Forest school was a very wet one this week as we battled against downpours throughout the day. This wouldn’t dampen our spirits however and we enjoyed getting busy by building ourselves a den to keep dry at lunchtime. It was then time to explore. We couldn’t believe how many sticks had fallen with the wind and also how many snails and slugs were about. We noticed the pond water levels had risen quite significantly so we chatted about how safe it would be to stay in that area. The children agreed that we should take ‘one big step back’ to keep ourselves safe. Then we noticed something a little strange in the distance. It was something round and orange! What could it be? The children thought it may be a pumpkin. One child suggested it may even be a pumpkin which had rolled down the hill from our allotment and landed in our forest school. Could he be correct?
We needed to get to the orange object but to do this would involve crossing the pond which we had already decided was not a safe thing to do. We were then inundated with ideas of how we could get to it. We could build a bridge, use a big stick to walk across, make a boat or walk around the river. As a group we decided that the safest idea was to walk around the river. We began to follow the river which had some very fast and deep sections. We finally found a bridge and we followed the path along the other side of the river. There were lots of trees and bushes which made it difficult to spot the orange object. We found a very small and narrow path which we decided to venture down. This led is down to the river and there to our amazement, was the orange object! But it was not a pumpkin. It was a football. We decided to put the ball into the river to test if the water was faster than us. We threw it in and ran to the bridge as fast as we could but the ball was not there. Had it been faster than us? No, it was stuck! It was stuck in an area we were unable to access. We needed a plan. The plan was made. Let’s have lunch and make another plan of how we could get the ball out of the river! We always think better on a full tummy.
