities. It has many mythical stories associated with it and is fast-growing, so even if you harvest lots of branches for play, the elder will happily bounce back the following year.

Making your own elderflower cordial is not difficult and provides a superb STEM opportunity for young children – although be aware that some stages of this process are for children to observe rather than do themselves. I use the BBC Good Food recipe, but there are many versions online.

Resources:You’ll need small bowls for children to collect elderflowers in; scissors or secateurs for you to cut tougher stems; a large bowl for soaking and sorting elderflowers; a large saucepan; citric acid; sugar; lemons; a large colander; a tea towel or muslin square; airtight bottles; a funnel and a ladle. If you have a fire circle, you can boil the water in a large cast iron lidded pan (a Dutch oven) – I do at least one batch of cordial on the fire each year.

• Before collecting the elderflowers, prepare all the equipment you’ll need. Citric acid in powder form is inexpensive and can be bought in most pharmacies.
• Collect your flowers early in the day, when they are heavy with delicious nectar. Later in the day, insects will have raided much of this sweetness.
• Swish the flower heads gently through the bowl of cold water to dislodge any tiny bugs. Pull as many of the stems off as possible, leaving just flower heads.
• In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in boiling water and allow the liquid to ‘reduce’ to a thicker syrup, then remove from the heat and add the flowers, slices of lemon, lemon zest and the citric acid. Stir it well with a wooden spoon, cover the pan and leave overnight.
• The next day, line a colander with the muslin square (or tea towel) and place it over your clean large bowl. Gently pour the cooled syrup through the muslin and colander, allowing it to drip slowly through to the bowl.
• Sterilise your bottles in a microwave or dishwasher and pour the cordial into them using the funnel and ladle. The cordial can be diluted and drunk straight away or kept in the fridge for four to six weeks (but I bet it won’t last that long!).

Don’t forget to record the process and add it to your Our Garden in 2021 floorbook.

STORY TO SHARE

Slow Down: Bring Calm to a Busy World. 50 Nature Stories by Rachel Williams, illustrated by Freya Hartas (Magic Cat Books, 2020); ISBN-13: 978-1916180512

Make the most of your story circle with this delightful compilation of stories based on natural occurrences – each of which is slowed right down in order to be enjoyed at a snail’s pace. The author presents factual text about each natural phenomenon as well as ‘fictionalised’ captions to go with the illustrations, which are both whimsical and accurate.

MAINTENANCE

IT’S TIME TO…

• Regularly mow pathways and margins through longer grass. Even if your grass management programme is set up for wildflowers, you’ll still need to mow around path edges or mow through to allow children to easily access all areas.
• Plant out seedlings that have been enjoying the warmth of windowsills or greenhouses – do it right away if you haven’t already so they don’t become too comfortable indoors.
  
  

NATURE WATCH

LOOK OUT FOR…

Butterflies: Springtime butterflies are magical, and children never fail to be enchanted by them. The first species to be spotted are usually brimstones, easily identifiable by their bright yellowy-green (male) or greeny-white (female) wings. Their wings look a little like cabbage leaves. Red admirals, with their distinctive red stripe and white dots, are also early to emerge from hibernation. Visit www.butterfly-conservation.org for masses of information and pictures – print off and laminate pictures of the butterflies children could spot – or buy a pocket-sized guide such as the Collins Gem.

Fungi: Not all fungi species are autumn specialists, and the rubbery layers of the ‘jelly ear’ fungi can be spotted on elder and other shrubs or tree trunks during May. Fungi-spotting is very rewarding – and an opportunity to remind children that they inspect fungi with their eyes, not their fingers. Order a few ‘jewellers’ loupes’ (search online – they are inexpensive) to allow children to really view fungi up close and personal.

Wildflowers: Take mark-making materials out into the garden and encourage children to find as many different flowers as they can. Draw, paint or collage the flowers for a springtime display indoors. Talk about why the flowers are all so different in size, shape and colour. Which ones seem to be the most popular with insects, and why might that be?

A NEW PROJECT

STORY AND FIRE CIRCLE

A story and fire circle project can be as simple or as complex as you have the time, expertise and space for. It needn’t cost much to build, and will provide many hours of use for stories, circle games, collaborative play, art projects and much more. These are suggestions for making a very basic fire circle suitable for up to 20 children to safely sit around – if fires are still a step too far for your setting, just build the log seating.

