Willows class listened to the birds singing outside their classroom at the beginning of the session held in the spring sunshine this week.
They played a game ‘Spirit of the Forest’ where they pretended to be woodland birds: robins, woodpeckers and owls and had to fly through the forest without being caught by the trees.
Willows joined in with the rhythms and words of a song and then used tapping sticks to make up new rhythm patterns and took turns in leading the class. They played a listening and guessing game, by trying to identify some birds by their bird calls.
Then each of the children made their own colourful card bird, which they took off to fly around the Forest School area. Some children made nests for them, they counted their birds, took them into their den and made up a bird dance with them, talked about the patterns and colours of their birds, made bird feeders for them with pine cones and seeds and then proudly showed them off to Maples Class whilst they were out running their mile.
The Impact of Forest School for the children is the knowledge they have gained from their Forest School experience.
The impact can be seen through the skills gained, tools used, the art and craft activities, observations and knowledge of fruit, plants and trees in relation to the fruit, plants and trees in relation to the seasons and the skills involved in learning how to play Forest School Games.
Some children took their birds to explore the bug hotel and found some woodlice and worms, which they thought their birds could eat. They also created a see saw and a bridge for the bugs in the bug hotel!
Some children enjoyed jumping in the muddy hole and playing in the mud kitchen.
They then passed ‘Stick Man’ around the circle to share what they enjoyed about the session.
“I liked going on the tyre swing and making my bird”
“I liked playing in the den with my friends”
“I liked making bird feeders, look, I hung them up on the trees”
“I liked making a nest for all of the birds, there was 11,12,13 birds”
“ I liked making my yellow hammer bird”
Well done Willows class for such a busy and engaged afternoon.
