We started Forest School today by learning a new game called spirit of the forest. The class chose what woodland animal they wanted to be, we had foxes, badgers and squirrels. The spirit of the forest then called the animals one at a time, they run across to the other side and if they were caught they became a tree with long branches to catch other animals. Soon we had created a woodland full of trees ”I’m an Oak tree”.
We set off for the woods, hunting for animal tracks in the mud as we went. The path was very muddy, the class enjoyed squelching in the mud “I can hear your boots Dormouse”. We did find a track in the mud, the class was convinced it was a Bear foot print.
Using stones with different animal footprints on, the children created their own tracks in clay by pushing the stone into the clay leaving an imprint of the animal track. We talked about what animal was leaving what footprint.
Some children helped to put up the slack line, taking the rope around the tree then posting it through the ratchet and pulling it tight. There was then some great balancing, they are definitely getting more confident at doing it on their own.
Some children chose to make pine cone bird feeders, filling the cone with lard and then rolling it in sunflower seeds. They then hung it in the tree ready for the birds.
There was some great independent bug hunting “I found a worm”. They worked together to roll over logs getting more of their class mates if the log was too big to manage alone. The bug hunt very quickly turned onto a Toad hut, sadly we did not find one this time. We talked about how they have hidden themselves away as it is winter.
We finished today’s session by listening to what they had enjoyed about their morning at Forest School.
“I liked the mud”
“Everything”
