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Crispy Apple Fritters 21/10/20

It was a fond farewell to the first Forest School group of the year. As requested, the children got to do some cooking. All the jobs were split up; some children went of looking for apples, others made some batter and the fire needed to be lit. Between that and making dens, exploring new paths and a drawing and making everyone had a good time.

Not everyone liked the apples but everyone did have a taste. There was even enough for some to have several. As the fire went down to glowing embers we had time to talk about what our favourite things at Forest School were. It seemed that most people enjoyed den making the best although I think a close second must be drinking the hot chocolate.

When you look at the photos can you tell which ones were taken by the children?

Fungi Funday 14/10/20

After all the rain and damp weather that we have had our Forest School area has had a super abundance of mushrooms growing. I can recognise the Shaggy Ink Caps and Slimy Wax Cap but have seen 3 other types of mushroom growing.

After the success of last week’s Hapa Zome I thought it would be good to make some leaf prints and use the apples to make some stampers. Alas the leaves were just too wet so the paint became to runny so didn’t make very clear prints. More fun was had using the paints and painting pictures of leaves.

Mrs. Heslop took some children to the climbing tree where great adventures can be had. When they came back some children started to use the rope, tarps and logs to make a den. This den making lasted the rest of the session and became very complicated. Other children liked the ideas of making dens around other parts of the site and made, (what they called) a rabbit hole.

Finally the drills were brought out and some stick people were made. A special one was made for Mrs. Howse as it was all painted in purple; Mrs. Howse’s favourite colour.

The school has a few pairs of boots that we can give out, but after each use they need to be spayed down and then quarantined for 72 hours. It is starting to get muddy so it is really important that children wear suitable footwear and warm clothes.

Happy Hapa Zome 07/10/20

When ever I go into the car park I spy the big apple tree full of apples. They are big red and look just about perfect. When I go and look for them I find them on the floor eaten by worms and not at all appetising, this annoys me a bit as I really like eating apples, especially free ones. I thought it would be good if the Forest School group could try and get some apples.  We got a long rope and hoked as far up the tree as possible and as a team tried to shake the apples off. I am afraid the rope was too stretchy so we only got two. We will have to think of some better ideas.

With the leaves just beginning to turn I thought it would be nice to use them before they all go. We did some Hapa Zome, (hitting leaves with a hammer through a cloth).  The results were better than I have seen before some of the colours were fantastic. The trouble was the cloth kept blowing away. It seemed like a good idea to stick them to some wood. We got the big bow saw out and used that to cut up some wood biscuits. The finished product looked great.

Fire Apples 29/10/20

Does anyone know where the big apple tree is? Year 1 Forest School group do. It took some finding and scrambling around but we found it, the trouble is the tree is soo tall we can not pick any of the apples and have to wait for them to fall down, even so there were lots for us to use.

This week the children practiced making fires and ten using it to cook. We spent a lot of time talking about and practicing fire safety. When everything was ready to light the fire a group of children went to fill the fire bucket with water. On the way back they got a bit distracted by an excellent climbing tree. It is hard using the fire steels for the first time and can be difficult to get a spark. Oliver did very well and even managed to light the fire starter.

When the fire was ready the children cut a willow stick, sharpened one end and then stuck an apple slice on it. This was dipped into cinnamon sugar before being slowly cooked over the fire. They were delicious, I ate two!

Mushy Mushy 23/09/20

A very wet and soggy Forest School today, but not to worry we had the big tarp up so we could all be dry.

The first thing we did was have a look at the wasp nest. There were not many about today as they were hiding from the rain too, just to be safe we thought it was best not to go past it as wasps don’t like stamping feet. They will all die out when the first frosts arrive, until then we will keep an eye on them.

Our school site is quite extensive so we had an explore down at the bottom. It is totally different; dark and gloomy and more like a wood. The only downside is that people have used it as a dump. Any volunteers for a cleaning day? We used a rope to climb back up which was very exciting and perhaps a bit scary.

When we got back to camp everyone made their own pencil and ink and drew some fantastic pictures. The rain came down even harder so we had some hot chocolate to warm up and came in a bit early to dry out.

As we go into the autumn it is super important that the children have warm clothes a water proof coat and on a wet day like today some wellies.

Newburn Jam 16/09/20

It was great to be out in our very own school area for Forest School. I love going into the Dene but I was excited to be able to use the school site for Forest School for the first time. I think in a couple more years the place will be fantastic with trees that can give shade, an area for fires and lots of space for adventures.

Being the first week the children were not sure what sort of things they would be able to do so I bought in a big bag of sugar and set the children to pick as many blackberries as they could. There are lots about. It always seems that the juiciest ones are the hardest to reach luckily we had some brave children with strong coats and we had soon got enough berries. They were cooked down over a smoky fire and when the mixture ad reached a gooey consistency poured into jars. We used the last of the fire to make toast and we had delicious Newburn bramble jam on toast with hot chocolate.

Of course the children also picked their own activities; some built a den with big logs, others liked to play hide and seek whilst for some putting logs on the fire was their favourite activity. Next week the children want to do some leaf art. Time to look out some paints.