Thursday 8th August

This week’s forest school was all about exploring! The children are now becoming more familiar with some of the areas we work in and this week decided to spend their morning working beside the ‘big stone’, a place the children love to climb and jump from. On the way the children found sticks and stones to create drawings in the mud and along the ground. We drew our names, animals and lots of wiggly patterns.

This week we met some very friendly dogs along the way and we talked about how to keep ourselves safe. The children have learned to step back and allow the dogs past and we also talked about crunching down low, making ourselves appear smaller to help support any dogs who are feeling a little nervous being around us. There was however, one very friendly dog called Daisy who loved strokes and cuddles from the children. 

In the afternoon, the children decided to work on our forest school site which is hidden away from the path. Everyone got busy either adding to the den, looking for minibeasts or balancing along the huge fallen branches.

Last week, one of the children decided he wanted to attempt to climb the huge hill (the mountain in his eyes) at the back of our site. He stood at the foot of the hill and gazed upwards. The adult asked if he wanted to attempt the hill this week and of course he did. The group wanted to attempt the climb together. We knew it would be tricky so we followed one of the grownups who showed us how to side step along the thinner areas, balance with our arms out and knees bent. We carefully meandered along the path and up the bank. As we climbed, we looked back and saw just how high we were. We kept up the pace and before we knew it we were at the very top and looking down at our forest school site. We had made it and the happy smiles on the children’s faces showed just how proud they were of themselves!

Thursday 1st August

This week saw a brand new group of children visiting forest school and wow were they excited! We began by talking about what we may see and this group were excited to see minibeasts and squirrels and hopefully a bear or a rhino. Sadly we didn’t spot any bears or rhinos but we did see lots of minibeasts from bees to woodlouse, spiders to snails, they were all there!

Our day was spent exploring our site. The children used their observational skills to spot slugs, snails, strangely shaped stones and sticks. There was den building galore as we added to the previous groups den work where we created a doctor’s surgery. We talked about how to stay safe on our site and why we all stay together. At the end of the day, no one was ready to leave. We had enjoyed our forest school picnic and wanted to continue with our exploration. We talked about what we would like to do next week and one of the children decided he is going to climb to the top of the mountain at the back of our site. Watch this space! We might just do that!

Monday 22nd July

This block of forest school sessions has yet again come to an end and to finish our time at forest school we cooked on our open fire. The children are complete professionals now when it comes to fire week and know how to start a fire, keep themselves safe and put out a fire. They are also the best chefs and prepare the tastiest pizzas ever! With a choice of toppings, the children got to work. Firstly, they spread out the tomato base before adding cheese followed by an array of yummy toppings. We had ham, mushrooms or sweetcorn to make our pizzas extra special. We all enjoyed the pizza that much, we had to cook another full round.

 After our pizza it was time for pudding. Again, it was one of our favourites – rice pudding. This time we added some blueberries and they were delicious! Just as we began to eat our pudding, the rain came down. We raced to the big shed where we could eat our rice pudding, staying warm and dry. Sadly, the grownups were not so lucky and had to tidy all the food away and wash the dishes. Luckily, the children stayed inside and had a lovely story about a slug. As soon as the dishes were clean, the sun came out and we could water the polytunnel. The plants really did need a big drink!

Monday 15th July

This week, the children chose to work in the same area as our last visit. Last week, we focused our attention on dinosaurs and this week we discovered something else living in our forest school. One of the children discovered a circular pattern on the ground. This could only mean one thing…there was a blue and white python with chicken shaped, hypnotising eyes! This was serious! As we were so close to lunch time the children decided to set traps around our tarpaulin so we would be safe. We began to collect ‘yoga’ (ogre) sticks which we piled together to create huge traps for the snake. We then listened. We could hear the hissing sound of a snake but we knew it wasn’t going to get past the traps. We were safe for now!

