Owls set off in beautiful winter sunshine for a Forest School adventure in the woods, as they walked they gathered as many different fallen leaves as they could find. Using an ID sheet they were able to identify the leaves they had found. They found Hazel, Holly, Sycamore and some rather large Sweet Chestnut leaves.
In the woods we started with a game of touch Eagle eye to help get the class warm. The class were given to the count to 10 to hide before the Eagles opened, if they were seen then they were out. Every time the Eagles eyes closed for 10 the class had to run in and tap the Eagles hands and get back to their hiding place before the eyes opened again. Owls were very fast and good at hiding. When the game ended and the uncaught children were asked to show themselves it was amazing to see how many children can hide behind one tree without being seen!
Owls created some great bases hidden within the bushes at Forest School today. They worked as a team to go foraging for some long branches, working in twos to carry the longer ones. They also gathered some pine top to help camouflage there base. Inside their base they dug steps into a mud bank, cleared the ground of fallen leaves and created a seating area.
A group of children choose to learn how to use a knife safely to whittle a stick. They started by walking around the woods looking for a good Hazel coppice that they could use to cut a branch from ready to whittle. After learning how to be safe they started to whittle there sticks. Some chose to whittle a smaller piece of Hazel removing all the bark before creating a point at one end “I have made a pencil”. Others chose to whittle a thicker piece of Hazel adding just a point at one end and then using the knife they carefully removed the bark in a few places further up their stick to create a pattern.
Using some fallen leaves one group decided to thread leaves onto string to add as decoration to their den. This however changed when they realised that it was long enough to loop and tie together to make a leaf necklace. Once they realised this worked they then decided to make a matching bracelet.
