While getting themselves ready for Forest School today we talked about why birds build nests. The class told me that they build them for their eggs and baby birds. Once they were ready, the class tried walking like different animals as we made our way to Forest School. They crept like a fox, hopped like a frog, flapped their wings like a bird and buzzed like a bee.
We sat around the fire circle and reminded ourselves of the rules we follow to keep us safe around the fire; well done Willows for remembering all of them! Some of the class then helped build a fire making sure to put larger sticks at the bottom and smaller ones on the top. With a little help, they used a flint and steel to light some cotton wool to place on the fire. Once the fire had got going, we placed some popcorn kernels in the middle of two sieves and held them over the fire. Some other members of the class came over to watch the popcorn being made, “I’m waiting for it to pop, pop”. Once it was ready, a little sugar was added and it was enjoyed by the whole class.
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.
Some children chose to play with the bird teddies which had come to Forest School again today. Using hay they created nests for the birds to sit in, which were placed into trees, “look it’s in a tree like a real nest”. Then Willows decorated stones to make colourful eggs for their nests, some with spots others with many different colours.
There were some creations in the mud kitchen, using some old charcoal from the fire. They put the charcoal into a saucepan and crushed it up, adding water and other materials to make a black soup.
With a little less water and large puddles at Forest School today there was a lot more mud to explore. The class walked through the sticky mud trying not to get stuck, leaving some great footprints as they walked.
