On the way to the woods, Maple Class played a game of ‘Owl eyes’, where they had to hide in the buttercups in the meadow. The children noticed the canopy full of leaves on the trees and the ‘may flower’ hawthorn blossom.
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.
This week the children had a go at ‘leaf wapping’; printing with leaves and flowers. They collected different leaves and flowers in the woodland and learned to identify them by their shapes. They found buttercups, speedwell and bluebells. They took hammers and fabric and folded the flowers into the fabric and hit the sap and juice out of them with hammers, creating symmetrical patterns on the fabric.
Maple Class spent lots of time swinging on the hammock and spinning on the swing. They acted out stories on the bridge over the stream, pretending to be the ‘Billy goats gruff’ and taking turns in playing the troll under the bridge. The children saw a vehicle in the woods and went to investigate. They found out about how to fell a tree and spilt it with wedges and axes. They had a quick climb onto the ‘gator’ vehicle which was carrying all of the tools and equipment and taking the cut wood away to be made into furniture.
AT the end of the session Maple class managed to pass 2 ‘woodland whispers’ all the way along the line of them, listening brilliantly to each other. They also shared some of the things they had enjoyed about their afternoon.
“I liked swinging on the swing and spinning around.”
“I like bashing the flowers to make a print…it looks beautiful!”
“I like hearing the story of the ‘Billy goats gruff’ at the stream.”
“I love the walk to Forest School and playing ‘Owl eyes’ in the meadow.”
