Ever reminisced about the simple joys of childhood when a stick wasn't just a stick but a sword, a wand, or a companion on countless adventures?
In today's episode, Nicki and Vicci will unravel the hidden developmental treasures found in stick play and how adults can prioritise safety without dampening the spirit of creativity.
Listen in as Nicki and Vicci share their extensive knowledge of:
🌱 The benefits of stick play
🌱 How to find 'the perfect stick'
🌱What's a 'blood bubble' and how does it create safety
🌱 Antedotes and insights on guiding children to play responsibly
🌱How and why children must be a part of shaping the safety rules
🌱Adults roles in recognising children's emotional cues
Bringing the outdoors in can be daunting, especially in childcare settings, but it's not impossible and this episode will renew your appreciation for stick play with practical approaches to make it an enriching part of outdoor learning.
Other ways we can help you:
Ever reminisced about the simple joys of childhood when a stick wasn't just a stick but a sword, a wand, or a companion on countless adventures?
In today's episode, Nicki and Vicci will unravel the hidden developmental treasures found in stick play and how adults can prioritise safety without dampening the spirit of creativity.
Listen in as Nicki and Vicci share their extensive knowledge of:
🌱 The benefits of stick play
🌱 How to find 'the perfect stick'
🌱What's a 'blood bubble' and how does it create safety
🌱 Antedotes and insights on guiding children to play responsibly
🌱How and why children must be a part of shaping the safety rules
🌱Adults roles in recognising children's emotional cues
Bringing the outdoors in can be daunting, especially in childcare settings, but it's not impossible and this episode will renew your appreciation for stick play with practical approaches to make it an enriching part of outdoor learning.
Other ways we can help you:
We decided that it was about time that we debunk the age-old saying that sticks and stones can break my bones by proving that, with careful planning, risk assessment and collaborative play, sticks and stones not only won't break bones, but can become the building blocks of an enriching, imaginative childhood adventure. In this two-part series, we're going to have a look first at sticks and then rocks and what we have observed and learned about managing this childhood tradition. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the lands on which we work the Kabi Kabi and the Gabi Gabi people. I'd like to recognize their continuing connection to the land and waters and thank them for protecting this coastline and its ecosystems. Since time immemorial. We pay our respects to elders past, present and extend that respect to all First Nations people listening today. Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about parenting, alternative education, stepping into the wilderness, however that looks, with your family.
Speaker 2:Each week, we'll be interviewing experts that truly inspire us to answer your parenting and education questions. We'll also be sharing stories from some incredible families that took the leap and are taking the road less travelled.
Speaker 1:Wear your hosts, vicki and Nikki from Wildlings Forest School, pop in your headphones, settle in and join us on this next adventure.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Raising Wildlings podcast. Wear your hosts, nikki Farrell and Vicki Oliver, stick play. Anyone who's ever worked with children knows exactly what a battle it is to stop children playing with sticks. It's just a deep and really like it's a really natural attraction. So a lot of the schools and early years services that we've worked with have banned this form of loose parts play. But in our experience, not only is this unnecessary, but it also deprives children of that really important learning opportunity and it creates relationship conflicts as educators because we have to regularly police it.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:And that is exhausting.
Speaker 1:It is exhausting, especially when you sort of flip it around and look at the actual benefits of playing with sticks and then also come up with a plan on how you can do that safely. So I thought it would be really important for us to really highlight why we are advocates of stick play, because there are so many benefits to this amazing loose part nature like toy event, like. It's this amazing, you don't have to do anything, free, they're free, they're there, they come in lots of different shapes and sizes that can be used in so many different ways. And I think one of the great things about sticks is that they're a really great physical tool and helping to build, you know, muscles like your small developmental muscles and but also large ones as well. So carrying and maneuvering sticks, swinging them through the forest, but then also you need to be using that those fine motor skills and gripping and manipulating them in your hands as well. So they're actually a really great stepping stone if we are looking at early years in the precursor to writing.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think we often forget that. I think sometimes, as educators and teachers, we assume that you need to learn to write by writing, but actually you need to learn by to write, by developing those muscles in a really natural way first, and not a forced way, because writing isn't our natural grip. Actually, we don't use it for anything else, perhaps a paintbrush. So, yeah, we need to build those muscles in a natural way first before we can even think about picking up a pencil.
