Forest School Week 2

This week the children took on the challenge of the hill!  This area of the site is a favourite for the children and they really enjoyed discovering ways to support one another to reach their goal of climbing to the top of the hill independently.  Once one of the children reached the top of the hill they looked for ways in which to help the others get up the hill, George then had a fantastic idea “I need rope” he quickly headed back down the hill and retrieved rope from the trolley and returned back to the hill, once back at the top he unravelled the rope and threw it back down the hill.  He soon realised that to make the rope more secure he would need to attach it to a tree so asked an adult for support, the children then began to hold onto the rope and pull themselves up the hill.

There were many other ways to get up and down the hill including using the rake to climb up and sitting down to slide all the way to the bottom.  Working together every child discovered a new and interesting way to get up or down the hill and had so much fun, this was a great experience that left us very dirty!!

As we trek on our usual route home we headed towards the birds feeders, this time to leave some food for the birds, we put out several fat balls and some bird seed in the hanging bowls.  The children talked about what we might find the following week when we returned. Would the birds eat it or perhaps the squirrels will steal it!!

Forest School Week 1

The children were very excited for their very first week at forest school and for most of the children this was their first time visiting our site. The children were very eager to explore their new environments and surroundings and showed a good level of confidence to explore.

As this was the first time to forest school, we introduced children to our rules and ways of the forest, the children listened intently as staff demonstrated how to cross roads safely, how to behave around dogs or strangers and about the importance of not picking up rubbish, berries or anything else they were unsure of (this is when staff enjoy role play too, pretending to go pick berries!!) The children showed a good level of understanding of these rules and were soon ready for our adventures through the forest.

Once at camp, the children and adults worked together to carry some large branches to our new camp area and we all made ourselves at home using these as seats. This was also an important time to go over some more rules of the forest. We talked about the children being able to see an adult at all times, “If you can’t see the grown up…..then the grown up can’t see you.”  We also talked about our camp fires and keeping ourselves and others safe. The children were fascinated when Lisa showed them the Kelly Kettle and the children had their own ideas for what it was for. Soren thought we might make hot chocolate in the Kelly kettle……very close Soren! Once the fire was lit for the Kelly Kettle, Harrison was amazed and so entranced by the small flames.

As it was autumn time there were so many leaves all around us on the ground. Back at nursery we had been doing lots of activities using fallen leaves including printing, sorting by colour, identifying the trees they were from and using them to make arrangements in art/transient ways. Isobel and Scarlett were very keen to collect leaves and they initiated their own game of finding matching leaves. The girls did very well and managed to collect almost identical leaves from Oak, Maple and Horse Chestnut trees.

As we headed home from forest school we discovered a small area where there were many different bird feeders, as we watched a small squirrel scurried by.  We sat patiently watching as the birds came and went but the squirrel hid away.  This left the children with lots of thoughts ready for the following week.

Forest School Week 6

The last week of our project coincides with our exciting activity of cooking outdoors on a ‘real fire’!

It is our last week with our older volunteers Pat and Sheila and our project lead Kay. The children are aware it is their last week at the forest; they have shown an immense amount of engagement with Pat, Sheila and Kay, they ask them to come and visit them in ‘their nursery’, they show them friendship, strong connections and how much they have made positive relationships with them.

At this stage of development, children don’t understand the concept of possibly not seeing them again, or time frame, they think and believe they will… sometime soon. As Early Years practitioners working with the children every day, this relationship with the volunteers is something we now have to think about maintaining for the children, even if periodically.

We celebrated the end of 6 weeks with important forest school learning; shelter building, firewood collecting, making a fire, health and safety, food preparation and of course cooking!!

We also had two planned activities:

• Leaf identification wheels

• Crafting witches broom sticks

The children were ready and raring to go and as always, there are those natural investigations that take over our adult planned activities. Most important are the children’s own interests, following their investigations brings about strong enquiries, collaboration and knowledge covering all areas of learning.

We arrive to an area of the woodland in Heaton Park which is most suitable for a camp; the children love this area as it has a huge hill (The Mountain). It offers great challenges and teamwork.

First and foremost the children ‘listen’ and engage with the adults to prepare a space for the fire and to build a shelter in case of rain today!

