Chestnuts started their session by looking at a selection of bones belonging to animals from the British countryside. As they looked at each one, the children tried to work out which animal the bones were from. They did really well at this. The bones were passed around giving everyone the opportunity to take a closer look.
A few children helped to lay and light the fire, making sure to start with larger sticks at the bottom and working their way to smaller sticks at the top. Then they used a flint and steel to light a piece of cotton wool. The children who had managed to light their own cotton wool then worked with the others who were finding it a bit difficult. They offered great advice and encouragement. It is quite tricky to do but they all persevered and eventually managed to light it by themselves.
Once the fire was going, we hung a kettle of water over it to boil some water for hot chocolate. The children helped to get the cups ready and watched for the steam to start coming out of the spout. This gave them a sign that the water might be ready, however it was the rattling of the kettle lid that told us the water was boiling. A nice warm hot chocolate was then enjoyed by all the class!
Some children chose to make improvements to the den they had built in their last session as it had been changed by another class. They worked well to transport the materials they needed from one end of the site the other.
Using empty toilet rolls the children made feeders to place around the Forest School site for the local birds. They did this by covering the toilet rolls in lard and then rolling them in bird seed. Then they chose a tree branch to hang their feeder from.
The Impact of Forest School for the children is the knowledge the children have gained from the Forest School experience, this 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.