Speaker 1:And there's so many different ways in which sticks can be used and because they're so different sizes, so you could be looking at tiny, miniscule little sticks all the way up to massive big logs so you are using a variety of different techniques to hold that in the space and also being aware of where those things are in space, which is also helping to build that vestibular and also proper reception skillset and those senses, in particular, knowing where your body and the things that are an extension of your body are in space.
Speaker 2:Yeah, one of my favourite things to watch, and what I guess my favourite benefits, is the teamwork that we see when we're building cubbies and shelters. And not only that, but the creative thinking and the imagination and the role playing. You know, I don't know if you've seen that meme on Facebook where it's like this is a plastic cucumber slice.
Speaker 2:It can only be a cucumber slice, this is a stick, this can be a wand, blah, blah, blah. You know, and we see that time and time again, and these games at Wildlings in our programs will go for weeks and weeks and they'll come back and pick up right where they left off and they will just continue to play. So and it opens up opportunities for other children to come in. So it actually helps develop that socialisation and those social skills too, because sometimes children that might not be in a certain friendship group might be able to play a small part in that game or in that role play as well. So I think it's really great for that. And then the obvious conflict resolution when there's turf wars and cubbies and also in any other stick games or role plays that they're doing. So it isn't just a stick.
Speaker 1:No, it's not. And it's such a great tool for children to learn those risk assessment skills because they are often using them in group situations and there's group dynamics and so they really do have to be thinking about how do I keep myself and my friends safe, otherwise this game is going to stop and then, consequently, what often happens is that stick play gets banned because, when we actually think about it, the stick plays banned because the educators haven't gone to any effort or have thought that that could be a possibility to actually, step by step, go through how do we play with stick safely and give them an opportunity to demonstrate that they are able to do that If they really want to play with something. I find obviously this is a generalization and they're obviously different children that make this can make this more challenging, but from my experience, if children want something, they will stay within the guidelines and the rules to ensure that that play can continue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. And by doing that it brings about this empathy and awareness of others. And again, we will never progress as a society if our children don't grow up with empathy. So I think there's so many things there, and even just little things with the push for sustainability like the 2.0 framework here in the early years learning framework. We need to be out in nature to understand sustainability. We need to be able to distinguish live wood from dead wood. We need to scan the environment for a stick safely. In Australia we have snakes, so how do we do that safely? Ecological literacy what tree is that stick from? What leaves are they? When am I going to get itchy from those leaves or sap on myself? So much learning and it's a simple yeah, and just the connection to nature. I am playing in nature with something from nature and I am nature and this is my place and I belong here. So it's so important for our children to feel safe in the environment, that they're into, indoors or out.
Speaker 1:And I think that I was just thinking too. It's sometimes it's unspoken things that you learn, like if you pick up a log and it's really light, that means it's probably quite rotten and dead and so that's not going to sustain any strength. If you wanted to use that for, say, a building material like, it's very easily like some of these things that you learn that you don't actually say out loud, but there's so much understanding that you gain from your surroundings because of that sensory feedback that you're getting that tells you a little bit more about an object in your environment. So, stick like, because we use sticks as they're probably our most used part, nature play, you know thing that we find we learn that this, I feel like there's all these unsaid things about sticks the children are learning.
Speaker 2:I just thought of one as the emotional resilience as well. So if we're making baron arrows and they make the arrow too short, or they're bow snaps because they've used a thin stick, it's the oh gosh.
Speaker 2:that is upsetting, oh you must feel quite sad or frustrated or what emotion do you feel right now? And we can make another one. And it's not a failure. We're just learning and this is an experiment. So again, it just provides, like it's not just the stick. It's the cheapest, easiest, most accessible learning tool, learning resource you can find in an early year service and school.