Building shelter

Here the children are debating where to have the ‘fire circle’ and how to create it, we have strong leadership, good negotiation and positive ideas for how they can work together and which type of tools will help to move away leaves. Whilst some of us are working on the camp, activities are also beginning…

The witch is always on our agenda or is highlighted by the children as we move through the woodland. This week Sheila found the witches broom in another part of the woods and it had been topic of conversation on our walk to camp. It was agreed that it was best left where it was - ‘don’t want to upset that witch!’

Some of the children decided they’d make their own broomstick with Sheila… and Sheila, once being a Girl’s Brigade Leader, (just one of her many talents!) has wonderful knowledge that she shares with the children as to what resources are in the woodland to make fabulous, strong broomsticks. They ask Sheila’s advice about what shape and size of sticks are most suitable as a broomstick handle, and check with her that they have the best finds!! And there’s no need for string… nothing better than the strong twine of Ivy to tie the twigs to the stick!! Look at our wonderful broomsticks.

Whilst the witch’s broomsticks were being made, some of us thought about collecting sticks for the fire and preparing food. Pat helps the children find ‘firewood’ and then actively supports and encourages the children to help prepare the food to cook. Pat, being as lively as she is, soon has many hands wanting to help her with the food. Her many years as a teacher and her love of supporting children finds her at their level, helping them to knead the dough for pizzas and stuffing fruit with a variety of different fillings, ‘yummy!!’  The children love being involved with creating lunch. The basic steps of food preparation engage children in a love for food and there’s no greater satisfaction than actively participating in the scientific process - from the peeling to the chopping then the cooking on the fire to the hand and the mouth - mmmAmazing!!

‘An easy recipe for prickly pears’ - Core the centre, pack it with sultanas and raisins and a level spoon of Green & Blacks Organic hot chocolate, wrap them individually in foil and… leave to bake on an open fire outdoors - mmmm!!’

Even nicer with a warm cup of hot choc!!

Before and after lunch the children had been engaged in their own investigations and projects, the photographs offer a display of the many learning opportunities offered by the woodland. Please look at the engagement and if you’re a parent of the children involved, please do let us have any questions or feedback once you and your child have shared the photographs.

It has been a valuable educational experience for us all - 3 and 4 year old children, Early Years Practitioners, our volunteers; Sheila, Pat and Kay, working together as co-researchers has been an inspiration. Shared knowledge and experiences between young children and supportive adults of different generational place working together, has offered an amazing insight into strong benefits children gain when sharing their enquiries with adults at different stages of life. In particular, being based in the woodland area oppose to the restrictions of a building, allowed for time, space, patience and rich language experiences as well as positive relationships, supporting all areas of learning for all.

An unexpected find in the woodland of Heaton Park made the end of our 6 week project complete!

‘The icing on the cake’ - The Park Rangers and volunteers were creating small blocks of wood from coppiced trees to sell as firewood for the winter period, on sale at the visitors centre in Jesmond Dene. The children had been sawing wood earlier with their own real tools, but they were in awe watching ‘the crème de la crème’ in action:

Our involvement with Kay in the research of this project and documenting the learning is ongoing, this was a participatory research project, and further information will be shared in the coming months.

Week five report: 13th Oct 2015

Forest school adventures around the wooded areas of Armstrong Park in Heaton lead to some inspirational team work and individual ideas which support thinking, problem solving and extended learning.

This week, our initial walk to revisit the area of the large ‘fallen-down tree’, found the week before, offered opportunity for observation and investigating routes. The children spotted another fallen tree trunk early into our walk, Tara asked them, if it was the ‘fallen-down tree’ we were looking for, there were calls of ‘yes’, ‘no’ and mmm ‘maybe’… we needed to take a closer look!

Uh Oh, it’s not our tree, it’s surrounded by water!!

On our approach the children unanimously said, ‘no, it wasn’t ‘our tree’ because this one has a huge puddle around it’. Further observations and ideas were shared. This wasn’t just a puddle! It was a river, no a lake, no, it’s a swamp!

…and guess what, there were living things in there:

• amphibians such as frogs and newts
• reptiles such as crocodiles and snakes

How deep was this river, lake, swamp, would anyone dare go in, was it safe?

It’s not too deep…but I’m watching for crocodiles!!

