It was great to see the perseverance of the children getting themselves ready; with their wellies and waterproofs to venture out into the rain and Forest School.
The children played some nature identification games called ‘You are only safe when you are touching…’ They looked at clover leaves, yellow flowers, fallen leaves, sycamore helicopters, oak trees and acorns. One of the children brilliantly shared their knowledge of acorns, carefully explaining how they are the babies of the oaks and they grow into big trees.
They learned they shouldn’t ever eat anything they pick, unless their supporting adults have discussed it with them, because it might make them ill.
The children had a go at copying rhythms with sticks and learned a song to sing with tapping sticks.
They explored the Forest School area, identifying which places were safe and which parts they had could only explore with adults. They learned how to wash their hands whilst in the Forest School area. There were some tall nettles, prickly brambles and large wet, muddy puddles which the children saw and then stayed away from. The children spotted the bird boxes and all jumped when a bird flew out of the large owl box on the oak tree!
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, 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.
Then the children had the chance to play with the mud kitchen and go on the rope swing. They spent a long time making ‘soup’ and other concoctions with all of the acorns they had collected from the floor.
“This is some vegetable soup for you and the grass is grated cheese on top”
“I changed this acorn to be money, you can buy some food from the mud kitchen now”
Some children were very interested in exploring the bug hotel and looking under the logs to look for minibeasts. They found some spider webs, a moth, some woodlice and some slugs.
Willows ended their session by passing ‘Stick Man’ round the circle and sharing what they had enjoyed about the afternoon.
“I loved swinging on the rope”
“I liked playing in the mud kitchen”
“I like the slugs I found”
“I liked collecting acorns, I got more than 8!”
Finally Willows had a go at passing a ‘Woodland Whisper’ along the line from child to child. It started out as ‘acorns’ and finished as ‘hotdogs’! We will practise again next time! Well done Willows for engaging and playing so well at your first Forest School session.