Speaker 1:So the next step is to understand what safety considerations we need to make with sticks and the sorts of questions you can start asking children to start risk assessing sticks and to put in a framework for safe play around sticks. So the first question that we talk about with children is is this stick the right size for my hands and body and purpose? Because our general rule for stick play is that the stick shouldn't be longer than your arm.
Speaker 2:Do you want to explain why that is Not just a? Yeah, we just made it up.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to pick something, and this is not. I was going to caveat that sometimes children will pick up logs and stuff like that that are bigger than their arms, and there are different rules in those situations. But generally for stick play we're talking about wielding something around in the air, so we need to have a distance that is easily measurable for children to make, and the length of their arm is a visual area around their body that they can actually keep an eye on easily as well. So any longer than that, they can really lose the sense of where the stick is in space and then not be able to manage that space properly and safely.
Speaker 2:And then it's developmentally appropriate, because a three-year-old stick is going to be half the size of a 10-year-old, and as they grow and their stick grows, so too does their peripheral vision, which is what we're really looking at. That's right. But just because they don't have the peripheral vision yet, that doesn't come in until they're around 10 to 12 generally, so they're walking like horses with blinkers on. That doesn't mean we can't train them to look around in that space.
Speaker 1:So another thing that we will ask them is is the stick smooth or will it give me splinters, because not all sticks are created equal. If you were to grab a branch from a, oh, what's the?
Speaker 2:Bogan velia.
Speaker 1:Precisely covered in thorn, or even if you were to pick up parts of a banyan tree covered in very uncomfortable bits and pieces. Thorns nobles.
Speaker 2:Bark.
Speaker 1:Bark and that's not comfortable and that creates a safety risk as well. So we're asking them to be very intentional about what kinds of sticks they're playing with, because in the event that they do hurt someone, it will be double the hurt if he gets swung around, has got thorns and all sorts of sharp bits all around it.
Speaker 2:Another thing we ask them is does the stick have any sharp or pointed edges I need to be aware of. And again, if you're a 12-year-old and shooting a bow and arrow, that's very different to a three-year-old walking around not even really knowing that the end of their stick is sharp. So it's just pointing it out. Sometimes, if it's very large group play, you might want to snip the edge off If it's very, very sharp and it's a game that you don't want a very pointed edge on. But more often than not it's just bringing that awareness to the child.
Speaker 1:It's making you think about it, because sometimes there is a situation that they do want a pointy stick.
Speaker 2:So it's not A digging stick.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it doesn't always have to be. The question isn't always about mitigating, eliminating the risk. It's about being aware of it so that they can alter their actions to ensure that they're creating a safe environment, because sometimes, as I said, sometimes the sticks are longer than their arms. So they might say to us I really want to play with that or I need to move that, check in, and we will understand and they will have different. We will talk to them about different ways of managing larger items and what for, and letting other people around us know what's going on. So there's definitely different ways to do it, but we can have some general framework of rules that we start with in particular.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and one of those other prompting questions is how do I want to use this stick? And because exactly that, the sharp stick, might be exactly what I'm looking for right now, or that giant log. I need that for the wall for my cubby. Great, no problem, let me make sure that you're carrying that in a safe way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and another reason why you might want a sharp stick, or stick for purposes, is when we've got other riskier activities going on at the same time, like when we've got the fire there and we're roasting marshmallows. So the length of the stick comes into play there, in terms of having it long enough to fit in the fire, but also not too long that we're wielding a hot marshmallow around the fire circle, also wanting it to be slightly sharp so we can actually get the marshmallow on the end of the stick. So this is why we need to be having these conversations, because each individual situation might come with a new set of parameters, but we're starting to help them to think about how they manage those control measures for themselves as they're playing.
Speaker 2:And another question is will this stick break easily? So that's particularly for things like on arrows, but also if you're building a cubby, you obviously don't want a very rotted piece of wood, for you know one of your TP legs. It just depends on the situation. But there's a bunch of prompting questions that we can use instead of saying you know no sticks or what have you got that stick for? Put that stick down and it might be. Oh, it's your plan, what's your plan?