How were we going to check how deep it was and if it was safe before anyone dare go in? Some of the children were adventurous and began to dip-in with the fronts of welly boots, others were much more concerned and suggested we wait until we found out how deep it was! But what could we use to find this out…of course a ‘stick’, a long stick or short? Should it be thick or thin? Oooh decisions, but a very long, thick and robust stick was found to do some measuring with!

The investigating began to present different themes and children worked in smaller groups. 4 were concerned with the measuring and safety before going in! 5 children were very imaginative and began exploring stories of what was in the water, maybe not just a crocodile but a swamp monster too.  Another child who had explored around the area when looking for sticks found another large piece of trunk and wanted to explore ways of pulling it out from the water, could he do this alone or did he need help? Other children were quite happy to explore the sensation and sound of the water, great fun for splashing!

We hadn’t got very far into the area of the park land, however our learning journeys had begun, staffs and volunteers had to separate to support the strong emerging learning themes.

The group concerned about safety and depth of the water problem solved and took supervised risks to find a way to get to the other side of the water, by walking along the tree trunk. They became so confident very quickly and were able to use their new found knowledge to support adults who were nervous about walking along a tree trunk so close to water!!

Iit’s great to have a helping hand from children who can problem solve!

The group investigating the living things in the water were developing their story skills, providing wonderful opportunity for rich language, new words, rhyming words and imaginary play… ‘was that two eyes peeping at us from below the water…’, ‘watch out, there’s a crocodile about’!!!

The splashing gave delightful squeals of joy to some and added to the fear of what could be seen in the water. These children were feeling brave and confident that they dared to put their wellies in and were able to add to the imagination of others.

The child who was intent in using his skills to pull this heavy stump of a tree trunk free from the water managed to drag it all the way up the hill to our camping area. The greatest achievement here were his solutions to retrieving the stump, with his idea of rope and his skills of knot tying which he’d learned the previous week.  Best of all… his realisation that some work needs teams of people and that it’s great when you have support from friends to achieve your goal!!

And where did that one hour go?? We weren’t even near to camping down by the ‘fallen-down tree’ yet!!! 

Heave!! Good teamwork!

Oh yes, and we also found some Norwegian visitors in the woods today!!

Can you see the Troll? He likes hiding!

Week four report: 29th Sept 2015

The children wanted to return to the area of the woods we were at last week. They spotted a fallen tree as we left last time, but it was too late in the day to explore it. Therefore the tree became this week's focus!

The main trunk was extremely long and was lying ajar from it's stump - it became an amazing provocation for role play. The stump in the ground became the centre for inquiry and the surrounding area of land a leading opportunity for adventure and imagination...

1. The tree became a train on a journey to Africa, before it broke down and required a mechanic with rope and knots in order to get it started again. This took a long time with lots of ideas, theories and problem solving to get the train running again! Many opportunities were offered of rich language with Sheila and Kay, and independent climbing skills were in abundance. One of the children reminded Sheila (who was worried they may fall) that she could do it, 'I know I can do it', she said, then her friend said, 'If you fall down, you only climb back up again!'. Confidence building galore!!!

2. The stump of the tree - the properties of science were investigated with Pat, there was noticeable fire damage in the stump. Had this been lightning, or an explosion caused by dynamite?

3. The woodland area became a mountaineering expedition! Someone was stuck at the top of the mountain, one of the children had been 'contacted' by mobile phone to come to the rescue!. Five children together shouted: 'is anyone there, can you hear us!'. The group decided it may not be a person... but a monster or a ghoul or a witch, uh oh!!... They decided they should turn back, one of the children thought they would be better off in the safety of the others by the tree, but then no, lets just go a different route, and they were off again, exploring... but away from the possible monster!!!

The train needs to be tied up to fix it...

All abord! Africa here we come!

Pat tells us lots about lightning!

Look at the shapes I can make with sticks!

Week three report: 23rd Sept

When we arrived at the woodland, our minibus passed our visitors as they walked to meet us. The children were clearly thinking about their day ahead with our visitors – as they spot them from the bus windows they shout collectively “there’s Kay, there’s Sheila, where’s Pat… she’s not there!”. And another shout: “is she hiding around the corner?”.

