The class started their session by looking at animal footprints made with flour. They were very good at identifying which animal each track belonged to. Once at Forest School we went on the hunt for footprints made by real animals and found some in the mud that belonged to a pheasant and a fox.
We had a look at some stones with animal footprints on and Chestnuts had to work out which animal the footprint belonged to. Using the stones some children then created their own animal footprints. They did this by pushing the stone into clay making an indent.
Others chose to make bird feeders. Some were pine cones filled with lard and rolled in bird seed, others used pipe cleaners threaded with Cheerios. The feeders were then hung in the trees ready for the birds to enjoy. While making them we looked at photos of birds that may eat from the feeders.
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 gained, tools used, art and craft activities, observations and knowledge of the fruit, plants and trees in relation to the seasons and the skills involved in learning how to play Forest School games.
The children cooked up some great food in the mud kitchen. They worked together to gather all the things they needed to make something yummy for their teacher, even using ice they found as lumps of chocolate!
Another group of children created a new den. It was great to see them working together to transport the branches they needed from one side of Forest School to the other. The den had lots of different areas. There were areas for cooking, sitting and sleeping. It was great to see such teamwork and creativity.
We finished today’s session by telling each other what we had enjoyed about Forest School today.
“making tracks”
“building our base”