 After lunch, we headed into our site and discovered a huge number of snails and slugs. The children began to make small enclosures for them. We even found a big snail with a baby snail attached. We wondered why there were so many snails and slugs. They clearly like living in our forest school. The children really wanted to cross the wobbly bridge and get across the swamp but it was so wet and we couldn’t find a safe place to cross. We eventually decided it was much safer to stay on the firm ground and take care of our snails and slugs. We kept a sharp eye out for any deer but sadly we did not see any this week. We headed back to the nursery and chatted about our day. Would the snake make itself known next week? Who knows? We will be keeping a sharp eye on any rustling bushes that is for sure!

Monday 8th July

This week at forest school, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and the children were excited to spend their day in the woodland. We enjoyed working in the sunshine until a strange noise silenced us. It was a strange, screeching sound. One of the children thought it may be a pterodactyl! Could you imagine? The children’s play soon changed to chasing dinosaur games which they thought was hilarious. The children planned to build themselves a fire which would act as their power source. Imaginative play was definitely the main interest all morning!

 Some of the children enjoyed watching the butterflies whilst other decided to dig holes and make marks along the ground. We spotted lots of interesting items hiding in the grasses and bushes. One child found a snail shell whilst another found an interesting looking rock.

In the afternoon, we planned to find out where the shrieking sound had come from. We headed into our site and up the hill. We soon discovered a huge nest in the top of a very tall tree. The grownups knew who this nest belonged to but the children enjoyed trying to guess.

The nest belongs to a sparrowhawk which we have spotted several times however on this occasion the children thought the bird had gone to the seaside for some fish (because birds love fish you know!). In order to get back to our camp, the children had to practice all their balancing skills which they have developed over the last year. It was arms outstretched and bent knees as we walked down the bank. The children amazed us yet again as each and every one managed to walk down the embankment without falling or slipping (we can’t say the same for our preschool grownup Kirsten but she is still practicing her balancing skills).

Monday 1st July

This week at forest school we decided to walk straight to our usual site. We were amazed to find that our site was quite overgrown and some of the plants were almost as tall as us! As we arrived, we discovered something quite amazing lying on the floor. Tara wasn’t sure what it was and asked for the children to help her identify this strange object. It was a bluey-green egg-shaped object. The children immediately identified it as a bird egg but what sort of bird egg? We were intrigued and decided to venture further into the woods to see if we could spot anything which may give us a clue. We could see some footprints on the floor and were quick to point out that these were deer prints. But deer don’t lay eggs!

Once in the middle of our site, it was time to investigate and get busy. Some children decided to add to the existing den , some decided to go on an adventure whilst the others decided to engage in some bug and bird spotting. There was a lot going on! Lisa’s group managed to spot our resident sparrowhawks which delighted the children whilst Tara’s group found some minibeasts which included the longest worm we had ever seen! Kirsten’s group got busy finding a safe place to house their egg before helping to add to the den.

 After lunch we spotted a little visitor. A huge slug had decided to sit on our tarpaulin and was refusing to move! The children decided to try and feed it. We firstly attempted breadsticks but that was a no. Then we tried leaves but still the slug was not interested. The children thought he may just be tired so we retired him to a cosy stick whilst we tidied up. It was time to leave our beautiful woodland for the day. We will be back though and we hope our sluggy friend will be waiting for us!

Tuesday 25th June

Where has the time gone? We have already reached fire week! As our fire pit is based on our allotment, we took the time to look around and we discovered some rather amazing (and strange) things going on. Firstly, we decided to do some pond dipping and were amazed to find lots of newts and rather tiny little frogs hopping about. Tara allowed one to sit on her hand so we could all take a closer look. It really was tiny! Then we took a look around our allotment and to our amazement discovered that something had been digging in our vegetable beds and taken some of our potatoes! Who could it be? What could it be? We thought about the type of animals who may like potatoes and we had lots of thought. We thought it could be potato burglar or maybe a fox! We then started to search around the allotment for other signs of stolen vegetables but we found nothing. After a little watering and weeding, we made our pizzas and enjoyed our lunch. Delicious!

