Foxes made their way to their forest school session in glorious sunshine. As they walked they had the task of shaking some cream, with the hope that it would become butter. Once the class arrived in the woods they sat and were asked about how the space we use looks different from the time before. Many said that there were a lot more plants and that the Bluebells where gone. By now our cream had become butter, the class all had the chance to try some on a cracker.
A few children chose to help put up the slack line. They made sure that it was not twisted as it went round the tree, and then carefully treaded it through the ratchet before testing their strength by cranking the ratchet as tightly as they could. Once it was up the class where told that today they would be using the slack line with no top line to help them.
Instead they were given two sticks to use for balance. It was great to see so many of the class give this a go, some found it a little tricky as it can be quite wobbly when you’re up there. Others chose to really push themselves and start by walking along the slack line with only one stick then giving it a try with no sticks. They counted their steps to see if they could beat their distance on their next go, by the end some were able to walk the whole length not holding onto anything.
During the session today a few children where moving around some logs and they came across a Frog, as they looked a little closer they also discovered that there was a Toad hiding in the same place. Carefully they were both picked up, giving other members of the class a chance to come and have a look and see the differences between the two. How one is dry and lumpy and the other is smooth and wet feeling. Many of the class were able to identify which one was the Frog and which one was the Toad.
There was lots of den building at forest school today, it was great to see how creative the class were being. Some chose to build dens using natural materials, placing one longer branch up into the tree and then laying other branches off that to create their den. They then gathered bark from a nearby dead tree and moss to cover their roof. Others chose to use tarpaulins to place over large fallen trees creating a tunnel den that they could crawl into. There was some great team work with all the dens that were created.
One child chose to build a ladder, they did this by wedging sticks between two trees. Each time they wanted to add a new step to their ladder they had to go and find the right length stick as the sticks needed were getting bigger as they worked their way up the trees. They told their class that “it’s not for climbing”, we discussed that it was not safe to climb as they were only wedged in so not properly secure.
Foxes finished their session today by being asked if they had tried anything today they had never done before, they said:
“walking on a slack line not holding anything”
“building a den”
