Oaks started their Forest School session today by playing a game called Bat and Moth. The group all held hands to create a cave with two children in the middle, one as the bat and one as the moth. The bat wore a blindfold and carefully listened for the moths squeak. The bat then tried to catch the moth as they ran around the cave.
We had a fire today to keep ourselves warm as well as make some popcorn. The children laid the fire ready for lighting making sure to start with bigger sticks at the bottom and smaller sticks at the top. Using a flint and steel they very quickly lit a piece of cotton wool and added it to the fire they had laid. Once the fire was warm enough they added some popcorn kernels to a sieve. This was then held over the fire to heat up and pop. When it was ready, sugar was added and the popcorn was enjoyed by all of Oaks.
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 trees in relation to the seasons and the skills involved in learning how to play Forest School games.
Some bird teddies also joined Forest School today. Some children chose to make nests for the birds using hay, quite a few of the nests were made inside sauce-pans! Using pens they decorated some stones to make colourful eggs for their birds to sit on.
Some of the class chose to try whittling. They did this by cutting a length of willow and then using a peeler to stripped off the bark. They then tied wool onto either end pulling it tight to create a bow. They came back to whittle more willow to make arrows.
There was a lot of tree climbing at Forest School today, Oaks would make very good monkeys. The mud kitchen was very busy with lots of mud being transported to create food. The children also took it in turns to push and twist each other using the hammock as a swing.