After lunch, it was time to tidy. Lisa began to place the tools into the shed when we heard a scream! She had discovered a nest in our shed and the bird inside decided to fly right past her. We investigated by being very quiet and now we hope we have some bird eggs safe and warm inside our shed (don’t worry, the Mummy bird can get in and out as she pleases).We will keep be keeping a close eye and will keep you updated. 

Tuesday 4th June

This week saw a new group off to forest school. The children decided that as they are professional forest schoolers, that they would like to go on an adventure. We headed into forest school and came to a fork in the path. As usual, the children chose which way they would like to go and off we went. As we walked along the path, we spotted many squirrels playing in the trees. They all looked very happy as they jumped from branch to branch. We started to head down the path towards the river and on our way discovered the path was littered with leaves of all shapes and sizes. We began to pick up the leaves and look at all the differences and similarities. Some were big, some were small, others were pointed whilst others were wavy. We started to collect one of each. We then discovered the leaves came in all different colours and we talked about why that may be.

 As we headed down the path, we met lots of friendly dogs and their owners. Of course, we showed the dogs how sensible we are by moving to the side of the path to let them through but not before giving a little wave to say hello!

As we moved on, we discovered lots of different objects on the floor. There were large sticks, flowers, seeds, seed cases and feathers. We decided to pick some up to explore. One of the feathers was huge but who could be the owner of the feather? On our adventure we came to a little bridge where the children carefully took it in turns to cross. Again, we met a very friendly dog who was very excited to be beside the water but the children remembered to stand to the side and allow the dog to pass. Well done forest schoolers!

 We decided to have some lunch and just as we finished, the rain came down. We didn’t mind, we found a huge mound of earth which we enjoyed finding different ways to climb. We won’t let the rain dampen our spirits!

Thursday 30th May

Where has the time gone? We had already reached fire week after some amazing sessions at forest school. As soon as we arrived, we began prepping for our fire. The children were asked what is needed to start a fire and they were not short of ideas. We placed our kindling and tinder into the fire pit and started our fire. The fire grew very big, very quickly and before we knew it we were ready to start cooking. We talked about the different colours we could see in the fire and what this meant. One of the children pointed out that the middle is the hottest part and the white bit means it is ‘super-hot’.

Our lunch was garlic bread, tuna and cheesy pasta with custard and peaches. The children were very excited as they knew that this team of grown-ups are the best at making garlic bread! The garlic butter looked amazing as it sizzled in the pan. We then added the bread and very quickly it was all ready. The children tried it and we had comments of “that is the best in the world” and “the grownups are the best chefs”. Needless to say, the garlic bread disappeared very quickly! We then cooked our cheesy tuna pasta, followed by custard and caramelised peaches. Delicious!

After lunch, we still had plenty of time so decided to do some work on our allotment. We planted, watered and re-potted some of the growing vegetables. We then engaged in some weeding and watering before we left for the day.

Thursday 16th May

This week the children were all extremely excited to visit forest school as they had concluded last weeks session with a plan to return to the stream. The only difference was this time they planned on taking all of their clothing and shoes ready for a great day splashing. All week we have kept our fingers crossed for the lovely spring sunshine to still be with us however today it was a rather cloudy and dull day with the odd spring shower. Although it was dull, we did not let the weather deter us and the plan remained the same, we would be visiting the stream.

On the way to forest school, there was lots of chatter and excitement as to what the day ahead would bring. Once at the forest we were immediately aware of the peaceful aura around us. As we headed down the hill and into the forest we noticed two things, firstly there were no other people around and secondly although it was lovely and peaceful, the forest was filled with noises and movements.

The children decided to follow the path, using their senses to explore the nature around us. We spotted lots of different types of birds, all singing their beautiful songs from up high in the trees as well as several grey squirrels who were running up and down the trees then jumping from tree to tree. We also heard lots of unusual sounds and the cracking of sticks breaking underfoot. This sparked the children to share their creative and imaginative ideas. Could this crunching simply be a deer or could it be the cracks of a tiger looming ever closer. Maybe a bear could be stumbling around searching for a cool cave to sleep in. Who knows but let’s keep our eyes peeled!

