A Year of Wild Words
You know when you’re inspired by a children’s book and you have your fingers and toes crossed your little one loves it just as much… this was that moment. The Keeper of Wild Words by Brooke Smith is a beautiful story of wild words which are being forgotten.
The story is about Brooke and her Grandmother Mimi, as they head off on a little adventure to see which wild words they could find from a list. Special words Mimi entrusts to Brooke to remember and keep from being lost. It’s stunning visually and really captures the essence of the wild words on each page. If you’ve read The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane, it’s similar in its approach but with a gentle story. I find this one much more accessible for children, giving a wonderful account of words which aren’t too obscure that they won’t come across them in adventures near to home.
After reading The Keeper of Wild Words today, Little B sat with me for an hour as we watched bird song videos on YouTube and pulled out all the bird books we have around the house. It all came from a picture of a little wren at the end of the book. He constantly surprises me with moments like this.
This year we’re taking note of all the wild words Little B learns (and we keep alive). Inspired by our love of this book, our days at Kith and our grand adventures into the wilds (even the ones from our front door in lockdown.) Connecting our experiences in the outdoors with special vocabulary in a bid to keep the wild words in our memory and in circulation.
Your wild words jar isn’t a competition or gauge of intelligence, it’s not akin to flashcards to test your little one. This is about connection and awareness. Bringing the magic of nature into our lives, using words we might not otherwise come across.
Materials Needed:
A clear jar
Scraps of paper and pen
A grand sense of adventure
Time
An inspiring book with plenty of nature words
How to be a keeper of wild words…
Each time your little one uses a wild word, take note of it and put it in the jar. Throughout the year, dip in to the jar, pull out a word and have a chat about it. See what your little one remembers about the word; where they were when they first used the word is a great one to start with. Connecting experiences and the language together is so simple and so easy to pop back to when you remember. As your experiences grow, so will your language, keeping those wild words alive. Learning holistically at its best.
