Inverleigh mother-of-four Bec Wilson wanted her children to grow up among nature so she took matters into her own hands.
“I really wanted someone to run a nature-based playgroup in Inverleigh that I could go to with my youngest,” the 37-year-old said.
“That didn’t happen so I thought I’d start one myself.”
Inspired by Geelong nature-based playgroups, Bec founded her “social enterprise” the Fox Guild to fill her hometown niche in early 2016.
With research linking tablets, television and smartphones to obesity and short sightedness, Bec is keen to get kids out in the mud and fresh air.
“Having contact with microbes in the soil is great for children’s immune systems,” she said.
“I find it really hard to see the street empty of children – it’s amazing that it’s happened in one or two generations.”
Bec, an avid gardener, said her love of the environment was another motivation for creating the group.
“The children grow a relationship with nature and want to be involved with it and protect it.”
During the playgroup the kids make “mud kitchens” and take barefoot walks, along with other activities, before finishing with a story.
“I just enjoy the simplicity of it,” Bec said. “A lot of children don’t walk barefoot so they miss out on those sensory experiences.”
Recently the group added an extra Little Foxes playgroup in You Yangs.
“Our third one is today and we’ve got about 15 families involved,” Bec said.
“It’s such a beautiful local resource and there are lots of opportunities for children to play freely.”
And, of course, she takes her own children along to many of her play groups.
“They love it,” she said.
“Sometimes they don’t want to go somewhere and they’re in a bad mood, but as soon as you get out there you see that wash away from them. Nature is such a mood changer.”