The children have already made positive connections and rapport with our visitors. Pat was poorly this week and was unable to join us, the children showed care and concern by asking Kay where she was. It was clear from their reactions they were disappointed she couldn’t come – bonds have already developed in a small space of time.

It was a dry autumn morning and children set off on their 'adventure'. Very soon some children found a selection of berries and leaves, but didn't know what they were. Fortunately, Sheila (one of our volunteers) had brought a book about trees, leaves and berries. This ignited an interest in matching and helped the children to identify horse chestnut, oak and rowan. Collections were made to bring back to nursery. Leaves from the horse chestnut were ‘huge’, but which seed belongs to this tree? (Parents - Do you know? Can your child tell you?)

Sheila had brought other books with her this week, all relating to forest school learning: one called "The feather", one about leaves, and another called ‘Happy Hedgehog band’ where animals make music in the woods... an inspiring provocation!

There was so much happening… we met a Samoyed dog called Mr Darcy, saw two squirrels plus a wriggly, bouncy worm. Someone even found fox poo!!

The children conduct their own research week after week through their own explorations and observations…conversations include discussing the season, comparing old wood and living trees, rhyming words and problem solving: how do you get a trolley up some steps or a hill??

Collaboration is vital - all of us adults working with the children are amazed at how many opportunities the woods provide to encourage positive communication skills, team work, self-regulation, turn-taking. It was all very visible in the children’s activities this week. Just like the children, we can’t wait to return to support and observe the learning journey as it unfolds...

Look at my blackberry collection!

Blackberries and water make blackberry juice

Picking blackberries with Sheila

Meeting Mr Darcy.

Week two report: 18th Sept

One of the learning aspects of Forest School is experiencing all the elements, and today it was rain, lots of it!!

We found out what happens to the earth below our feet when it rains, what happens to the river, what happens to us... our hair, skin and clothing.

Children really don't mind the rain, they love getting wet, some chose to take off their hoods so they could get wet hair. Shaking wet hair at each other was funny, 'the drops come off', said Stan.

Our older visitors braved the rain too, although with a little more caution, great outdoor attire and huge umbrellas! The children thought their umbrellas were ok for them but they didn't want to be under them, the consensus from the children was that it's ok to get wet, Amelie spoke for the group, she said, "We don't mind getting wet though, we don't need umbrellas do we Stan!!".

All they need are adults who are also prepared to get wet and who have a prepared bag of dry clothes for when it's time to feel dry again!! 

When it's raining but it's time for lunch, a well built shelter prevents soggy sandwiches!

Blackberry picking in the rain!

Week one report: 8th Sept

Our first week in the forest was an exciting affair for the children. For some, this was their first experience of forest school. For others, another chance to engage with the natural environment. Spirits were high, even if the weather wasn’t. After introductions from children, staff and our older visitors, we had a recap of our forest school rules and it was time to head off and explore! 

The morning began with shelter building and knot tying, providing us with a secure and dry spot to rest and eat. As the day progressed, imaginations and creative skills ran wild with the construction of animal homes. This included a spider and beetle home, squirrel house (complete with acorns and Beech nuts) and a rabbit home (which children dug into the ground). 

The day also saw children exploring climbing, negotiating pathways across varying gradients and supporting one another’s ascent with ropes and sticks, we had to help our visitors up the hill, pulling them up and holding hands was necessary! Needless to say we were all exhausted, including staff and visitors. It was a good job we built shelter - our visitors needed to sit and… lie down at one point! It’s tiring having adventures in the woods, but we still want to go back next week… and so do our visitors – hurray!!

Forest School Blog 2015 - Introduction

Since June 2013 Childsplay children aged 3 and 4 years have had the opportunity to be involved in Forest School. This activity is led by key staff who are Forest school leaders (Level 3). This year we are writing this blog to share our adventures in the woods, and to help families to talk about and build upon the experiences at home.

This year we're involved in a research project that brings older adults and young children together in the unique Forest School learning environment. The project studies the importance and positive life impacts of of young children engaging with older adults, where the adults are grandparents or older family members who are keen to work outdoors in the woodland alongside the staff and children.

The Forest School project commences on 8th September, and we will update our blog weekly to share our activities and the fun we are having learning together.  We will welcome your feedback on our events too!