group 2

Mr. Apple Head 25/11/20

This week we split the group into two so they could have more directed time in smaller groups. Each group still did the same activities and everyone liked playing foxes and rabbits, through the hedge on our way to the Forest School site. When we got there we went off exploring and found all the apples that had fallen of the tree there were lots! They make great heads as the apple is easy to carve. We used different berries and cones for the eyes and various sized sticks for teeth and noses. When they dry out a bit they will shrink into skulls, how exciting.

The children got to use a new tool today. In order to hold the head up they had to make a special stick. We used bark peelers and a safety glove to make the willow sticks clean.

Of course there was still time to go exploring and play in the rabbit hole den. What a lot everyone packed into their time at Forest School. Oh and we had one pupil take some of the pictures, they turned out very well. 

Apple Drop and Rope Adventures 11/11/20

The children really started to get into the swing of things this week. Different pupils felt able to choose the things that interested them and started to explore that part of the outside environment.

I visited the local wood yard and got a big bag of off cut timber. This proved to be very popular for making all sorts of interesting things, we have some beautiful rainbows, a colie dog, a fox and an aeroplane.

Other children enjoy using the pens to colour in and worked very hard on pictures of rabbits. We have a lot of rabbits on our site and we spent quite a bit of time investigating where they might live. There are a lot of good rabbit hiding places, as no matter where we went we couldn’t find them. One group of explores found the very bottom of the school area, on the way discovering the apple tree. (I was surprised to see so many apples about so next week we are going to make something with them.) We needed to get a rope out to be able to get back to our base. This proved so much fun that more children joined the adventure and went around the paths for most of the morning.

We miss not having a fire but until everyone gets used to moving around the area we have to pretend that there is one there. To help us we made a fake fire and have painted up some very realistic wooden marshmallows. I hope no one gets tricked when they are ready to go home.

Autumn Crowns 04/11/20

Most of the leaves have turned on the the trees and a lot have already dropped but the colours remain fantastic so feeling inspired I took out some sugar paper for the children to collect some leaves and make some crowns.

This being the children's first Forest School session we first took some time to explore the area. We found a great climbing tree, a den that some older children had started to make and a huge chunk of fungus called artists conk (Ganoderma applanatum) that is very good for drawing on.

After the children listened to where they were allowed to go they went off on there own to explore, make thing or collect leaves. As is so often the case the children found new things to do that I had not imagined. Using the off cuts of wood many children set too, joining them together to make interesting things. Then some decided that they would look good coloured so we got the paints out. Hammering is always difficult but the determination showed by the children was fantastic and the results were very good. I will be on the look out for some scraps of wood again for next week.

As the weather gets colder it becomes more important for your child to have on several layers and a coat. Thick socks inside wellies will also make your child more comfortable.