Alaria CIC

A community interest company offering therapeutic support for children, young people and families.

Play therapy, outdoor therapeutic experiences, alternative education, animal-assisted therapy, training and workshops for parents and professionals.

30/03/2026

🌿 Den Building Adventure (Ages 5–12) – Tomorrow (Tuesday) Morning🌿

A 2hr session for children who are home educated, winding down for the term, or just needing a break from the usual rhythm… we’ve got spaces left for tomorrow’s Den Building Adventure at Glengavel Reservoir.

There’ll be den building, digging, climbing, exploring and creating, with plenty of space for big energy as well as quiet moments. If your child hasn't attended before, feel free to come along and spend some time with them, getting to know the site and meeting the animals. Parents/carers can attend this session free of charge.

🗓 Tuesday
⏰ 10.30am – 12.30pm
👧 Ages 5–12 (Parents welcome)

Children can be dropped off if they feel confident to stay.

The session is run by a Forest School Leader who's also a therapist, with a focus on freedom, connection, and letting children lead their own play.

Spaces are limited and must be booked in advance:
👉 https://goteamup.com/p/11113452-alaria-cic/e/101615915-age-5-12-den-building-adventure/

Mud, movement, imagination and a bit of wildness 🌿

29/03/2026

Two sides to everything 🌿

We’re posting this a little later than usual…
because after a full, beautiful, slightly whirlwind term…
we needed a rest.

And that felt important too.

Yesterday, the children learned about nettles.

Not just the sting…
but the softness too.

They discovered how something that can hurt…
can also soothe.

With a little care, a little knowledge, and a bit of courage,
they harvested the gentle part of the nettle
and made their own warm infusion – sweetened with honey and shared together.

Served with fresh strawberries and apple slices in the sunshine (yes, we did get some yesterday amidst the weather 'shuffle'!) 🍓

It felt like such a perfect reflection of this term.

Because just like nettles…
children have many sides too.

The loud and the quiet.
The spiky and the soft.
The dysregulated and the deeply kind.

And when they’re given the right environment…
those softer sides have space to emerge.

We’ve been so privileged to spend time each week with 28 wonderful children in our small groups.

Watching confidence grow.
Watching friendships form.
Watching children feel safe enough to just be themselves.

What a term it’s been 💛

✨ And… watch this space.
Our Easter holiday sessions will be announced in the next day or two.

28/03/2026

🍃It was our last Friday group of this term and we have a fun time! We:

🌿 Rolled down the hill
🌿 Found some animal prints
🌿 Inspected our new pond 🐸
🌿 Painted some rocks
🌿 pretended we were chickens 🐔
🌿 Did some swinging

See you all in the next couple of weeks for our summer term ❤️

24/03/2026

Well that nourished the soul! 🌿 End of term walk up to the waterfall with a picnic above it. 🥪🍓

What a way to end the Tuesday morning home ed group for this term.

Some children chose to walk back through the burn. We could hear their feet squelching with each step, once they were back on dry land 🤣.

23/03/2026

We built a pond… and nature didn’t waste a single moment 💚

Before we’d even finished standing back to admire it…
before the plants went in…
before we’d really caught our breath…

🐸 A frog had already moved in and laid spawn.

Honestly, we feel slightly upstaged.

This pond has been dug, shaped, lined and lugged into life by children with muddy hands, big ideas, and excellent opinions about where every rock should go… alongside one very patient (and increasingly muddy) Roger.

There was teamwork.
There were disagreements.
There were moments of “this is never going to work - we're never going to get the middle bit deep enough”…
…and then moments where it absolutely did.

And now?

Life has arrived.

Not because we planned it perfectly…
but because we made space for it.

And there’s something really special in that.

We can’t wait to add the plants and watch what happens next 🌿

22/03/2026

🐝🐛🐞 We have our littles group on tomorrow from 1-2.15 🐝🐛🐞

And Heather has made progress with our pond.

Come join us! You can book via this link https://www.alaria.uk/book-session

21/03/2026

One of today’s group members took on the role of Chief Den Destroyer… and fully committed to it 😄

There’s something really gorgeous that happens when curiosity is shared… even when it’s occasionally being knocked over.

Today wasn’t about “lessons”…
It was about leaning in close together, noticing, wondering, trying.

🔥 Fire lighting with magnifying glasses
💧 Reservoir experiments – exploring displacement and using guttering to redirect water
🪵 Den building… followed by immediate “structural testing” by our resident saboteur 😁

Some big feelings came and went.
(Some very big feelings when carefully built dens didn’t last long.)

But we stayed with it.
We rebuilt.
We figured things out together.

We think the real learning isn't just how things work, but how to keep going when things don’t go to plan. The best kind of learning happened today. Real, messy and shared.

20/03/2026

We had a lovely morning and what a difference from the weather last week!! 🐝🦋🌞🐞🐔

We painted hard boiled eggs, dipped in the reservoir and practiced our fire lighting skills on small rocks. Some fires we lit with a magnifying glass 🔍

We had berries and cream for snack and we topped our morning off with some sun salutations to welcome the spring 🐛🍃🌿

19/03/2026

There was something really special about this morning’s adult Forest School (which isn't about 'schooling' but about freedom to explore, choice, and following our own curiosity) 🌿

A gentle, companionable space… with plenty of room to simply be.

We slowed right down.
We noticed the small things.
We gave ourselves permission to rest, chat, or just quietly take it all in.

And all around us, life was making itself known…
🦆 geese on the water
🐸 frogs beginning to stir
🦋 butterflies drifting through
…and even a beautiful wee stoat passing by, just a few feet away. What a sight!

It felt simple.
It felt calm.
It felt like something many of us don’t get enough of.

And yes… the hammocks were very popular 😊
Sometimes, this is what we need most –
space to breathe, to soften, and to feel part of something again.

16/03/2026

Hi folks, just a reminder to get your adult forest school session tickets here if you'd like to come along this Thursday, 10am-12pm. We'll have the fire burning! https://www.zeffy.com/en-GB/ticketing/adult-forest-school-session

15/03/2026

If you kept a small human alive this year…
you’re doing brilliantly.
⠀
If you’ve reheated the same cup of tea three times,
you’re doing brilliantly.
⠀
If you’ve negotiated with a child about socks, vegetables, homework, bedtime or brushing teeth,
you’re doing brilliantly.
⠀
If you’ve Googled “Is it normal for a child to…” at 11pm,
you’re definitely doing brilliantly.
⠀
And today we’re also celebrating the many different ways people mother children.
Mums.
Step-mums.
Foster mums.
Kinship carers.
Grandmas raising grandchildren.
Aunties who stepped in when it mattered.
⠀
Motherhood isn’t tidy or perfect.
It’s muddy boots, forgotten PE kits, big feelings, loud laughter and the occasional moment of wondering what on earth just happened there?
⠀
But it’s also love.
The quiet, steady kind that shows up every day.
⠀
So today we’re celebrating all the women who mother children – in whatever way that looks.
⠀
Happy Mother’s Day from all of us at Alaria.
⠀

Address

Alaria CIC
Strathaven
ML106RF

Website

https://www.alaria.uk/

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