Speaker 2:with that stick and suddenly you go wow, that sounds amazing, let me. I can't wait to observe this.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and sometimes as stick plays for grossing, it is more about prompting them to think about instead of stopping the play. It's about prompting them to think about you. Can. You can pause the play and be like, oh, I'm just a little bit worried about X, Y or Z, so that they for something that they may not have been aware of before, and sometimes we might have to do that multiple times. But that's the whole point of looking at our role, responsibility and supervision of the play, as opposed to just going. It's just just too hard. No, it's not.
Speaker 2:That's it. We're mentors and educators. We're not police officers that just stop anything. We are educators helping children learn life skills and safety skills.
Speaker 1:That's right. So, nick, how about we discuss what safety measures and sort of rules that we put in place for kids so that they can really enjoy stick play?
Speaker 2:Yeah, great idea. So the main one that we use at Wildlings is teaching children to use what we call a blood bubble, or, if you don't like that really graphic term, you can call it a safety circle, but we like things that are sticky, and the visualization of a blood bubble makes children really, you know, think about what they're doing. So, essentially, if a child extends their arms with a stick or any other tool in it, they must be able to turn in a full circle, a full 360, without hitting anyone or hurting anyone, and that's what we call the blood bubble. So if anyone's in their blood bubble, they can get hurt and thus the blood.
Speaker 2:And this rule applies whenever sticks are being swung around or used to hit things, even when we're soaring. You know, if you've got a sore in your hand, you need to make sure you've got a blood bubble. When you're carrying bamboo or even dragging it, you need to have a blood bubble. So, again, because of the length of the stick, your blood bubble might be really small or it might be really really long. But again, instead of saying watch out or be careful, we can then say, oh, you're about to walk into Vicki's blood bubble, or just watch your blood bubble. So it's reframing that language all the time. So we're not constantly telling children no, no, no, no, and we're educating them in safer ways to do things.
Speaker 1:That's right, and so the next step that we take about instructing stick play is talking to them about how they carry the stick.
Speaker 1:So for a stick that as long as their arm or shorter and they're carrying that around. Oftentimes we'll tell them to put their thumb over the top of the stick as they're walking around, as they drag it. So if they fall over they're going to protect any organs if they were to fall face down onto that stick. So that thumb is sort of providing a little bit of a barrier there and I think it's also one more sensory hold onto that. Like you know, it's a very specific action so that they've really got control of the stick to when they're walking.
Speaker 1:If it's a bigger stick, so if they're using it for building purposes, like a log, because what you'll often see is kids will pick it up and it will become airborne and then they'll swing it around in the air. And that's when we know that that's could potentially collect children. The blood bubble is way too big, and so what we instruct children to do is to drag those logs behind them. That way it is actually in one part of space behind them. It's unlikely that they're going to collect someone as it's coming directly behind their body and it's just the safest way for them to be moving larger objects around the space.
Speaker 2:I would even add, with the small sticks. When you've got your thumb over it, the top of it, naturally you're carrying it in the same way. So it's down by your hip, pointing to the ground, and it's not being waved through the air as you're running, you know, towards people's eyeballs and faces.
Speaker 1:So Hard to do that with your thumb over the stick to wave yeah.
Speaker 2:So by naturally teaching those things that they'll eventually just instinctually do. That's a huge part of your risk assessment and risk awareness for them as well.
Speaker 1:If you've got lots of children working together with sticks, we would suggest having like a higher level of supervision and obviously reminding them to be aware and going over the safety rules that you've come up with together. And sometimes it is worth, even though, having these rules in mind. Children will come up with these themselves if you ask them beforehand and then you can add more rules on to keeping them safe. But when you're, when you're working with lots of children, the tricky part I think sometimes about this is that if you do elastic place, say at a school, where supervision is probably not as highly ratio is ensuring that children are very aware of all of these rules and and just keep it keeping an eye on those areas where this play might be occurring.
