Today at Forest School, the children and grown-ups got busy with lots of different jobs and activities. There was plenty to do, and everyone worked hard while enjoying the beautiful outdoors.

Some of the children helped to dig up the potatoes that have been growing on the allotment. It was exciting to get our hands in the soil and discover what had been growing beneath the ground! We looked at the different sizes and wondered what we could make with them.

There was lots of imaginative play in the mud kitchen, while other children helped to add to our dead hedges, making good use of natural materials and helping to create valuable habitats for wildlife. Our budding woodworkers were busy too, making clocks from pieces of wood and nails. It was lovely to see the children concentrating carefully as they created their own designs.

We had some wonderful wildlife encounters too. The children were very excited to find a caterpillar and spent time observing it carefully before returning it to its natural home.

There was also some delicious foraging to be done! The children enjoyed picking crabapples and then taking them to the mill to clean them. It was a great opportunity to explore where our food comes from and to get involved in some practical, hands-on work. After washing them, we cut them up and tried them. They were delicious!

We spent some time collecting and deseeding poppies and marigolds. We are drying out the seeds now and hope to plant them all very soon. We can't wait to see them grow and bring even more colour to our site.

And, of course, we were thrilled to have a very special visitor — Steve!

The children were amazed by how close Steve came to us. He seemed very happy to keep a close eye on everyone, particularly at lunchtime! Steve even managed to scavenge a couple of pieces of bread before fluttering around in between the branches.