Category: Forest School

The children in Group One were sad that this would be their final session this week, they have thoroughly enjoyed themselves over the 6 sessions. We cannot believe how fast the afternoon goes when were are out in the fresh air, learning new skills.

As requested, we took a walk around the school grounds this week, looking out for the changes in the environment, now that the warmer weather is here. The children identified some plants and looked out for any insects that they could find; they are really learning to show respect for the nature that is around them and to think about how they can care for it.

They also finished off making their little Forest School keep-sakes, which many of them found tricky, but they persevered and got them done!

To end the session, a few of the children helped to get the fire started, added sticks to keep it burning, and toasted marshmallows, this time to make s’mores – great suggestion! 

The children were certainly looking forward to their session today after 2 weeks off for Easter. They were absolutely wonderful – so well behaved and full of smiles. During today’s session, we warmed up with a game and then got straight into making bird feeder balls and first initial decorations. 

The bird feeder balls were super messy and sticky, but all of the children really got stuck into the task and made some great feeders. After making them, they hung them around the area ready for the birds to find. 

Following a ‘tool talk’, the children also had a go at using a hammer to hit nails into a wooden ‘boscuit’. They were using the nails to create an outline of the first letter of their names. These are ready for them to weave coloured wool around in the next session, as a little Forest School keep sake. 

It was lovely to have a more relaxed session this week. As it is now officially a new season, we looked for signs of spring and noticed lots of buds on trees, new leaves growing and many flowers starting to bloom. The children also commented on there being many more insects around!

After bark rubbing was suggested in a previous week, it seemed like a great time to give this a try. The children were able to really spot the differences in the bark patterns, grooves, lumps and bumps, and we began to identify some of the different tree species that are in the Forest School area.

The children also really enjoyed playing a game of ‘this is not a stick’, they were very creative with their ideas.

As promised, Mrs Gray also got a fire going so they could use their ‘pointy sticks’ that they whittled in the previous session, to toast marshmallows. What a treat before the Easter break!

This week’s forest school was a drizzly one! The perfect chance for a bit of knot work and getting our shelters up. The children worked in threes this time, and showed progress in both their shelter erecting skills, and their team work. Well done!

Under the helpful supervision of Mrs Howarth, most of them busied themselves with their shelters, so Mrs Gray was able to work on some tool use with small groups of children at a time.

They learnt about the parts of a knife and how to use them safely to carry out some whittling. They all managed to whittle themselves a nice, pointy marshmallow holding stick. Unfortunately, there wasn’t time to put them to the test this week, but that just means it will take priority next time!

A little less sunny this week, but still dry and mild for our second session. We also got a lot less muddy and lots of fun was had again. We learnt a few methods to attach our string to our tarpaulin, and the tarpaulin to a tree. The children were shown how to create a ‘larks head’ and a ‘timber hitch’. The finished results were a lot more successful this week but still proved hard work for the children, particularly working as a team.

As promised, we also had a small fire. The children learnt the safety expectations when fires are to be made in forest school and they also learnt about the ‘fire triangle’. We discussed the varying thicknesses of sticks needed to build up the fire, too. They really enjoyed munching a biscuit, watching it come together, and helping to add sticks to keep the fire fueled and burning.

The children were all very keen to have a go with a flint and steel to create sparks, it can be a tricky skill, but many of them were able to get the sparks going, well done!

Mrs Gray has taken on board their requests for next week and is looking forward to it already!

The first Forest School Group enjoyed a beautiful, sunny (slightly muddy) afternoon on Monday with Mrs Gray and Mrs Howarth. The children learnt a little about what Forest School is, the boundaries we must stay within and assessing for risks themselves when they are out there.

Our first session focused on our senses. We listened carefully to what we could hear around us, met some trees (through touch and not sight) and made some collections of things that intrigued us.

The children were particularly drawn to the squelchy mud, so that spontaneously led to the creation of some ‘muddy faces’ being made on the trees.

They also worked in teams to attempt to put up tarpaulin shelters – something that definitely needs some work next time!