After discussing our plans for the day, the children decided they would like to venture a little further into the woodland. We walked across the meadow, down an embankment and we found a beautiful field filled with buttercups. Hazel picked a buttercup and began a survey of friends who like butter. This was easily decided by placing the buttercups under everyone's chins and looking for a yellow glow. After lots of detective work, she found that all of preschool like butter (even the grown ups!) Everyone enjoyed running through the buttercup field until Jesse spotted a mysterious, dark path. The children were asked, shall we head back up the path we had previously walked down or should we venture along the other route? The children chose to go along the mysterious path. As we walked along the path it became quiet. Then it became darker and darker until we reached a gate. Jesse wanted to go through the gate but oh no, we spotted danger ahead! We spotted lots of bees whizzing around a tree further along the path. We talked about the dangers of walking past the bees and the children decided it was best to stick to the safer route.
We came to a small clearing where we spotted a shady area where we could have lunch out of the glare of the sun. The shaded area had three small trees with low hanging branches which looked perfect for climbing. After lunch, the children began to explore the trees. Charlotte, Jesse, Chloe and Nishka enjoyed attemping to climb the tree. Nishka and Charlotte almost made it to the top! Chloe was so proud of herself as she managed to achieve her goal of climbing into the tree and sitting down in it. Albert, Jesse and Auryn enjoyed holding onto the low branches, lifting their feet up and swinging backwards and forwards.
Oscar found 'the biggest stick in the world' and it was a truly huge stick. Lewis then found a branch which he was very keen to move independently however he soon realised he would need a team of helpers to move it. Very quickly a team of 'branch lifters' was assembled and the branch was moved to another part of the site. It was hard work but lots of working together made the job easier.
Soon it was time to leave. We walked through our 'high five' gate and up the big bank back to the minibus. This was a day full of adventure, mystery, new experiences and working together. All the things that we love about forest school!
