37 shadows listening to children’s stories from the woods

37 Shadows

Listening to children’s stories from the woods Deb Wilenski

Cambridge Curiosity and Imagination (CCI) is a not for profit organisation based in the East of England that has been working creatively with communities since 2002. Skilled artists lead our carefully designed programmes.

We enable children to be natural creative explorers and encourage adults to reclaim these skills for themselves.

Deb Wilenski is inspired by the work of the pre-schools and infant-toddler centres of Reggio Emilia, the woodland nurseries of Europe and Scandinavia, and by projects which value children as makers of culture and meaning.

Sometimes you need stories as much as you need food and water.

Sometimes you need stories to see what happens next.

Sometimes the place you need to go to. find stories is the forest – where old stories live and new stories are born.

Sometimes you just need to start listening well for stories to begin‌

The stories in this book were collected over a 16 week project, during which four classes of three and four year olds from Histon Early Years Centre, made eight half day visits to their local woods in Homefield Park.

CCI worked in collaboration with the children’s usual educators and a group of parent volunteers, to support the children’s free exploration of the woods and to help extend the fascinations that emerged..

We were not looking for stories to begin with.

But one of our core values was listening, and when we started to listen with concentration we were amazed at what there was to hear.

We listened carefully to the particular words children were using.

We listened to children imagining, investigating, speculating, explaining.

We listened to children make and remake and wonder about meaning.

And we listened to more than words.

We listened to the way children moved.

We listened to their fast running and energetic exploration.

We listened to their quiet stopping and inhabiting of places.

When we began to collect the stories children were telling and read them aloud to start and end the woods sessions, we listened to children listening.

You could have heard a pin drop or a monster roar.

They were fascinated by each other’s stories, and authorship spread like wildfire.

The following pages offer a collection of some of these stories. There is only room for a few but you can find more on the project blog at: www.ccifootprints.org.uk

The First Stories

Ruby

I’ve been to holiday and I’ve been lost so I have to find my parents.

I didn’t get lost like that. But I did. But somebody did. I must find them straight away – otherwise I be so frustrated.

I hope I find them otherwise I be so sad.

I like going to the woods and I like going with my friends.

And I like going to my parents’ house, and I like being in the whole garden.

And I love my friends.

On her third visit to the woods Ruby asks if she can borrow my notebook. I realise she is speaking at the same time as writing in it and I ask what the writing is saying. I’m intrigued to hear two stories of losing and finding, danger and safety. Both are beautifully, lyrically expressive: the story of being lost is full of ambiguity, changes, hesitation. The story of safety is sure and certain. These two short stories wake me up – make me realize that these children are already exploring the kinds of stories that have lived in the woods a long time.

These are small stories engaging with big ideas.

Danger and the unknown – Greg’s stories.

Once upon a time Ruby and me went out in the woods in the night and we saw a shadow in the bushes and it was a dinosaur. And we ran away as fast as we could and the dinosaur didn’t know, so we pressed the button – and we went home.

And the dinosaur smashed the window, and we went under my cover and the dinosaur couldn’t find us so he went back to the bush in the wood.

Once upon a time a boy - called Greg - went to the woods at night, and he saw thirtyseven shadows…

Greg

Someone went to the woods in the night – called Greg - and he saw a shadow in the woods, and then he saw a skeleton.

Mapping the emergence of story-making in the woods, I’m struck by the generative power of Greg’s first narratives. Beginning straight after Ruby’s stories, and picking up some of her interest in danger, they are told clearly and expressively, with the smile of someone who has found his voice, is being listened to, and is about to say something scary...

But just as significantly, they are open, generous stories, inviting and inspiring others to join in. In fact many of the children picked up phrases or important words form Greg’s stories to use in their own: the darkness of night when you can’t really tell what things are, the rich possibilities of the ‘shadow’, the big ideas of danger and the unknown.

Ruby

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Ruby and she went for a walk in the woods. She saw a shadow and it was in the bushes coming out and it was a big dinosaur, and she ran and ran through the woods – she needed to find her way home.