Lunch time was growing closer so the children voted on where to make our site for lunch. With the majority voting to head to the orange river over the bridge we set off. The children with support from Kirsten, Lisa, and Tara decided to sit on the big sloping steps opposite the orange river for lunch. This was a great spot as it was very tranquil listening to the river flowing, however there was a very strong smell coming from the river! During lunch, the excited chatter continued regarding splashing in the stream and thankfully after lunch the sunshine came out ready for us to get wet!

We headed down to the stream and the children wasted no time getting their swimming things on and waded into the chilly water. There was lots of laughter to be heard as the children had fun splashing each other, chasing each other around the stream and even sitting down and ‘swimming’.

We have all had such a lovely day and were really pleased the sunshine came to play too.

Thursday 9th May

This week at forest school the weather was beautiful. As we arrived and headed down the bank, the children spotted lots of different colours littering the forest floor. Numerous colourful flowers have begun to bloom. The children used their sharp eyes to see how many colours they could spot. We spotted yellow, white and blue flowers as well as lots of interesting leaves and plants.

We had a very special surprise visit from Jessie, Lisa’s dog as she was going for a walk in the sunshine around the burn. We gave her a gentle stroke and even had a few kisses in return.

The children demonstrated their skills in negotiation as they decided between themselves the plan of the day. Would it be a lovely walk in the sunshine or visit a little stream and explore the local surroundings. With a 7:5 vote, the plan for the day was to explore the stream. Once we got to the stream the children helped to create a site by laying down the tarp ready for picnic lunch. When our site was ready we safely stored the trolley and headed along the stream to see if we could stop the ducks. Unfortunately we didn’t see the ducks today however the children did use their sharp eyes to spot many strange and unusual footprints. This encouraged the children to share rich and meaningful conversations and also delving deep into their imagination. Some thought the prints could be from a dog but others looked closely deciding it may have been a tiger who was prowling in the woods looking for some food and a place to stay. One idea was that the tiger was camouflaged and hiding in the nearby ferns or stream. Others thought the prints could be from some deer or a horses hoof. This encouraged the children to look around the nearby ground and they soon spotted more footprints. We began to wonder if the deer had been jumping over the stream to find food and water.

After lunch some children decided to explore the stream by removing their socks and shoes and venturing out into the cold water. One by one the children became more confident as they explored into the water. Some children enjoyed walking all around the stream, while others stayed at the sand area splashing with their peers. Some children stayed dry on the sand and chose to use their fingers and sticks to create numbers and shapes.

It was a great afternoon exploring the stream and engaging in rich conversations, the children decided next week at forest school they would like to come back to the stream and do engage in some “swimming”. Next week we plan to be more prepared by taking towels, swimming clothes and swim shoes ready for a fun, wet day. Let’s hope this beautiful spring weather continues.

Tuesday 30th April

This week our forest school week was one of favourites – fire week! The children were extremely excited to be cooking their lunch on the fire. We had already decided we would cook pizza with a range of toppings and pancakes with chocolate and strawberries.

When we arrived, everyone took their seats in the fire circle and we talked about how we would get the fire started. Some children suggested rubbing sticks together so we gave it a go but sadly this didn’t work. We thought again and decided to add matches and some tinder to our sticks. It did work this time and we built the most amazing fire. We talked about fire safety and how to move around the fire and what to do if smoke went into our eyes. The children, as always, were fire safety professionals and knew exactly how to stay safe.

After pizza and pancakes, we found we had some spare time to get busy on our allotment. We have been preparing beds for our seedlings to be planted and decided to tackle the biggest bed of all! The children (and grown-ups) worked tirelessly to get as many weeds out as possible. It was a tricky job but the preschoolers were amazing. They even spotted some minibeasts along the way. Soon it was time to head back to nursery on our new minibus which was the topic of conversation all the way back to nursery.