Speaker 2:So some really basic rules that the children will come up with themselves, or sticks, and never permitted to hit people, one that we've seen. You know this. Again, none of these are black and white. So what I want to say here is a lot of services will say you can't run while holding a stick. I would then argue that if you are holding your stick with your thumb and carrying it backwards, the only injury you're going to do is hurting your thumb. You know, if you're not running around with it, waving it around your head and you've got a point into the ground behind you, I would argue that that's really safe. So you know, I think this is a service by service, child by child, because sometimes it might be just one child as well. That is, you know, making this rule difficult for a lot of people and they just might need extra coaching. It's not a no, always it's a. You know, let's practice this until you get it.
Speaker 1:Exactly and it's the same with you know, we don't allow, obviously, sticks to come in contact with other people's bodies, but some places might be comfortable because of the types of children that they have and the trust with stick battles. So when the sticks are connecting with each other and I am an advocate for that type of play However, always should be up to the facilitators and educators, knowing your children, knowing your space, to make that call. And sometimes you can allow it. And then sometimes it's, the heat of the play can sometimes take over and they're not thinking in the same way and we might just have to scale that back for a little bit, Like, oh, it looks like this place getting a little bit too involved and I'm just, you know, a little bit worried that someone might get hurt or injured because of the intensity of the play, when you can scale that back a little bit and then reintroduce it again. So sometimes these rules are moment by moment as well and having a framework is helpful.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I want to add there again that the emotional skills learning here is so great in those situations. We've had moments where we've allowed the stick battles to happen, and then, when we've come together in circle or I've pulled them together and said, okay, I just I would I need to pause this for a bit and I need to just air some concerns and anyone else that has concerns can too and I've started the circle and then they will voice the concerns and then they will brought things up, but just little things, like I, instead of just saying I felt like it was getting dysregulated and that was about to get messy, or whatever you want to call it. I've said I noticed such and such as jaw was clenching, I noticed that the the sound of your voices was getting louder, the giggles were turning nervous, and so what you're doing inadvertently is teaching the children to notice themselves when the play is getting to the point where it's dysregulated, and so then they start. You know, hey, vicki, your jaws clenched. I'm a bit scared right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're still OK.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I'm a bit worried. Yeah, your jaws clenched. Are we still good? Yeah, do you want to pause? You need a drink? And I just think that that is the learning that is missing so often, and we can't do that when we ban these things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because we're tuning into that consent as well.
Speaker 2:Like this is where I get a little bit frustrated about.
Speaker 1:To take it to the sex ed conversation, but this sort of play is about building relationships, and early on, when we talk about sex education, we're not talking about intimacy, we're talking about relationship forming and practicing consent in situations where emotions and those sorts of things are really intense, which will mirror what happens when we're older. Right, those situations are intense in a different way, but we're practicing outlets of tuning into people's body language, facial expressions and making sure that there's ongoing enthusiastic consent in the play, by making sure that they've got the ways to identify nonverbal communication but then using verbal communication to check in too. So that's why this sort of play is so important and again, like play is it.
Speaker 2:Play is learning and again, so often, we just restrict it to the smallest amounts of play, where children can't grow their wings and spread their wings.
Speaker 1:So and, as we said earlier, they do it anyway Like they will do it if we're in any sort of educator role where children do have a playtime, that this stuff isn't going on. Like you said, we are constantly monitoring it, because even if it's banned it doesn't mean it doesn't happen.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and the best thing we can do is empower them with knowledge and tools. So there are some times or spaces where you might not allow stick play. But we don't just mean because it's more like if you have a smaller outdoor space, you might decide on a zone that stick play is and isn't allowed. So, for example, in our forest school setting in on the Sunshine Coast, at least base camp is a safe zone and you can't run through base camp because that's where children that don't want to play can congregate and they can play and feel safe there. Your area might be so small that having a bunch of sticks would feel unsafe. So you might need to make a safe space where it is allowed and where it isn't, or a time when you're allowed to do it. Again, it is so face-based. Please take all of this with a grain of salt and make it place in person based.
Speaker 1:Exactly so. We'd love to sort of finish up by talking about ways in which we've observed children using sticks. We've mentioned a few already, but to just really broaden the scope of why sticks why we have personally seen sticks be such an important part of our programs is because they have been used in so many different ways. So we've seen them used for stirring and mud play. So the extension of the body in being able to interact with an environment, particularly for those children who don't like having their hands directly in mud and the water.
