Willow Class set off for an afternoon in the woods in glorious sunshine. As they made their way they had the task of shaking a tub of cream, hopeful that they would have made butter by the time they arrived at Forest School. Along the way the class stopped to play a game of tag eagle eye, being given the count to 10 to hide as far away as they could. Each time Dormouse closed her eyes for 10 the class had to come out from their hiding place and tap her hands, then run back to hide before the count to ten ended without being caught. Much fun was had by all!
By the time the class arrived at Forest School, the cream has been shaken enough to become butter. The class then sat around the fire circle taking it in turns to look at the two different outcomes (butter milk and butter) from all their hard work. The butter was then enjoyed by all on crackers, with many of the class coming up for seconds!
Butter tasted, the children moved onto more strenuous activity, with a few children choosing to learn how to put up a slack line, wrapping the two parts of the slack line around two different trees, making sure that it was not twisted. The tail of the ling line was then treaded through the ratchet and they tested their arm strength by tightening the ratchet as much as they could. This was a little tricky but as a team of three they managed to pull it tight. Once up, they realised there was no top line to hold onto, so instead were given two sticks for balance.
Holding the sticks they pulled themselves up onto the slack line, then using them as giant walking sticks made their way along the line. It was great to see the children of Willow Class being so kind to each other by holding the sticks still while their classmate climbed up onto the line.
One child said:
“I think it’s easier if you have wellies on because your foot is bigger”
An idea that was discussed with agreement reached that this is because it gave the foot a larger surface area.
The children were challenged today to build themselves a den and they worked in groups to gather the materials they might need. One group chose some very long sticks and propped them up into a tree stating:
“we are making a tee-pee”,
They then gathered some moss to cover their roof. Another group worked well together to gather some very long branches. These were then propped up in a hazel coppice to make a large circular den. Some on the lengths that they were bringing back were so long that the decided to saw them in half to make them a more manageable length! Again there was some wonderful teamwork while building dens together with great words of encouragement from members of the class to any classmate that was trying something new.
On our last trip this year, it was great to see how the class had developed in teamwork and perseverance.
Well done, Willow Class!
