The sun has finally started shining, so the Chestnuts set off along the shade of the hedge to the Forest School area with hats and water bottles. Along the way the children found lots of sticky weed growing in the hedge and some made crowns out of the plants they found!
“It is really scratchy”
“I would like to be a King in a castle with my crown”
“Look! The sticky weed is sticking to your clothes!”
The class started with a circle around the fire pit in the cool shade of the shelter. We talked about the summer and how midsummer’s day is next week, with the longest day of the year.
The class all smelled the midsummer flowers of the elder tree and set about making some elderflower cordial. The first step was collecting wood to make a fire, which they did completely independently, remembering they needed really dry wood and that they had to sort it into a variety of sizes from thick to really thin.
The class used their skills builder knowledge to support each other with their fire lighting by talking through how to use the fire strikers, listening well, supporting each other with encouragement and showing great teamwork with sharing the resources.
Once the fire was lit, they helped prepare the ingredients for the cordial. This involved talking through the recipe, picking flowers, adding sugar and lemon and taking turns to stir their cooking and tending the fire.
The Impact of Forest School for the children is the knowledge the children have gained from the Forest School experience. The developing independence in fire making skills was evident today.
The impact can be seen through the skills gained, tools used, art and craft activities, observations and knowledge of the fruit, plants trees in relation to the seasons and the skills involved in learning how to play Forest School games.
The rest of the afternoon saw Chestnuts following their own ideas.
Some of the Chestnuts talked about symmetrical butterfly patterns as they created their own imaginative representations and flew them around the Forest School area.
Some went to the pond to investigate, following on from their last session. They found and looked closely at the skins left from damselflies which had developed from larvae in the pond.
Throughout the session the children reflected on the impact of Forest School, by discussing and evaluating their year. There were lots of brilliant comments:
“I like Forest School, the green and plants and nature make me feel calm”
“I have learned listening skills and creativity and teamwork”
“I like playing games together”
“I loved making fires!”
There was also lots of climbing of the trees and swinging on the tyre swing and the hammock and playing in the mud kitchen. Lots of the children chose to make bows out of wood that they had found and some spent time adding to the bug hotel.
It is great to see the confidence in self-chosen activities at Forest School developing in all of the children. And that they can reflect upon and acknowledge the impact of the experience of Forest School. Well done Chestnuts!
