News
Forest School Blog for week ending 12th May 2017
Forest school club 10th & 11th May
This week we were doing lots of interesting things with earth and clay. We have moved soil to our new raised beds, ready to plant more herbs, vegetables and flowers. Some of the children have also planted pumpkin seeds, to care for at home. While we were moving earth, we thought about how to use spades safely and care for tools. We were excited to see that some leaves are now emerging from the recently planted potatoes (kindly donated by the headmaster).
Thank you to John for the work he is doing on laying a path to the pond. We hope to be pond-dipping very soon!
Things we need for the forest – could anyone spare a few veg plants?
If you have any queries or would like to:
- enrol your child in a session
- help to build new resources
- share a traditional skill or craft with the group
please call Jayne on 07984655688 Or email jaynewheatley2001@hotmail.com
Please read on to find out more about our activities this week…
On Wednesday, the mud kitchen was very busy and our ‘cooks’ produced a wide range of mud cakes to share. Some excellent mud and clay art was also produced. The children made a mud slide and their waterproof trousers got satisfyingly muddy. We then thought about the place the children had chosen for the slide, and agreed that although mud slides are lots of fun, we also have a shared responsibility to look after the site and its trees and bushes. We decided, therefore, to move the mudslide next week, to somewhere where it will do no damage to tree roots, and wouldn’t make the path muddy – a good compromise.
On Thursday some of the group ‘puddled’ clay into the bottom and sides of a hole in the ground and tested if it would hold water. It was a successful experiment. Some of the younger children made butterflies, using a stick as the body and four leaves as wings. They painted the wings and then made beautiful leaf prints in their forest books, using the left-over paint and leaves.
On Wednesday’s chat around the fire, as the corn was popping in the pan, the children asked questions about how fungi reproduce and we talked about useful and dangerous plants. On Thursday, at the end of session show and tell, talk turned to fairy dust and a bird’s nest that had been found.
Over the next few weeks our forest school groups and John the caretaker will be working together to carry out a site survey, identifying the trees, bushes and smaller plants and observing the wildlife. We will then be writing a plan, detailing how we will use the site sustainably, create more shelter, coppice (harvest and re-grow in rotation) the hazel and willow to use for crafts, add new activities and encourage more wildlife. On Wednesday one of our group helpfully shared with us his knowledge (as demonstrated to him in a class last year) of how to estimate the age of a tree using maths, so we will be making use of that technique to get an idea of how old the trees are.
Thank you to John for the work he is doing on laying a path to the pond. We hope to be pond-dipping very soon!
Things we need for the forest
Could anyone spare a few veg plants?
If you have any queries or would like to:
* enrol your child in a session
* help to build new resources
* share a traditional skill or craft with the group
please call Jayne on 07984655688 Or email jaynewheatley2001@hotmail.com
