This week was the first visit to forest school for some of our children and wow were they excited! On our way into forest school we chatted about how to stay safe and some of the older children pointed out the nettles and brambles. One child explained, "Don't touch then or you get stinged and then you need a doc leaf".
As we walked along the path, we discovered something strange. A big poo! But who could it belong to? The children gathered around the poo to hold a thorough investigation. We chatted about the type of animals who may have left it. It was decided it was too firm for a bird poo, too big for a mouse and too small for a bear. We talked about the types of food the animals in the forest ate and from that we concluded, it was in fact a fox poo. We decided to move on and look at the different trees which grow in our woodland. We spotted a silver birch, apple and oak tree. We even learned the name of a baby tree!
As we headed into our forest school site, Tara asked the children to stop, close their eyes and listen to the sounds of the forest. On that day in particular, the forest was so quiet until................ there was a rustle in the bushes and out jumped a mother deer and her fawn. The deer ran very quickly up the hill but we could not see the fawn follow. Kirsten decided to investigate and quietly tiptoed along the path to where we had last seen the deer. The deer sprang to its feet and ran up the hill in the direction of its mum. On the top of the hill we watched the fawn running before joining up with its Mum and Dad.
The children were amazed at spotting not only one deer but three. They were truly astounded by what they had witnessed with one child commenting, "I've never seen a real reindeer before". After all the excitement we sat down to have lunch. We sat very quietly hoping we may spot the deer on their return but sadly they had gone for the day. After lunch, we had lots of fun collecting fire wood and building a fire. Some children explored holes in the ground as they chatted about what may live beneath our feet whilst Joseph and Olivia enjoyed playing on the swing we had previously created.
All of that excitement was enough to keep the conversation flowing all the way back to nursery, through tea and at group time. The deer spotting really had been a huge highlight of the the day!