Tuesday 16th April

We had a wonderful trip to forest school this week. The sun was shining and the birds were singing and everyone was in a jolly mood. We started our day recapping on last week visit. It was a much dryer day and we were welcomed with the sight of a rather large deer running through our site. We also spotted some squirrels, birds and mallards who were swimming on the pond. The rest of the day was spent with wonderings, hypothesising and imaginative play. Some of the children were fascinated by the ferns which are starting to uncurl themselves. There were many ideas of what they could be. One child thought they may even be aliens!

Our fire, which has been created over many weeks by the children became a swimming pool and then a boat which provided hours of entertainment. The den which has now been standing for over a year and added to on many occasions, became an amazing climbing frame with children navigating different pathways to cross the roof. Some children were even able to use a horizontal branch to swing themselves down which was another highlight.

We sat for lunch and were treated to the wonderfully loud sound of a woodpecker. This was followed by the sighting of a sparrowhawk who is nesting on our site. The children were fascinated by this and we ventured through the field of wild garlic and slightly up the bank to view the nest. Sadly, it was so too high up for us to spot anything but we did chat about how many eggs may be in the nest and what colour they may be. There is still no sign of any ducklings from our mallard friends but we will continue to monitor them!

Tuesday 9th April

Forest school was a very wet one this week as we battled against downpours throughout the day. This wouldn’t dampen our spirits however and we enjoyed getting busy by building ourselves a den to keep dry at lunchtime. It was then time to explore. We couldn’t believe how many sticks had fallen with the wind and also how many snails and slugs were about. We noticed the pond water levels had risen quite significantly so we chatted about how safe it would be to stay in that area. The children agreed that we should take ‘one big step back’ to keep ourselves safe. Then we noticed something a little strange in the distance. It was something round and orange! What could it be? The children thought it may be a pumpkin. One child suggested it may even be a pumpkin which had rolled down the hill from our allotment and landed in our forest school. Could he be correct?

We needed to get to the orange object but to do this would involve crossing the pond which we had already decided was not a safe thing to do. We were then inundated with ideas of how we could get to it. We could build a bridge, use a big stick to walk across, make a boat or walk around the river. As a group we decided that the safest idea was to walk around the river. We began to follow the river which had some very fast and deep sections. We finally found a bridge and we followed the path along the other side of the river. There were lots of trees and bushes which made it difficult to spot the orange object. We found a very small and narrow path which we decided to venture down. This led is down to the river and there to our amazement, was the orange object! But it was not a pumpkin. It was a football. We decided to put the ball into the river to test if the water was faster than us. We threw it in and ran to the bridge as fast as we could but the ball was not there. Had it been faster than us? No, it was stuck! It was stuck in an area we were unable to access. We needed a plan. The plan was made. Let’s have lunch and make another plan of how we could get the ball out of the river! We always think better on a full tummy.

Thursday 21st March

This week at forest school is one of favourites. It was fire week! The children had already decided what they would like to cook on the fire and it sounded delicious! The children wanted pizza with all the toppings and rice pudding. Yummy! We lit the fire and talked about fire safety. The children are well versed in fire safety and are able to share with their peers where to sit, how to move through the fire circle and how to put the fire out and why we do this.

Once the fire was roaring, the children prepared their pizza. They chose from chicken, pepperoni, sweetcorn, mushrooms, tomato, cheese, onions and pineapple. This was a feast! Kirsty then made the most amazing pizza flatbreads and then we attempted some garlic bread. This was delicious too. A quick hot chocolate to warm ourselves up and then it was time for rice pudding. It was perfect! Before we knew it, it was time to wash the dishes and get back on the bus. Goodbye forest school. Till next time!

Thursday 14th March

Wow! What an amazing forest school week we have had. Before we left nursery, the children thought about what they would like to do that day. They decided they wanted to spot a robin, a squirrel and a deer. Now that would be tricky as it has been a few weeks since we have spotted any deer on our site but we were all up for the challenge. We began the walk into forest school and were immediately greeted by beautiful birdsong. We looked up and there to our amazement was our friend, Steve the robin. He looked so happy to see us as he chirped his little song. Just at that moment, Brittany shouted “Look, a squirrel!’. She was right. There in the tree behind Steve was a squirrel happily jumping from tree to tree and running along the branches. We were all amazed and laughed at the fact we had seen two of the animals we wanted to spot within two minutes of arriving. We headed into our site and to our astonishment spotted a huge rabbit running through the grass. We didn’t think the day could get any better but we were wrong! We placed our bags and bottles down and started to prepare the area ready for our day. We glanced at our pond and there were our friends the mallards. They have returned again this year. We are all hoping to spot some ducklings very soon.

