Luscious greenery welcomed us at the Forest at Woodside National Historic Site with endless hews of green inviting the imagination. We entered the magical worlds of the woods and the pond with the respectful guidance of Dewe’igan. Imaginations soared among the giant trees taking us on journeys to the small worlds of grubs and caterpillars, and to the gigantic world of dinosaurs roaming among the bushes.
The Forest provided us with ample loose materials and the children gathered in groups engaging their creativity in creating complex shelters, problem solving as a group as their projects emerged. There were many questions about the new plants growing, about the shadows the growing, and the movement of the shadows as the wind caressed the leaves.
A group of children observed the pond wondering what we will see, and hear as we calmly gathered around. We spent some time calmly observing the Water Lillies, Duck Weeds and the tiny aquatic life hiding among the plants. Wonderment created poetic discussions about the movements, the colours, and the shapes of this tiny living ecosystem.
Being immersed in nature, taking care of our gardens provided us with opportunities to expand on our previous knowledge and our curiosity lead us to new inquiries to research. A group of children wondered about the connection among beetles and “juicy grubs”, thus we used technology to help us research the answer to the two year life cycle of the insects.
Plant recognition apps helped us in finding out names of plants as well as their origin, culinary and medicinal use, thus expanding on our Indigenous learning about Medicinal Plants. The children asked many questions about “toxic and non-toxic plants”.
As the group observed the tiny nymphs swimming among the Duck Weed they reflected on how “plants protect tiny beings, kind of like a camouflage”. We pondered as to what kind of insects will the water nymphs grow or morph into.
As we returned from our adventures in the Forest and by the Pond, we worked hard on taking care of the plants we planted around the Museum. It was inspiring to see how independent and knowledgeable the gardeners were.
The gardens and Tiny Fairy Worlds at Woodside are our way of creating safe and inviting spaces for our community. Inviting other visitors to experience belonging, wonderment, and well-being in the landscape we nurture. Please come and enjoy the beauty we created.
We are looking forward to hearing your stories. Perhaps you could create a small world, or add tiny beings, plants to our gardens and our Fairy Worlds.
É.M.
