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.
