After making their way down to Forest School, Maples sat around the fire circle to talk about what was available for the children to explore today. While doing this, the children were given a container of cream to shake as hard as they could. We were hoping that all the shaking would make butter. This didn’t take too long and once it was ready the children had the opportunity to try the butter on a cracker. It was enjoyed by most of the class with many of them wanting more!

In small groups, some of the children used a peeler to whittle a small length of hazel. Some of the group found this a little tricky but they persevered until they had managed to remove all the bark. They were able to use the same method of peeling on one end of their stick to create a point which made a ‘pencil’. Using wool, the children added a soft holding decoration to their pencil. Then they placed some charcoal into a saucepan and crushed it into a fine powder. They add a little water to create a black paste. The pencils they had made were dipped into the paste and some beautiful pictures were drawn.

The class also enjoyed creating many yummy dishes in the mud kitchen, using a selection of grasses, leaves and of course MUD! The children were very good at taking turns as they pushed their friends on the tyre swing and practiced their balancing on the slack line. Some children chose not to hold on to the support line but instead used sticks to help themselves balance. Others chose to transport natural materials across our site to construct dens.

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.

Chestnuts started their Forest School session today with a game of Keeper of the Keys. To play the game, the children have to sit in a circle with one child guarding a set of keys of the middle. A child from the circle is chosen to sneak in, steal the keys and then run as fast as they can back to their spot before the keeper catches them. It was great to hear the class cheering each other on.

Once on the Forest School site, the children were given a pot of cream to shake as hard as they could. Shaking the cream will eventually turn it into butter. When it was ready the children sat round the fire circle and tried some of the butter on a cracker. This was enjoyed by most of the class with many of them wanting another one and another!

Many of the class chose to try using a knife to whittle their own piece of Willow. They started by spreading themselves out around the fire circle, making sure to leave a good distance between each other, and placing a glove on the hand that would be holding the Willow stick. After a safety demonstration the children were able to try for themselves and did really well at removing the bark. Once all the bark was stripped from their stick, an adult helped to add a point to their stick creating a pencil. They crushed up some charcoal and added a little water to make a black paste to draw with. They drew on our fire circle logs and nearby trees.

There was plenty of free play in the mud kitchen, den building and on the slackline.

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.

Willows started their session by making their way to the pond by the allotment. They were divided into small groups for pond dipping and were excited to see what they could find living under the water. It wasn’t long before the children’s nets were full of living things. These were placed on a tray so that the class could take a closer look. We took the tray to a shady spot and, using an ID sheet, we sat as a group to see if the children could identify what they had caught. They identified lots of things including newts, Ramshorn snails and caddisfly larvae.

Once we were on the Forest School site, Willows were given a pot of cream to shake as hard and fast as they could with the hope of turning the cream into butter. When the butter was ready, the children had the opportunity to try some of it on a cracker. This went down very well with many of the class wanting seconds!

A few children wanted to try whittling. They did this by putting a glove on the hand that was going to be holding the stick and using a peeler to remove all the bark. Once all the bark was removed each child, with the help of Dormouse, was able to use a knife to add a point to their stick turning it into a pencil. Then they added decorations to their ‘pencil’ using pens.

There was some great free play in the mud kitchen, with the children cooking up all sorts of yummy creations, relaxing in the sunshine in hammocks and practicing their tree climbing skills.

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.

Forest School began today with the children helping to move some previously cut vegetation into a skip. While undertaking this task the children demonstrated great teamwork. They used forks to load the wheelbarrow before wheeling it round to the skip to be emptied. As they worked through the pile they came across a bulb, then another and another. They gathered up all of the bulbs as they wanted to take them down to Forest School to plant. Once at Forest School the bulbs were planted next to the new bug hotel. One of the children shared the method her Granddad had taught her when planting bulbs.

A couple of children helped to lay and light the fire remembering that you start with the bigger sticks at the bottom, working to smaller sticks at the top. When the fire was burning well, the children took it in turns to go into the fire circle and toast a marshmallow. The gooey marshmallow was squished between two chocolate biscuits and enjoyed!

A group chose to make some rather impressive alterations to an existing den found in the bottom corner of Forest School. They gathered every single length of timber they could carry to add the den, making sure to block in all of the gaps but leaving an entrance.

Using clay the children tried making their own birds which was a little tricky but there were some very cool birds created. They used tools and sticks to add texture to the clay making patterns that looked like feathers. They didn’t however stop at birds, someone made an cat, some cherries and even a cup.

There was plenty of free play on the tyre swing, taking it in turns to push their friends. The children also enjoyed the spring sunshine by relaxing in the hammocks.

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.

Willows started their session today with a discussion about some of the changes they may see now we are in spring. They said that we would see flowers and leaves on the trees. The class then split in groups for a spring scavenger hunt. The sheet they had was covered in lots of different signs they may be able to spot today while on their Forest School adventure.

We lit the fire and the children set about making garlic bread using wild garlic. First of all, the garlic was cut into small pieces and then mixed in with some butter. This was then spread on some toast ready for the class to try. A lot of the children tried the garlic bread but some of them weren’t too keen. The few that did enjoy it came back for a second and third piece.

The children were very excited by their discovery of a rather large den at one end of Forest School – they had found the base camp a previous class had constructed. They were very quick to move in and put their own mark on the camp.

There was a selection of bird teddies for the children to use while at Forest School today. They were able to gather their own natural materials to create their chosen bird a nest to live in. They also decorated some stones as eggs to place inside their nests.

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.

The children had a great time during their Forest School session last week. To begin with, the class foraged for materials to make a funny face gallery. Next, they created clay models of yet to be discovered rainforest creatures! The children then had choosing time so they could enjoy exploring and making their own dens. We ended the session with a game of Eagleeye where the children have to return to their hiding places before the eagle’s eyes open and they are caught!

