Wild Child: Tiny Adventure
This week at our WILD CHILD outdoor playgroup one child spent the morning picking up leaves out of the creek and placing them in a container. “They’re shivering, I want them to be warm” she told me. She was on her own adventure, the heroine to cold leaves trapped in a chilly creek.
She reminded me that while adventures can be big, like climbing a mountain; they can also be small, like saving leaves from a chilly creek. What matters is that we take a break from our everyday routine, and do something we wouldn’t otherwise do at this moment in our day. In the words of Alastair Humphreys “sometimes all you need is to climb a simple hill”. Children are amazing at noticing these opportunities.
This week embrace the Tiny Adventure, let your child draw you into the fun or look for opportunities yourself.
Take a safari in your neighbourhood or backyard. Stop and watch the tiny creepy-crawly walking across your path. What is it doing? Where is it going? You can even take turns pretending to be David Attenborough with your child and narrate what you see in your best nature commentators voice.
As you go about your day look for small chances to do things a little differently. Will you take a meal outside? Will you try to stay in the shadows as you walk around the block? Will you read your bedtime story under the stars? All you need for an adventure is to do something different than you would normally be doing.
You can have tiny adventures several times a day.
Run over the hill while everyone else walks around.
Find a quite spot and sit for a few minutes taking it in.
Stop and watch the squirrels hopping from branch to branch
Don’t forget to deliberately notice and celebrate your adventures.
At the end of your day look back at your talk about what you did together. How did you stop and step outside of your routine? What kinds of adventures did you have? What little memories did you make?
The best part of an adventure is telling the story afterward and reliving the fun.
Written by Tandy Morton WILD CHILD Outdoor Playgroup facilitator