She was lost in the woods, but she saw something in the bushes. It was her mummy.

James

Once upon a time there was a mummy and a little boy called James, and they went into the woods, and they saw a shadow. It was something out of the bushes. It was a dinosaur. And they found a pointy stick and they made a big hole. And then they put him in it, and they put it all over him.

And then he was gone.

And we never found him.

She saw a shadow and it was a dragon.

And then when I went close to the dragon I spat fire at the dragon and the dragon spat fire at me. And then the dragon ran away.

Once upon a time there was a little girl called Emily and a dragon came and he breathed fire at me and I blew fire at him and then he became a kind dragon and we went to a lake.

There was a group of story-makers who built their tales around friendliness, familiar domestic routines, and everyday life.

The Stories That Came After Emily

Not everyone was interested in dangerous adventures and high action drama. Emily told a story which began as a narrative of defeating danger but transformed into a tale of friendship:

Evie

Once upon a time a mouse maybe went into a deep dark wood and maybe climbed up a tree…. and then climbed down and walked all the way down the road and all the way down the path – he was going to the shops to get some bread…

And a nut, some milk, and then go and pay.

He lives in a tree and he went home with the food in the bag.

He lived happily ever after.

Evie found the woods difficult to begin with, felt the cold, and missed her best friend. She spent maybe half an hour telling this story to Jeanette and illustrating it in the notebook. It was important for Evie to feel comfortable.

They sat on a rug in the afternoon sun, in a sheltered homely space, with no hurry, near to another group of children but not part of their play. The story opened an imaginative way into the woods for Evie, that had not been possible for her to find through physical exploring. Jeanette’s calm, patient, interested listening was crucial.

A Story From The Sky

We wanted to give children more time to tell stories back in their classroom, and a number of them had speculated about what might live very high up in the trees. Working with an overhead projector we offered images of the sky, the trees with their shadows, and the ground. The sky image seemed to extend imaginations into a new element and allowed Ellis to tell the ‘biggest’ story yet.

Ellis

Once there was someone who walked on the sky. He went bang. A giant came from the sky. He fell down the clouds, then he said ‘Fee fi fo fum, I smell the blood on an Englishman. I will slice him into a slice of bread.’

There was a birdy birdy in the sky trying to kill the giant. ‘You can’t catch me – I’m the king of the castle’ said the giant. Then the birdy went flying up in the sky and down on the ground here. The birdy killed the giant with his gun. Then there were three birdy birdies. Then a big birdy birdy came. The giant fell down onto the floor.

The End. That was a very big story.

Stories From The Hole In The Tree

There were some places in the park where story followed story. They were often places that were not totally visible or defined, ambiguous places, where the imagination could take hold. The hole in the tree was one of these. It was big enough to be seen from far away, but too high to be looked into easily. It was consequently a place of great speculation…

Alice, Ellis, Katie, Evie, Claudia, and Avni

Alice: I can hear the tree singing.

Ellis: Did you know, there is a fox living in that hole?

Katie: Birds live in there with sticks and leaves.

Evie: I’ve found a treasure chest.

Claudia: All of these haven’t but only this tree have.

Avni: There’s a spider’s web – there’s a fly – it looks fantastic!

The birds are tweeting.

Can you hear a parrot?

Tom’s Tiger

Tom had been tracking a tiger since day one in the woods. On the last day he found a dead bird in the hole in the tree…

Tom

Oh there’s a dead bird in there, I think the tiger bited him and now he’s dead…he’s not in there. I think he must be looking for more food. Have you seen that tiger?...quick come this way, follow my lead. I think he’s over there. No Evan he’s not there. I think he must be back at his home. Evan you know there’s a dead white bird in there.

I’m going to see how the tiger is getting on.

That tiger hasn’t eaten his food yet. If I see that tiger I’m going to chase after him. I can see his footprints, he’s probably in a cave.

I’ve made a cross so he knows where to go.