 

The children were thrilled at the amount of animals they had spotted and just as we were about to get busy with our day, we noticed something white in the distance. It was moving! We waited patiently, hoping to spot another woodland creature. The children (and adults) were all so quiet and the out of the dense grass, a huge and beautiful deer jumped out and raced up the hill. This is the first time for quite a while that everyone saw the deer. We could not believe our eyes! We had spotted everything and more from our list. There was only one more thing the children had wanted to spot but the adults weren’t too keen. The tiger from last week!

 

We decided to head off and see what else we could find. Last week we had come across what appeared to be a dam and the children thought we may have either beavers or otters on our site. We headed down to the stream to investigate. We discovered the area was rather boggy and swampy but with our motto of ‘teamwork makes the dream work’, we worked together supporting one another to cross the water and get through the smelly, squelchy bog. We discovered another area where there was a dam structure but no other signs of otters and beavers. We will follow up on our animal investigation next time we are at forest school.

Thursday 7th March

This week at forest school, the children continued their investigation into which animals may live in the forest. As soon as we entered the woodland, we spotted signs of life. One child pointed to a huge, long worm which was moving across the ground and as it was ‘World Book Day’, clearly it must have been SUPERWORM! We left the worm to continue its day and off we went to our site. On the way we spotted a deep, dark hole in the hill. The children thought about what could live in it and the consensus was it must be a rabbit hole. The children were right, it was indeed a rabbit hole. We have lots of rabbit holes dotted around our site and a sighting of a rabbit confirmed this to us. 

We moved onto our site where we spotted lots of clues as to what might live there. There was a pile of feathers on the ground, some droppings, holes and footprints. The footprints were strange and definitely did not belong to a person or a dog. After some further investigation into size and shape of the prints, we finally decided they must belong to a deer! We thought we best sneak through the woodland just incase the deer were still there. They weren’t however one of the children did spot something rather amazing, a scarlet elf cup! Wow, it was beautiful. We also discovered lots of other different fungi which we had never spotted before. As investigators, we will be looking at these more closely in the hope of identifying them. We found a very strange fungus growing on a tree. The children thought it looked like a rabbits tail or even cotton wool! They were right. It did!

The children started to think about the other animals may live in the forest and one of the children immediately suggested a tiger! They had even spotted the tigers tail! Everyone thought maybe it was the ‘tiger who came to tea’ and maybe he was searching for our lunch. We ensured our lunch bags were wrapped in a tarpaulin so they were completely camouflaged. No tiger was going to get the better of us. 

As we continued our search for evidence of animals, we visited, what we hope may be either a badger set or a fox den and found some footprints. We have sent these off to be identified and are very excited to find out what may be living on our site. We will do some more investigating next week!

Standing on the top of the biggest hill at forest school, the children were sure they had spotted that sneaky tiger beside our lunch bags. The tarpaulin covering them suddenly started to move. Could it be that pesky tiger looking for tea? We carefully and quietly walked towards the bags. Lisa and Kirsty carefully lifted back the tarpaulin………. but there was no tiger there. Had he already eaten our lunch? Thankfully not, so we all sat down together to eat a delicious lunch as we listened to the magical sounds of the forest.

