Squirrels started their forest school today by having a go at making some butter from cream. The cream was poured onto a jar, the class then took it in turns to shake it. The class were very excited to be going to the woods today, as a group we made our way there still shaking our jar of cream.
Once in the woods the class got stuck straight into some den building. Some chose to make improvements to some existing dens where as others chose to start from scratch. Some of the dens that were made were not for the children, they were for the fairies. The children added some bark for the floor and leaves to decorate the area they had made. One group of children made a bug hotel, a rather large mound of leaves with a wooden arch door that created a cave entrance with discs of wood making a path showing the bugs the way in.
The cream has been shook enough and had become butter, the class all had a look at how the cream had separated. Then sitting on the log they all tried some of the butter milk and then tried the butter on a cracker. They were all impressed and wanted seconds.
Some children chose to decorate a disc of wood using some paint pens. They were then going to make a hole in the disc so that they could use it as a necklace but first they had to be shown how to be safe when using a tool. They learnt about their ‘blood bubble’, this is the safe distance around them that no one must cross when they are using a tool. They then used the palm drill to make the hole in the disc. This is quite a tricky task, I was really impressed at the perseverance from the children to make to hole through their wood.
Squirrels finished their session by sitting in a line on a fallen tree and doing a woodland whisper. First time we tried we only lost a word, however the second time it got really muddled. Think we need to have a few more practices of a woodland whisper.
