Little Bats Learning, run and started by Elanor Gordon, is a forest school based in Breightmet, which focuses on imaginative and physical play.
The program, which is open to all ages, runs both during term-time and during the holidays, to ensure that children in the area can enjoy and be exposed to nature and fun activities.
Forest schools can be found across the country, are child-centred and support aspects of outdoor learning that are not found in schools.
They focus on learning through play and risk taking, allowing the children participating, to be free with the only rules there to keep them safe.
Little Bats Learning offers a quality service that gives children and young people in the area a chance to learn through forest-based play while developing confidence and self-esteem.
They began operating around June 2021, after becoming official in March the same year.
More recently, Little Bats has found a permanent home at The Roost at Bright Meadows.
This plot was once an area of abandoned land owned by the council.
It is located within a housing estate and has been completely transformed, now containing shelters (a poly tunnel and a 7.5m wide tepee), along with a portable toilet as well as many other resources for Little Bats Learning to be able to run true to its purpose, including a woodland area and old cable reels that are used for play.
Some sessions are also conducted within Seven Acres nature reserve, mostly for the older children.
Suitable for pre-schoolers and toddlers, along with their parents, they also work with the Bolton Start Well and work in the Oldham Family Hub, the Harvey Family Hub, Great Lever Family Hub and the Bright Meadows Family Hub, running ‘Stay and Play’ sessions.
Speaking to Elanor Gordon, she described these sessions as a “halfway point,” and that it was somewhere with a “nature input but where they’ve got the safe backup of having an indoor space as well.”
Little Bats Learning volunteers also go into schools weekly for a minimum recommended 6-8 weeks or a term. This work enables the children to improve their relationship with nature and allow their brains to develop.
Other sessions that are run through Little Bats Learning are the holiday clubs, which are four days long with one consistent group of children, meaning they get to know the other children that attend those sessions with them.
Adults have the opportunity to volunteer which allows them to develop confidence, by doing woodland management tasks, and building resources for the children, along with being there and helping out during the sessions.
As for the sessions, there are many options as to the activities which take place.
Imaginative and free play is always encouraged, along with physical play and games.
Skills, such as stick peeling and making natural dyes are demonstrated, with resources provided for the children to have a go themselves.
The main aspects are to look after yourself, others and nature, while the whole idea is regulated by boundaries which are there to keep the children safe
They are taught how to climb trees safely and also fire safety, before cooking with and using the fire.
Elanor Gordon also spoke about the overall confidence improving in the children that attend the sessions.
“Seeing the confidence and seeing how the children – sometimes when they come, they are quite scared or a bit nervous… and then it’s seeing them progress from there to really realising that they have space to explore and play and then just seeing this change in confidence – that’s probably one of my happiest moments.”
This forest school has many benefits for the children and the community that it impacts, all across the borough of Bolton.
This wonderful experience has many benefits for children of all ages, including helping improve sleep, brain development, and self-esteem.