Tom, drawing his tiger in the classroom continued:

I couldn’t catch him. I was getting too tired.

It’s a spiky tiger. He’s going to walk on the green grass. He’s running up the hill in the park. At the top it’s all muddy. That’s dirt at the top. That’s where he pops in. It has leaves there to make him comfy…I wish I could be a tiger because I like to go in holes and hunt all day …

Stories From Stones One group of children was fascinated by digging, and by the stones that came out of the ground. Tom called them Sharkies, and Ruby told this story about them:

Ruby

These are all the sharkies, and they are lost forever in the deep dark woods. And there’s a big bad wolf, and he eats them. Then he goes to sleep and the sharkies come out of the big bad wolf’s mouth, and they go to the big bad wolf’s house, knock on the door, and he puts the sharkies into the bed. They waked up and I taked them home, and I still got them at home now. This is my story and I was bigger and I went home all by myself.

And the big bad wolf says sorry.

Ben and JJ spoke about other creatures:

Ben and JJ

They are the neeps…they live underground, they have heads that go up like this (stretching their necks up)… they bounce up out of the holes… and they are small with spiky hair.

They make tunnels.

Running Stories

Some children wanted to run fast and range far to the very limits of the woods. Their running was skilful, purposeful, often social, and persistently energetic. As the weeks went by we began to hear and see stories in their wide circling movements, and in the ways they were choosing to run through and around the woods.

The lion in the woods

Jamie

Once upon a time there was a scary lion.

He lived in a cave.

A lion cave.

He liked eating grass, and saying RAAAH! Jamie heard a noise.

A lion noise. Jamie was scared and went running away.

The magic trick In the tangled prickly parts of the woods multiple paths crisscross and curve through bushes and trees making invisible places in-between. Alex turned his knowledge of running the wood’s winding paths into a magic trick.

Alex

Do you want to see my magic trick?

He pointed to a place for us to wait, running in a big circle and quickly disappearing. Then, like magic, Alex reappeared back where he started. The magic spread. Tilda, Toby and Eli invented their own magic tricks, with additions and variations.

Alex drew a brilliantly simple illustration:

Alex

That’s me, and that’s me, and that’s my magic trick. That’s Toby’s magic trick and that’s Tilda’s magic trick.

More children became interested in Alex’s magic trick, and in the place where it happened - they talked about going to the Magic Trick. Toby changed the trick again, taking a path through the undergrowth, which Alex called a ‘shortcut’.

Alexander told Kate the new trick is like a circle and a circle inside. He drew it in her notebook in the woods. A group of children filmed the trick as they ran it, and mapped their tricks on paper.

We asked if anyone had tricks at their house and Toby told us:

Toby

You have to only open a magic door near my home – do you know – I have a secret passageway and it actually gets out to the other side of the world.

The story of the magic tricks is one of skilled orientation in a complex physical environment; it is also a story of theatre, and illusion, a story of differentiated knowledge between the magic runner and his audience. It became for many of the children a story of graphics, an experiment and exploration in lines and diagrams. And throughout it remained a story of shared imagination, of magic and power.

Imagination is the hard centre of human thinking. Children imagine in all areas of their thinking: in play, in problem solving, in representing their understanding of the world.

When children imagine they build on all previous experience. When children imagine they make sense of big ideas. Rich et al 2008 1 Running into more magic In the same group as the Magic Trick, another game of fast running began on the hill near the gate. It became the longest story of all.

It’s big, isn’t it? It’s the wicked witch’s tree.

The wicked witch is coming! …the horrible witch Laura – there’s an emergency – cos of the wicked witch. Come on – let’s hide!

The following week the witch is joined by the fairies:

A stone becomes significant...

This is a magic stone. Where will the fairies find it? … They will magic it with stars and it will sparkle and it will turn into a real star and it will go up, up, up in the sky.

Holly and Tilda

There is a big tree and fairies live in it in the dark … just right here. And when it’s morning they don’t go outside.

I can follow their magic from behind.