Speaker 1:It can be a way for them to bridge that gap between their body and the environment, which is really cool.
Speaker 2:Always the sorting and the categorizing. And if you think a stick can't be used as a numeracy tool, you're kidding me. There's a measurement there's length, there's width, there's mass. So it's the patterns, time, yeah.
Speaker 2:Alphabet, for numeracy, alphabetical literacy, all sorts. For art, there's weaving and magic ones and small world houses. You can use them for oars or paddles, for boats and rafts, and children love to expand on that. It won't just be a stick. They'll go find a palm tree to use the base of that on. Or, you know, they just keep adding and adding to it too.
Speaker 1:Building nests and wildlife homes. We've done that on different scales as well, so like individual tiny nests, but then gigantic nests that actually become more like cubby houses and play areas, and then there's also things like building bridges. So there's a lot of engineering that can come from using play and, as we've said, like cubbies and even rafts. So we can be doing rafts in multiple different ways with those parts and using different size sticks, as in like a really nature-based raft is another great way of building on a lot of these skill sets as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've got drawing and dirt or sand. I can't tell you how often we see children just sitting down and again, they're building those fine motor skills. Even if they're not riding anything yet, they're still building the muscles that they need to begin that. Another thing we use sticks for is safety. So if we find a hole or something curious in a tree that we want to look at, we teach our children not to use their fingers and to use a stick Obviously gently. We're not using it to stab it the wildlife was, you know, stab it down a hole, but to explore or lift a piece of bark, for instance, instead of sticking your fingers in.
Speaker 1:I use them all the time at Beach School too, for pointing out and so that we're not disturbing them, and to be able to again extend my body to be able to point at things that might be in a hidden crevice or to have a very specific area to look at. So even as an edge, it can help.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was going to say children and for us as well, to measure the depth of the water. You know, before we get in, we're very lucky our water is crystal clear, unless it's straight after a rain. But I know there's plenty of places around the world where you would be ill advised to enter the water without measuring it and checking the depth of what's submerged below.
Speaker 1:And we use them in games for start and stop points, and sometimes they'll use them as, like you know, the place where you take the person to jail or a safe place if they're paying tags. So there's lots of different ways that they can be used, not just imaginatively, but also because they're practical.
Speaker 2:You know, you're not having to take markers down, yeah, walking sticks absolutely.
Speaker 1:And then there's so much extension that can be done from those starting points as well. So even with weaving, it can be individual weaving, it can be group weaving, it can be just from that one starting point we really then start to extend and tone in on something that they're very interested in.
Speaker 2:So we love them, and it's so great for indoor or outdoor play too. So if you're a music teacher and you're doing drums, go outside and grab some drum sticks and experiment with different sized drum sticks. Or if you're an art teacher and you're doing painting, go outside and grab some sticks and make your own paintbrushes, so you don't. Also, as a primary school teacher, you don't need to have the entire lesson outside, but you can bring in nature, you can take children out for short portions of your lesson as well.
Speaker 1:That's right. So if your school or early year service doesn't currently allow stick play, why not send them this episode? Send it to your leadership team and maybe ask the question why aren't we doing stick play? You bring it up at your next staff meeting and use all the tips that we've given you here to adjust your risk assessments or your policies and procedures. You can start talking to the children about what rules they think should be included around stick play and then add any that you're missing, cause I'm sure there's other ways, and we'd love to hear if you've got other ways that you manage stick play in your center service or program. Please send it to us, because the more ways in which we break through these barriers, the more beneficial it is for children everywhere, and I think you'll also find that the children will start policing the rules of stick play far better than you can as staff.
Speaker 2:anyway, and after the initial adjustment period, you'll just find that stick play is such a wonderful addition to your outdoor learning or nature play program. So let's, all you know, be the squeaky wheel and make a little bit of noise, and let's just let kids be kids.
Speaker 1:Agreed.
Speaker 2:And until next week stay wild.