Oaks started their session today with a discussion about some of the signs of Spring that they may spot in and out of the school grounds. They mentioned daffodils, bluebells and buds on the trees that have new leaves inside them. Next, a bowl was handed around with something in for the class to smell. It was something that they would have the opportunity to try later on in the session once the fire was ready.

A few of the children helped to lay and light the fire. They remembered from previous sessions that the sticks for the fire have to be stacked with larger ones at the bottom and smaller ones at the top. Then using a flint and steel they lit a piece of cotton wool, which they placed on top of the wood they had just stacked.

While waiting for the fire, the children prepared some garlic butter for everyone to try. First, they cut the wild garlic up as small as they could before adding some butter. The mixture was squashed all together to form a green buttery paste. They spread the butter onto some toast, which was enjoyed by everyone. Lots of the children liked it so much they came back for a second and third helping!

Oaks found that the den they had created against the large Oak tree in their last session had been dismantled and moved by another class. This did not bother them and they soon got stuck in moving all the materials to a different location to create themselves a new and improved base camp.

Someone found an old bird nest that had fallen from a tree. The children added some hay to fix the side of the nest, before decorating some stones to use as eggs to place inside the nest. While decorating their stones they could hear a bird singing. They
thought it was one of the bird teddies on the table in front of them, however it turned out to be a real bird that was singing in response every time the teddy bird sang.

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.

As Chestnuts made their way to Forest School they were keeping an eye out for any seasonal changes that they could spot along the way. They noticed bird nests in the hedgerow and longer greener grass. As a group we talked about other changes we may
see now that Spring is upon us.

The children sat around the fire circle and passed a pot of garlic butter around so they could see what it smelt like. Some of them liked it whereas others said it was a bit stinky! A fire was then lit and bread was toasted ready for the class to try the garlic
butter. There were very mixed feelings about the garlic, some liked it and others were not so keen.

A selection of bird teddies came to Forest School with us today. The children used hay and other natural materials they gathered from around the site to create nests for the birds to sit in. The nests were created up in the trees, down under bushes and on top of logs. They also used stones that they had decorated in bright colours as eggs to place in their nests. While building their nests one child spotted a Robin hopping about in the hedge. The children rushed off to find their classmate who had the Robin teddy to show them that they had found a real Robin at Forest School.

The children worked together to help clean the mud kitchen ready for it to be painted. They used trowels to get as much of the mud off as they could, but found that it was a little tricky to get into the gaps. They decided to use sticks instead to scrape all the mud out of the gaps, which worked really well.

Chestnuts finished their session today by sprucing up the sign that we have by the nature pond as it was looking a little faded. They went over the lettering and added bees and flowers to the sign.

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.

We started Forest School today with some of the group helping to lay and light a fire ready to enjoy s’mores. The children helped to set up and once everything was ready, they were able to practice their fire striking skills. The children who found this easy worked with the younger ones who found it a little harder and helped them to light their piece of cotton wool. Once the fire was lovely and warm, the children took it in turns to come into the fire circle and toast a marshmallow. They placed the warm marshmallow in between two chocolate biscuits ready to be enjoyed.

Some children chose to make toilet roll bird feeders. They did this by covering a toilet roll in lard and then rolling it through some birdseed. Then they put a piece of string through the toilet roll and tied it off so that the feeder could be hung from a nearby tree ready for the birds to enjoy!

Using more empty toilet rolls, the children made themselves binoculars to help them spot any birds that may hiding in the trees ready to test out the bird feeders. They used masking tape to hold the two rolls together and added a piece of string so they could wear them around their necks. Then they used pens to personalise and decorate their binoculars.

Sadly, the base camp that had been made by the group in their last session had been turned into something a little different by another group. The class did not let this bother them, they very quickly moved all the material back to their chosen location and started the reconstruction of their base camp.

There was plenty of free play in the mud kitchen with all sorts of yummy sounding food being created. The group also made the most of the new tyre swing, taking it in turns to push their friends.

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.

Maples set off in the winter sunshine to enjoy an afternoon at Forest School. Once at Forest School the class sat down to take a look at a selection of bones belonging to animals found in the British countryside. Looking at each one individually the class tried to work out which animal each one belonged to. They did rather well with only a few clues. The bones were passed around giving the children the opportunity to hold them, take a closer look, see what they felt like, what the teeth looked like and how heavy they were.

As the rest of the class set off to explore Forest School a couple members of the class stayed to help get the fire started. They laid the fire remembering to place the larger sticks at the bottom and work their way to smaller sticks at the top. Then they used a flint and steel to light some cotton wool. Some found this really tricky, however the children who had managed to light theirs offered some great advice and encouragement to those finding it tricky, making sure to cheer and clap when the cotton wool finally caught fire. A kettle was then placed over the fire to boil water so we could make a nice warm hot chocolate for the whole class to enjoy.

The base camp that the children had created last time they were at Forest School had been moved, but this did not bother the children. Working together they transported all the materials back to their preferred spot in the corner. They recreated their base camp, making a few adjustments and improvements.

Some of the children chose to make bird feeders for the bird we share our Forest School site with. They did this by cutting an apple into quarters and pushing as many sunflower seeds in as they could. They also used an empty toilet roll which they covered with lard and rolled in bird seed. Both the feeders were then hung in nearby trees ready for the birds to enjoy.

Using salt dough, the children created their own animal tracks to keep. They did this by pushing a stone with an animal footprint on into the salt dough and leaving an impression. Many of the children chose to do two, the animal and the track.

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.