Children have helped to create and plant the Forest School. They have sown wildflower seeds and planted elder, rowan, hawthorn, beech and many other trees to create hedgerows. They have made and put in ‘bug hotels’.
Our grass circle (mound) is used as a discussion, story telling, circle times and much more. The pond was stocked with tadpoles and snails and the Forest School continues to develop.
Children are encouraged to problem solve, work in teams and to come up with their own questions and answers, without being guided too much by the adults. Even painting their faces with mud for a lot of children has been a first.
These are some of the activities that have taken part in Forest School.
• Y4s – Blindfold walk, ‘wonky’ ‘tower’ structures
o Follow up work – 3D shapes
• Y5s – Den building
o Follow up work – wonky tower structures
• Y1s – Caterpillar collection (camouflage), mud painting
o Follow up work – artist’s palette
• Reception – Dinosaur pictures up, make dinosaur homes
o Follow up work – story and making shapes from natural materials
• Y4s – Touch cards, make a beetle from natural materials, a practise at leaf bashing
o Follow up work – leaf bashing beetles
• Y5s – Touch cards, mapping the area, example leaf bashing
o Follow up work – leaf bashing
• Y3s – Boggarts and boggart houses
o Follow up work – mud painting
• Reception – Butterfly life cycle, caterpillar collection, mud painting butterflies
o Follow up work – put butterflies on a stick to take home
• Y2s – Blindfold walk, match colours on laminated sheet, mud tower challenge
• Y1s – Decorate a magic wand, find magic words, make a magic word and gesture, magic potion
• Y2s – Cuddly toy hunt (animals who live in the woods), make a house for your toy, story stones o Follow up work – story stones stories
• Y1s – Cuddly toy hunt, hiding acorns squirrel game, make an animal home
• Y3s – Andy Goldsworthy art gallery and discussion, maths scavenger hunt, story stones, creating a story from stones and scavenger hunt materials.
The beginning of our Forest School!!!