Maples set off for a chilly afternoon at Forest School. We played a game of Spirit of the Forest to get the class warmed up. The class chose which woodland animal they wanted to be; we had foxes, badgers and deer. The Spirit of the Forest then called the animals one at a time, they ran across to the other side trying not to get caught. If they were caught they became a tree with long branches to catch other animals.
Soon we had created a woodland full of trees!
The class sat around the fire circle, we went through some of the rules and reminded ourselves how to be safe by the fire. Some of the class helped to lay the fire, starting with larger sticks at the bottom, stacking it up to smaller sticks at the top. Then using a striker they lit some cotton wool to add to our fire. The fire was very popular today with the children sitting around it to warm up.
There were all sorts of cooking creations happening in the mud kitchen. The children found ice and added it to what they made. They brought the pans of woodland materials and ice over to the fire, carefully placing them on top to melt the ice.
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.
Using stones that had animal tracks on them, the class made their own tracks using clay. They pushed the stones into the clay leaving an indent.
We finished the session today by asking Maples what new things they would like to try at Forest School:
“cooking pizza”
“popcorn”
“cinnamon apples again”
As you can see all the idea are very food based!