For a basic fire circle, you’ll need:

• A patch of dirt or grass without significant overhead branches. It will need to be at least 4m in diameter.
• A set of very large, heavy logs that will function as seating in the ‘outer’ circle. For a 4m circle, you’ll need around 13m of logs to make a ring. In order to prevent these from rolling, ask a chainsaw operative to slice along the whole length of each log to create flat surfaces for them to rest on the ground.
• A set of smaller logs that function as the ‘inner’ circle. If the diameter of the inner circle is around 1.5m, you’ll need approximately 5m of logs to make the ring. Over time, and with heat, these will begin to disintegrate and will need replacing to ensure the fire itself is always contained.
• For a more formal fire circle, try this approach:
• Mark out the 4m-diameter circle with rope and place six to eight very large chunks of tree trunk along the rope at equal intervals. 6 trunks will be around 2m apart. These provide sturdy bases for the seating.
• Lay two planks of decking board, with a slight gap between them, on each tree trunk base, until the whole ‘circle’ is created. Adjust the position to minimise finger traps – you could angle the ends of the boards so they fit tightly together.
• Screw them into place with long brass wood screws.
• Build the ‘inner’ fire-enclosing circle as above.
• Essential fire safety equipment includes:
• A galvanised metal bucket for water, kept alongside the fire when lit. Always put the fire out completely.
• A fire blanket and a small fire extinguisher.
• Leather welders’ gloves.
• A watertight container, kept out of children’s reach, with matches/fire steels, cotton wool, fire lighters, etc. inside.

The fire can be built straight onto the ground; I’m not going to describe the process of fire-building and management as there is much available online (try Muddy Faces), but do manage the size of the fire to ensure it is kept away from the ‘inner’ circle of logs – they will burn too if they get too hot!

Alternatively, purchase a metal fire bowl to build in or use a tripod barbecue that has a separate fire dish. My favourite Haba tripod barbecue has a removable ‘cooking arm’ and a stay-cool safety ring around the fire bowl.

RESOURCES

BEG, BUY OR BORROW…

Loose parts for outdoor play:Ask parents and the local community to hoard commonly used objects for you; for example, corks, milk bottle lids, laundry liquid ‘balls’, kitchen-roll inners. These items can be incorporated into outdoor maths play, added to the mud kitchen/lab or given to children to add challenge to scavenger hunts.

Pallets: These are easily sourced from builders’ merchants or from nearby properties having building materials delivered. Wooden pallets have a multitude of uses, so once you’ve checked for and removed the worst of the splinters, let children go wild with them. Deconstructed, the timber is perfect for construction projects – check out the ideas on my Pinterest board, Pallet Pandemonium.

LOOKING AHEAD

MAKE PLANS FOR…

• Global Outdoor Classroom Day on 20 May – find out how to share your love of outdoor learning and play at www.outdoorclassroomday.org.uk and to register your location on the global map.
• Children’s Art Week at the end of June; plan ahead for large-scale temporary artworks in the garden. Start collecting natural materials or make twig picture frames to display artworks outdoors.
• This year’s summer solstice on 21 June – explore ‘longest day’ concepts such as sun symbols, shadows and how the solstice has been celebrated throughout history.
  
  

RISK ASSESSMENT

WATCH OUT FOR…

Berries:Warmer weather in May brings out an abundance of berries – many of which look very appetising, and a small number of which can upset children’s stomachs. Remind children not to pick or eat berries unless an adult has said it’s OK to do so – this rule is worth emphasising even if you have strawberries or other easily identifiable berries, in order to prevent upset stomachs due to overindulgence!

Sunburn:We’ve all spent a great deal of time indoors over the past year, and children’s skin will be especially prone to burning even in weak sunshine. Remind parents to apply long-lasting sunscreen before children arrive and have some at hand in your outdoor first-aid kit to reapply if necessary.

‘OUR GARDEN IN 2021’

FOR THE RECORD…

Add a few pages of dried wildflowers and spring leaves to your floorbook – pick from your own garden if you can. In general, flowers should not be picked in the wild, but in practice it’s OK to take one or two, according to Plantlife UK. Press the blooms and leaves between layers of paper to dry them, or laminate them to place directly into the book. Label each, and you could also add a photograph or botanical drawing of the species next to each real example.