The Muddy Puddle Teacher

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Guest: Angie Jenkins – Forest School Leader & Nature Preschool Founder (USA)

Host: Sarah Seaman

Episode Length: 35–45 minutes

“Growing Little Explorers: How Angie Jenkins Is Nurturing Nature-Based Learning in the USA”

🌿 Episode Overview

In this inspiring international episode, Sarah connects with Angie Jenkins, a Forest School leader and founder of a thriving nature preschool in the United States.

Angie shares her journey from traditional teaching to outdoor education, how she’s built a nature-based school from the ground up, and what it means to let children learn through curiosity, freedom, and connection with the land.

Together, they explore the similarities — and differences — between the Muddy Puddle Teacher® approach in the UK and the growing Forest School and outdoor preschool movement in the US.

🌎 Key Themes

• Building a nature-based preschool from scratch
• Forest School philosophy in the American context
• Child-led, inquiry-based learning outdoors
• Supporting emotional well-being and resilience through nature
• Community engagement and parent involvement
• Bridging the gap between UK and US outdoor education models

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Grab your wellies and your wild imagination — this week on Come Chat with Muddy T’s, we’re joined by the brilliant Antoinette Portis, author and illustrator of the much-loved picture books Not a Stick and Not a Box!

In this episode, we dig into the power of child-led play and the beauty of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. Antoinette shares how a simple stick (or box, or puddle!) can become a gateway to creativity, confidence, and storytelling magic — the very heart of early years exploration.

So whether you’re in the mud kitchen, the forest school, or curled up with a cuppa, join us for a joyful chat about imagination, art, and the wonder of open-ended play.

Discover more from Antoinette Portis:

• 🌐 Website → antoinetteportis.com
  
  
• 📸 Instagram → @bathingonthemoon
  
  
• 🐦 X (Twitter) → @aportisa
  
  
• 📘 Facebook → facebook.com/antoinette.portis
  
  
• 📚 Books → Not a Stick
  | Not a Box
  
  

Let’s celebrate imagination, one muddy stick at a time! 🌱

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Pull on your boots and get ready to dig into the mud with us! On this episode of the podcast, we’re joined by the one and only Ben Faulks — better known to little ones everywhere as Mr Bloom from CBeebies. He’s bringing us behind the scenes of his latest early-years project: a playful, nature-rich curriculum that uses his beloved Veggies to inspire children (and educators) to craft, create and grow together.

We’ll cover his journey from TV garden to classroom, explore how sensory, outdoor, imaginative learning can really take root, and get his tips on making education hands-on, messy, joyful. Whether you’re a teacher, a parent, or just curious — this chat will leave you ready to get your hands dirty (in the best possible way).

Stay connected with Ben & the project:

• 🌐 Visit Ben’s website: benfaulks.co.uk
  
  ben faulks
• 📚 Discover the curriculum & resources: https://www.letsgrow.org.uk/
  
  Let's Grow
• 📸 Instagram: @ben_faulks
  
  Instagram
• 🐦 X (Twitter): @benfaulks
   

Tune in, dig deep, and let’s grow together! 🌱

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Jo Schofield and Fiona Danks

Jo and Fiona are on a mission to encourage more families and children to discover the joys of wild places and to reconnect with nature. By spending time outdoors, children learn vital new skills, find out how to judge risk, and experience the joy and wonder that nature inspires. They also start to understand how we are all connected with the diverse ecosystems on which all of our futures depend.

For over twenty years Fiona and Jo have been writing their inspiring Going Wild books, all packed with an incredible variety of fun activities to tempt children outdoors. The books are designed to be used wherever you live (wild spaces can be found everywhere!) and at any time of year. Their thirteen books include Nature’s Playground, Go Wild, Make it Wild, Run Wild, The Stick Book, The Wild Weather Book, The Beach Book, The Wild City Book, The Den Book, The Wild Year Book, Wild Things, Make This Book Wild and the soon to be published Make Every Week Wild (February 2026). All the activities are designed for the outdoors, and don’t need much preparation. The activities are very varied, ranging from creative and imaginary to practical and games. The books are used by teachers, environmental educators and forest school leaders, families and also some have been used in health care settings to improve and promote well being and mental health. Fiona has a degree in ecology and worked in environmental education for two Wildlife Trusts, and Jo was an educational psychologist before a successful career in creative photography.

