Quick links: Butterflies | Insects | Bluebells | Dragon Eggs | Nesting Birds | Wet & Windy | Christmas Theme | Christmas Feel | First Session
Butterflies
Insects
Today we started with two special insect songs and learnt about what insects have. Head, thorax, abdomen, antennae and 3 pairs of legs.
Later in the forest School area we made some insects of our own with clay and what we found around us.
Some of us helped take the pond weed off the top of the pond too.
Bluebells
Today we looked at bluebells as they are out in he woods now. Firstly, we played ‘in and out the dusty bluebells’. Then, bluebells are also called fairy flowers as many years ago people believed that they were put in the woods by fairies to trap people. We gathered materials around us on the field like daisies and small sticks to make our own fairy traps. We had a look at some actual bluebells and discussed how they looked like bells and that we shouldn’t pick them, just admire them.
Back in the forest school area, we made the traps and even a lot of our own forest school music!
Dragon Eggs
Today some of Class 1 went on a quest to find dragon eggs. They had to cross a stinking swamp, pass crocodiles in a river as well as negotiate round a sleeping troll! The pupils also created a delicious soup for the dragons and added daisies to keep them healthy.
Having found some dragon eggs the pupils gathered them up and put them all safely in a nest. Some pupils even went digging in the dragon pool!
Nesting Birds
We began our session thinking about nesting birds, how many are now busy starting to build their nests. Working with hay and materials found around our area, we made our own ones and explored our forest school site for a good nest locations.
Wet & Windy
Today was particularly wet and windy so we started our forest school session off kite-making in the classroom. Then, as the weather improved, we were able to take them outside and fly them on the playground.
Christmas Theme
Due to the extreme weather, we stayed inside for Forest School today. We played a few games in the barn before heading back to the classroom for a craft activity.
Keeping with a Christmas theme, we filled the room with the scents of oranges and spices as we pressed cloves into the fruit. These were then tied with wool and ribbon and given a dusting of cinnamon. Pomanders made, the lovely Christmassy aromas could be taken home.
Christmas Feel
Today in Forest School we had a Christmas feel. We started by playing ‘hide the presents’ around the playing field. Next we went on to our Forest School area where we discussed the Christmas story before making up our own nativity scene. Everyone got to choose what they made. We had a few kings, a lot of camels and of course the baby Jesus was popular.
First Session
Today in Forest School we got to explore our area for the first time. We met some of the creatures that share our space with us too. We spotted two elephant hawk moth caterpillars amongst the plants and plenty of dragonfly nymphs and a few tadpoles in the pond.
As it is the beginning of Autumn, there were also lots of fruit and berries to be seen. Within our forest school area there are pears, raspberries and a lot of apples that have recently fallen from the trees.
We made apple runs and discovered that if the apples rolled into the pond they floated but it was just as much fun to fish them out too!
During just one session we got to experience all kinds of weather. There was wind and sunshine, clouds and even some heavy rain. This made our first session extra special because we got to do some super rain dancing! Of course we finished with hot chocolate and a snack and discussed what we enjoyed.