Squirrels are thinking about the ‘Great Fire of London’ as their learning journey this term, so today they had a go at fire lighting. They watched as some sparks made a fire and observed it spread quickly as it did in London in 1666. They talked about fire safety and what a fire needs to burn; fuel, spark, air.
They discussed the materials and their properties that the houses were built with, how they were so close together and how this led to the spread of the fire. They watched as we used some water to extinguish the fire completely at the end.
After their great fire the Squirrels set off for the woods in the sunshine.
Once in the woods, the children each found two sticks to tap out a rhythm song with. Then they learned how to identify different animals from their footprints by counting their toes. Badgers – 5, foxes -4, deer- 2.
They used flour, sieves and stencils to create their own animal foot prints on the woodland floor. The class listened to the story of ‘The Gruffalo’s Child’ and talked about different animal houses, in trees, in holes underground and under logs and the tracks that the animals made in the story.
Then there was time to explore and play in the woodland. Some children took some small wooden items to create a lovely fairy village with.
Some children moved leaves and created the image of a hedgehog on the ground, with large sticks to represent the spikes on the hedgehogs back.
Some of the class discovered some plants sprouting under the leaves on the woodland floor and talked about what they might be and how they will grow. We will be back to look next time.
Lots of the class worked to develop the den of sticks they had started last session and they had a go at digging out an old root from the forest floor, showing great perseverance and problem solving. They built the den into a ‘stick mansion’ this week!
The Impact of Forest School for the children is the knowledge the children have gained from the Forest School experience.
The impact can be seen through the skills, tools used, art and craft activities, observations and knowledge of the fruit, plants trees in relation to the seasons and the skills involved in learning how to play Forest School games.
The Squirrels class ended their session by talking about what they had enjoyed about their session.
“fire lighting, sparks, the game, The Fire of London, making a fairy house, nature, sun-shine, the animal prints, bluebells, all of it!”
At the end of the session the class played the ‘1,2,3, change tree’ game, running and dodging each other to find another tree. There was lots of agility, critical thinking and enjoyment seen – Well Done Squirrels.
A huge thank you to the parent volunteers who came and supported the children so brilliantly and got involved in all of their play, especially the game of 1,2,3, change tree- it looked like the adults thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We can’t wait until next time!