They met in the school playground when their children were young and shared some amazing outdoor experiences with their growing families. They are now each enjoying taking their young grandchildren out into nature. As well as writing their books they have given talks and keynote speeches, written articles, run workshops (including for CBeebies), training events for teachers and activities at book festivals and worked with a range of organisations including Natural England, The National Trust, The Forest School Association, Scouts and the Wildlife Trusts.

Our website - www.goingwild.net
Facebook - Going Wild
Instagram - @goingwild1
Emails - [email protected] and [email protected]

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My name is Viki. I am a qualified Nutrition Coach and specialise in Culinary Medicine. I am also a mum of two young girls and a self-taught chef.

Twiddle is my “passion child”, born out desperation to deal with my daughter’s fussy eating habits. It was a side hustle for 5 years while juggling family life and my corporate job. I worked in anti-money laundering compliance for 15 years for DLA Piper, most of this spent managing a large centralised international team.

After having children my priorities changed and being diagnosed with IBS put things into a different perspective. Having developed health issues that the doctors tried to medicate me for (for the rest of my life) pushed me to find a better way to live. I re-qualified as a Culinary Medicine Coach that helped me not just to heal myself and manage my IBS but also to coach others to get better too. In 2023, I finally I left the corporate world so that I could concentrate on my family and focus on making Twiddle a full time job.

My mission is to help you tune into your body more to become healthier and happier. I believe that we all have the ability to be the best versions of ourselves and are able to make the necessary changes too. Sometimes we just need a little nudge and an expert who can assist in speeding the process up.

I am passionate about guiding you, teaching you and inspiring you to achieve this! I am here to be your companion on this journey that can be overwhelming and often scary when you first embark on it.

I can help you rebuild your relationship with your diet, your health and wellbeing and inspire you to cook new dishes while also having fun in the kitchen. I will teach you how to roll the perfect dough along with useful tips on how to make it more nutritious. You can also come along to my hands on workshops or cook with me online.

I love experimenting with different cuisines and my recipes are infused with herbs and spices I tried visiting different countries and some that are deeply rooted in my Hungarian heritage.

I also run in person cookery classes for team building activities, birthday parties and more. If you fancy joining me on an open class, please visit my booking page where you can find out the date of my next event.

With the “love of food”,

Viki

https://www.twiddlefood.co.uk/

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The classes were created in 2003 by diddi dance founder, Anne-Marie Martin, a professional dancer with over 25 years teaching experience. After running for over 20 years in London we now have over 40 locations across the UK with more opening up all the time. We are so proud to be celebrating 20 years of pre school dance, exploring so many dance styles from around the world.

We love encouraging children and their families to enjoy a love of movement to music that will last a lifetime.

Feel free to look around the site to find out more about our classes, parties and early years sessions.

Why not join the fun, see where the closest diddi dance is to you and get in touch to request a trial today.

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More details on Practitioner Fest.

Welcome to Practitioner Fest 2024

Fordell Firs Fife

Friday 4th of October to Sunday 6th of October

Friday Conference from 6.30pm 

Festival running on

Saturday 9am to 5pm (Play in the dark 6.30pm)

Sunday 9am to 5pm 

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Workshops slots will be allocated prior to festival weekend and will run between the hours of 9.30am to 4.30pm

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Get ready for Practitioner Fest! An exciting outdoor festival for educators to discover the joys of outdoor learning. Unlock new ideas and strategies for taking your children outdoors. Don’t miss out on the adventure!

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Setting up a Help to Save account online is quick and easy to do, and takes less than 5
minutes to sign up. Eligible individuals can find out more and how to apply on GOV.UK or via
the HMRC app.

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Children’s author Tessa Singh visits schools and Eatly Years settings delivering interactive workshops designed to get children bringing books to life, both inside and outside the classroom. Her approach is to use music, books and props to really help get every child’s imaginations flowing. These ideas are captured by teaching the children how to create their own picture books. 

All details are available on Tessa’s website including lots of free resources for for teachers and parents. 

Her book “Little Bob Saves the World” is available to buy at all good bookshops.

tessasingh.co.uk | 

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Oh my goodness I don’t know how I’ve missed this / so sorry what a nightmare! Can I still blame baby brain??

Olivia is an early years literacy consultant from West Yorkshire. She specialises in drama pedagogy and storytelling. Olivia empowers early years staff to go beyond books through interactive storytelling and introducing drama into settings that give children the license to lead their learning. She is passionate about bringing drama into the early years to help practitioners love their work and improve learning outcomes. 

I’m @storieswithliv on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube.

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