Holly and Laura

The fairies will magic themselves to find somewhere to hide from the wicked witch and the bears ...

Raaah!

That’s the wicked witch. Her eyes, her... mouth, lots of her nails.

New characters arrive from pirate play in the woods, and from drawing in the classroom; the scary fairy, and Harry the dragon who will fly everyone to China. At first they have clear relationships based on their essentially good or wicked natures.

The wicked witch has to be far away from the fairy. The pirates can be near the witch because they are also bad – they steal and fight.

The dragon has to be on the fairy’s side. The scary fairy has been too near the witch and that is why she has become scary.

But this is a story in which children are exploring and re-casting the morals of characters, asking big questions about good and bad, honour and wickedness, existence and nonexistence. The pirates are especially interesting because their badness can be put to good use:

Sam, Alex TF, Tom and Henry

Sam: I can see the pirates.

Alex T-F: Over there.

Tom: They are up the tree.

Henry: The witch can turn the fairy into a frog. The pirates are going to fight with the wicked witch.

Alex T-F: Cos the fairies are not going to die.

As the story develops the children begin to read signs of it in the woods‌

Mysterious pink marks have appeared on some of the trees.

Many children in the class become involved in the story: there are authors, illustrators, listeners, questioners, children who elaborate, children who exaggerate. Harry becomes especially interested in the changeability of characters referring to an index of good and bad. He is able to voice subtle thinking around these opposites, and link them to other pairings that have fascinated this class from the beginning: visible and invisible, daytime and night-time, ambiguity and clarity, truth and trickery.

Holly, Laura, Tilda. Lexie and Jeanette

Holly: Let me think – who could have done it?

Laura: Here’s another one. The wicked witch might have left them there.

Tilda: The pink spots have gone!

Laura: I can see some pink spots. I didn’t see that one last time.

It might be just paint. …

Lexie: The wicked witch did them.

Jeanette: How do you know?

Lexie: I saw her go past. She was red.

Harry

Harry about the wicked witch: She says she’s good when she’s invisible. And when she’s not invisible she’s bad.

In the end the two stories of the wicked witch and the magic trick meet:

Tilda, Harry and Holly

Tilda: The pirates hurt her so she ran away really fast to these woods.

Harry: And she vanished Tilda: So no-one could find her Holly: She magicked But the end is also negotiable:

Tilda: But don’t worry she’s still coming next week. She stays up all night and all day, playing in her wicked bedroom. She doesn’t have any toys. She just casts her wicked spells.

And that’s the end.

Jamie, in his first weeks in the woods was extremely fast paced, running from area to area, covering most of the park. We tried to keep up and listen to what he was saying as he ran, which was usually about finding the others, being lost or looking for someone missing. Despite this sense of urgency and danger, Jamie himself did not seem worried, and although he seemed to be seeking out the rest of the group, when Jamie met them he would usually change direction and continue running on alone. Sometimes other children tried to follow Jamie, but couldn’t keep pace or didn’t understand his personal quest.

Ellis, for instance, asked me, Why is Jamie always going in circles?

The Story That Didn’t Want To End

There have been glimpses of stories just beginning in the woods, and there have been stories with important endings. There was one story which had very assertively No, no end. A story that wanted to carry on. Here is Kate’s account of it:

Over the weeks in the woods that followed, Jamie introduced other quests into his movement around the woods, such as looking for treasure and one day suggested that there might be a monster.

Jamie

The monster came from the gate. He opened it. He gone back in the woods. Back all the way in. He lives in the woods.

He eats children. Other children. Not Jamie, me and Ben and Tom. I need someone to be in the monster’s mouth. Girls be in the monster’s mouth.

He’s not a friendly monster…

The monster booed down on the bells and he rattled the leaves and everything from the woods. And he got bigger and bigger and he boomed down on the seaweed.

It was yucky. He got all of it off.

He ate it all up.

Raaaaaaa.

