First week of forest school…

We have had a busy first week at forest school! The children started the week by setting up their camp, creating barriers, learning rules and boundaries on how to keep safe during forest school sessions. 

Our friends have created labels to their cups using leaves they have foraged on the ground. Children have made marks on the leaves so they are able to identify which cup is theirs. 

Our forest school friends also started to create a camp sign, by collecting leaves and sticks to stick onto Velcro as well as talking about differences of leaves.  They were all very proud of their achievement. 

Sarah showed the children how to use a mallet safely and encouraged the group to identify ‘why’ and ‘what’ safety practices should be considered. 

 Our friends, supported by Sarah tapped the tent pegs into the ground. 

We have taken numerous trips to Brunel woods, playing games such as hide and seek. We had two teams, named by the children, the ‘lemons and strawberries’. The groups took it in turns to hide, blowing a whistle to help the other team find them. 

We have also been practising what do to if we see a dog. Using our Xfactor arms. 

We also took a trip to a nearby stream on Monday afternoon, where we were able to let the froglets go back into the wild.. we named them as we said goodbye. 

The children have also completed various other activities including planting mint in old wellie boots and investigating the wheel barrow, working as a team transporting items. 

There has been a strong interest displayed in using small sticks to pretend to be fishing rods. This was then extended by an activity where the children had the opportunity to create their own, larger fishing rods. 

This involved use of ‘loppers’ – Individual children were supported with the safe use of this tool and then were able to use it. 

As well as choosing how long they wanted their rod to be and whether they wanted ribbon or string. The children that wanted to take part helped with tying the knots. 

 Sarah created a cut with a knife so that the string/ribbon could be secure, as well as an area for the children to write their own name. 

Its tiring work having fun in the sun and sometimes the only way to cool down is to play with water. Fun had by all involved.