Thursday 29th February

Today the children had a wonderful day at forest school. Our day started with the children entering forest school and immediately spotting two beautiful deer. We then started to talk about animal homes and what type of animals live in the woodland. The children had some extraordinary ideas. One child decided they wanted to venture up the big hill but it was rather tricky as the only access was a small stick bridge which had a pond on one side and a swamp on the other. With adult support the children all made it over and we were off. We immediately spotted some deer footprints; we were clearly on the right track. We headed up the hill and discovered some small, round, black balls. They looked like little pebbles but eventually we realised they were actually rabbit poo! We started to look at where the rabbits might live and to our amazement we found lots of little holes in the hillside. We then spotted something else. A huge sand pile at the top of the hill. Tara climbed up (as it was extremely steep) and took some photos for us to look at. What type of animal might live here? We aren’t sure yet but we think it might be a fox or a badger! The ideas continue!

The children wanted to climb the hills even higher but this hill was very steep and would be a challenge. One by one, the children attempted the climb. Once at the top ,the children cheered on their peers, providing huge encouragement to persevere. We have the most amazingly kind friends in preschool.

As we sat for lunch the children noticed a bird circling us above. The bird was huge and very beautiful. We thought it may have been a sparrowhawk as we are aware these birds live in the forest. After lunch we discovered some soil hills dotted around along the ground. One of the children explained, they are mole holes and the moles live inside. We counted them 1,2,3…..18, 19 and then we lost track, there were so many! We decided to head down to the pond where we could see some movement. Maybe it was a shark or a crocodile someone suggested. We thought about the types of animals which might live in the pond and overall, we decided the pond must be full of frogs! It is almost springtime, so you never know. Then we had a rather special moment, our little friend Stevie the robin paid us a visit. Stevie often comes to visit us at forest school, on the allotment and in the nursery garden (even if he does look slightly different each time!). The children were thrilled to see their little friend and quietly whispered “Hello Stevie” so they didn’t frighten him away. Sadly, our day had come to an end but what a busy one it had been and full of adventures and wonder.

Tuesday 27th February

The children had a wonderful week at forest school. Our fourth week is always exciting as it is fire week and the children had chosen what they wanted to cook on the fire. Last week the children decided they wanted to have beans, toast and tomatoes. As we explored more ideas, the children decided they would like an all-day breakfast. What an amazing idea! This was something we had never attempted before but we were all up for the challenge. We continued our ideas and we finally decided we would cook tomatoes, toast, beans, wedges, mushrooms and bacon. For pudding we chose pears and bananas with chocolate chips and pouring cream.

As we arrived, we set up our resources and Kirsty demonstrated how we build a fire. Very soon our fire was roaring and our food prepared for cooking. As we sat watching the flames dancing, we had a delicious hot chocolate to keep the cold away, followed by a yummy biscuit. Kirsty quickly had the food cooking and we tucked into bacon and quorn sandwiches. They were a hit and every piece was eaten! Then it was time for all the other food followed by pudding. The children (and adults) were extremely full by the end of the afternoon. Once we were all cleaned up, we headed back to the minibus where we met a very friendly dog called Harvey. We all petted Harvey and he loved it. A perfect way to end the day!

Tuesday 20th February

This week we had a slight change to our forest school plan as we were very kindly donated some bark chippings from a local tree surgeon. This meant that they needed to be moved from the top of the hill at our allotment and carefully placed into a pile inside our allotment ready for the upcoming growing season. Luckily our allotment and forest school are very close to one another which meant we could help move the bark in the morning, have lunch and then explore forest school in the afternoon.

When we arrived the children were amazed to see a rather large pile of bark for us to move. We dropped all of our equipment off in our allotment and everyone grabbed a wheelbarrow or bucket and set to work. It was quite tricky walking up and down the hill and filling up all our wheelbarrows with the bark but as usually we all worked as a team and managed to get the bark inside before lunch. The children were remarkable in their efforts and kindly supported one another by helping to carry the buckets or helping their peers to move their wheelbarrows. As lunch time arrived, we were exhausted so decided to sit in our fire pit and eat some yummy food. Once we had all eaten, it was time to head into forest school.

We had some very weary legs but as usual the children were resilient and capable as they headed into the depths of the woodland looking for wildlife. We didn’t spot much this week but we did hear lots of tweeting. We can’t wait to head back to forest school for fire week. We have planned our lunch and pudding and it is a very special one!