By the end of the project Jamie’s story had grown, and seemed as if it might need an ending. But Jamie was adamant that in fact it must carry on…

Jamie showed Joe his hiding place. They had to stay there a long time, because the monster was not there. It had to come in through the gate. And Jamie said, Abracadabra! and the monster was there!

Ready Joe? said Jamie. Yeah, said Joe. You go that way and I go this way.

Joe and Jamie were the biggest. They were really strong. They were the goodies. They locked all the monsters into the baddie cages.

Kate: Was that the end?

Jamie: No. No End.

Jamie

Once upon a time Jamie and Ellis and Joe and Amarah went to a dark place with footprints.

They had to be noisy so the monster would hear them, so they said, RAAAH! They had giant sticks for whacking monsters – really scary monsters. The monsters tried to take the sticks away because they wanted to whack Jamie and Joe. Jamie banged the monsters and Joe shot them with the highest stick.

Not the End Long before I wrote stories, I listened for stories. Listening for them is something more acute than listening to them. I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know that stories are there. Eudora Welty, 1985 2 The stories collected here are of course only the beginning. But to me, even months later, the learning in them is already immense.

Children became expert listeners to the stories that lived in the woods – discovering narratives in paths, hollows, tree-tops, stones.

They used stories as invitations, extending familiar friendships and encountering new ones.

Stories enabled children to explore the ambiguities of their experience, the big concerns – in stories they could be both big and small, scared and courageous, wicked and virtuous, lost and found.

And if they couldn’t get near enough to immensity, they made it appear: Jamie said, Abracadabra! and the monster was there!

Children were fascinated by each other’s stories, recognising their authorship and giving each story genuine, generous time and attention. They revelled in being scared, surprised, entertained, and comforted. They recognised that stories have a beginning, middle, and end – sometimes; that they have a crisis and resolution – sometimes. And that any of these rules is also made for breaking.

That stories are a potent conversation between knowledge and invention.

Tom

I didn’t know they’d got that many legs (drawing his twelve legged tiger) but I want him to have that many.

We would like to thank all the children who joined us in the woods. Also the parent volunteers and all the staff, in particular Kate Cowan who co-ordinated the project, took the children’s storying to the heart of her classroom practice, and wrote the account of Jamie’s monster story; Jeanette who collected much of the wicked witch story in the woods and at the centre; and Wendy whose detailed observations form the basis for Tom’s tiger story.

And finally Mary Jane Drummond and Ruth Sapsed who were invaluable in helping to shape the project and this collection of stories.

Greenfinch Room: Owen, Alexander, Thomas, Laura, Harry, Hattie, Holly, Lewis, Finlay, William, Lexie, Alexander, Luke Louis, Eliza, Alex, Henry, Samuel, Tilda, Toby, Avni, Jamie, Kaede, Riley, Jayden, Amelia, Thea, Jake, Zachary, Rubens, Elias, Cleo, Luca, Ciaran, Anya, Joshua, Evie, Claudia, Lachie, Jake, Samuel Robin Room: Samuel , Ella, Jasmine, Arran, Benjamin, Lily, Divyanshi, Matthew, Ruby, Tom, Billy, Trudy, Kara, Daisy, Joshua, Evan, Esme, Elise, JJ, Benjamin, Alice, James, Ellen, Alfie, Paolo, Anna, Katie, Thomas, Harry, Ben, William, Ellis, Evie, Benjamin, Harry, Jamie, Emily, Ruby, Libby, Greg Little Owls Eli, Amara, Vivek, Danielle, Gabriel, Sammy, William, Joe Ethan 1 Learning: what matters to children, D. Rich, M J Drummond & C Myer, 2008 2 One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty, 1985

CCI’s vision is for communities that play, learn and work together throughout the year in their local green space. Parents/carers and educators determine in what way and how frequently their young children access these natural spaces. Footprints projects work directly with these adults and children to develop their capacity and confidence to engage meaningfully in the outdoors.

For more information visit: www.ccifootprints.org.uk

email: info@cambridgecandi.org.uk

Graphic design: Susanne Jasilek

www.cambridgecandi.org.uk