Journey Sticks
/By Mel Evans
Sometimes we all need a bit of motivation to go on a walk. Especially if, because of circumstances, we are treading the same old path.
We have found that children enjoy a walk much more if they have a focus. You could hunt for Gruffalos, collect ingredients for magic potions or look for wind blown treasures to use in crafts.
This weekend, we decided to use Journey Sticks as a focus for our walk. We planned a route from home to the patch of Wild Garlic at the bottom of the woods.
We started off outside the house each armed with a good stick. I took a bunch of elastic bands to attach things that would mark our journey. Of course string would be an ecological alternative, but I had a stash of elastic bands I had saved from cut flowers. The advantage of using elastic bands is if you wind a few around a stick the children can tuck their treasures into them and won’t need to wait for a grown up to do the knots.
We each choose something from around our front gate to mark the start of our journey.
As we walked we continued to collect markers to add to the stick at points that felt significant for us. We only picked things that were appropriate and did not pick wild flowers like Bluebells. When we got to the gate at the start of the bridle path we collected something else. My eldest son, who is 10, said it felt like we were on a quest in a film or computer game!
The Journey Sticks not only kept them motivated, but helped them notice things in the woods and talk about them. We commented my youngest Son had chosen only green things for his Journey Stick. He told us it was because the woods are so green in the Spring.
His favourite treasure was a huge Sycamore leaf that didn’t seem to exist a few weeks ago.
We noticed Sheep wool on the fence where the cows now live and added some to our Journey Sticks. We watched the ducklings on the pond and each took a Hazel leaf growing near the water.
We ended our ‘Quest’ at the Wild Garlic patch and I added a Wild Garlic flower to my Journey Stick to mark the end of our walk.
This was a really lovely way of connecting with each other and the woodland. I think children of any age could engage with this activity. it was a great way to stimulate conversation and promote mindfulness.
