We were very lucky this week. Despite the rain in the days leading up to Forest School, the weather was mild and sunny. The ground was wonderful - muddy, squelchy and perfect for exploring!
The children were so excited to be back in the woods and they remembered the "welcome" song that we had learnt in previous weeks. We then started the session by remembering our safety rules before heading out with our adults.
We started with a calming walk through, stopping to notice the changes, to climb a different tree, to admire and discuss the beautiful views from the top of the hill and to as collect five different leaves. We used our observational powers to notice and discuss their differences and similarities and this helped us to identify them.
In the woods, the children were really engaged in their activities. They enjoyed finding sticks of different lengths in order to make their own stick man, stick people and other animals. They learnt how to tie different knots with string to fix their sticks together - clove hitch and square lashing. Some children were then inspired to make a swing, a slide and a hammock for their stick characters! Other children chose to climb trees, make a den house, which soon became a castle.
The children were interested in collecting sweet chestnut cases, as well as small crystal "treasure" rocks, which they dug up from the ground.
At the end of the session we sang the "Goodbye" song to the forest and the children learnt how to sign
the words using British Sign Language.