This week in Forest School all of the children learned how to use a bow saw. They listened carefully to the tools talk so that they knew how to use the saw safely. They then worked with me to cut a slice from a large branch. Some children then decorated their slice of wood.
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I taught the Year 5 children how to bend willow branches into a circle. Some of the children made them in to crowns.
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The Year 4 children wanted to learn how to make bracelets. I taught them a method that takes lots of concentration. You need 4 strands of wool with sticks tied on the end. You have to throw the sticks to your partner and be ready to catch theirs. The children worked really well together and made some lovely bracelets.
This week was the last Forest School session for the current groups. Finally the weather was suitable for toasting marshmallows 🙂
The children were very good at remembering the fire safety rules.
Everyone enjoyed themselves, some children discovered that burnt marshmallows are not very tasty!
When toasting marshmallows it is important to kneel in the ‘respect position’ with one knee down and one knee up. This is a stable position and it is easy to get out of the way quickly and safely if necessary.
After the marshmallow is toasted it is still very hot so we needed to blow it 20 times before we ate it!
Finally we poured water over the ashes to make sure the fire was completely out. As we did this we made a wish.
This week during our Forest School session I showed the children how to make bracelets using a special method apparently used by the vikings. It takes lots of concentration and good co-ordination. You need to work with a partner. I was really impressed with how the children helped each other and worked together.
We also made God’s Eyes, they originate from Brazil where people believe they will help to protect them.
We normally do Forest School sessions whatever the weather but at -4 degrees celcius it was just too cold today for a normal session.
We went outside to the Forest School area to have a look at the new trees. Whilst we were outside we heard a bird singing. We looked up and saw it in the tree. We watched it for a while so that we could identify when we went back inside. When we checked we found out it was a song thrush. This is really good news as these are declining in England.
We then had a walk around the school grounds to collect fire wood ready for a fire next session. We are lucky to have some silver birch trees around school. Silver birch bark and small branches are really good for camp fires.
We then came inside to warm up and carried on with our Forest School activities.
We used a potato peeler to peel the bark from branches. Mrs Grant explained that it is easier to peel bark if the wood is freshly cut or green. You can check this by scraping your finger nail on the branch to see if it is green underneath.
We then decorated our sticks.
We are hoping for warmer weather next week so that we can go back to normal.
Our Forest School session was a bit wet and muddy today, but we still had fun. We played some games under the shelter and then talked about fire safety rules. We weren’t sure whether we would be able to have a fire in the rain but Mrs Grant managed to get one started. Unfortunately it then got too windy to be able to toast marshmallows. Instead we sat around the fire and enjoyed hot chocolate.
At the weekend the willow dome was completed. The children have enjoyed using it at lunchtimes and during Forest School sessions.
In spring we will water the willow and then leaves will grow.
There were some pieces of willow left from the building of the dome. The children have enjoyed bending the willow in to circles and other shapes and then decorating them with wool. Some of these are hanging in the entrance to the dome.
This week some of the Year 4 children started to build a bug hotel. We are hoping to provide a suitable habitat to encourage lots of different insects in to the Forest School area. We are using some pallets and we are going to fill the gaps with rotting wood, branches, bricks and anything else we can find that the insects might like! We needed to something to stack the pallets on so we used the bow saw to cut a tree trunk to make blocks.
It has been lovely to see the Forest School area being used well at lunchtimes, even if it has been a bit muddy!
These children were very proud of the den they made using the large branches. It even had a door bell!
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