Maple Class Forest School

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.

We played a game of ‘Sparrow hawk’ on our way to the woods. The children were all small animals that had to freeze to evade being caught by the sparrow hawk. The children enjoyed a bit of Autumn sunshine and faced the sun to ‘recharge’ their batteries.

This week in school we have been thinking about fireworks, so today in the woods the children learned how to stay safe around a fire. They practised moving around the fire by being a ‘green dragon’ safely round the outside of the log circle. They reminded each other by saying ‘red dragon’ if they moved inside the circle.

The tools the children learned to use today were fire strikers. They practised trying to make sparks, to then start a fire.

They learned fire needs a spark, fuel and air, so blew on the small fires they had made to get them going.

There was time to perfect swinging and pushing our friends. They explored their own interests in the woods, exploring the site and finding a swing to practise their independence at using it

The equipment we used today was the handwashing equipment. Maple were impressed that some of it was made by their Buddies in Lilac class. The children all washed their hands after being in the stream, before we left the woods.

It was great to see how the children had developed their photography skills and photographed each other on the class ipad playing and exploring in the woods. They also showed fantastic interest in their Autumn environment and curiosity and teamwork in the woods.

A massive thanks to our volunteers who supported the children with all of their exploring and learning. We can’t wait until next time!