Anna Hutt, a Childminder from Bug's Hutt Childcare in Reading, cares for 17 children between 6 months and 11 years old. They received 50 tree saplings from our charity in March, just before the Covid-19 lockdown was enforced. Despite the challenges that this would cause, she provided this lovely feedback about their experience and how they managed to get some great things out of it all within their local community.
“Unfortunately we didn't get to plant the trees in our green space, due to lockdown, so the children each took one or two home before I closed. We also shared them in our community, and our friends and neighbours loved talking to the children about the trees. We found out that Rowan Tree is favoured by our friends with Scottish heritage and you can eat the berries, but they're best made into a jam because they're really tart. We made acorn people for our fairy village and talked about the different shaped leaves. We talked about life cycles, seasons (goat willow was a favourite for sensory, as are all trees!) and did creative writing stories and poems. We talked to the older children about our planet, the environment and all the uses of trees and what trees do for us and wildlife. We even looked at Latin and different species classifications.
I was very grateful my setting was selected. I felt well informed and I had quick response when I asked questions. It prompted a lot of positive language, thought and activity in the children (aged 6 months to 11 years) and would like to say thank you again for selecting me. It gave us an opportunity to cover many topics that we would not have otherwise looked at with so much detail. The trees, their packaging, labelling, equipment supplied and delivery were all great.
Through the community, the children and our local preschool, I was able to raise awareness of the Earth Restoration Project and even impressed my Ofsted inspector at my recent inspection. I wish the Earth Restoration Project every success in the future and I'll continue to raise awareness where I can through the course of my work. We now also have a successful wildflower meadow in our green space - inspired by your Flutter Flowers programme. This would not exist if I hadn't been selected for the tree nursery.”
