Spring Term - 31st May 2022 (afternoon session)

Our afternoon session was definitely going to be an interesting one! We all dressed ready for the weather in welly boots and waterproofs and braved the rain. On entering the park, the children were immediately drawn to several different small puddles which they enjoyed plodging in.

We decided to venture further into the park to look for bigger puddles. On approaching a corner of the park we were confronted by the largest puddle any of us had ever seen. We stood around the puddle, poised ready to jump. After a “1, 2, 3” we all jumped into the puddle. Everyone smiled and giggled as the water shot up and splashed us all in the face. Smiles and shrieks of delight all round.

The children then decided to experiment with different ways of moving through the puddle. Can we roll? Can we roly poly? Can we run? There was only one way to find out. We needed to try and try we did. We explored different ways off moving through the puddle but at the end, we decided that splashing was simply the most fun! The rain and the cold were not going to make us stop but soon it was time to return to nursery and get warmed up with a delicious tea. What a fun day we had all had! We are hopeful it will rain next week too!

Spring Term - Tuesday 31st May 2022 (morning session)

As we arrived in the park, the children were very excited and immediately wanted to explore. We spotted something on the ground, it was a small green plant but Tara pointed out that this was something even more special! It was a sapling! But what type of sapling could it be? We looked at the characteristics of the sapling and we thought it looked like long green fingers. Immediately the children recognised what is was… it was a horse chestnut tree! The children looked around and found several more growing below a huge conker tree.

As we walked around looking for more saplings, the children found an abundance of broken branches and sticks. Where had they all come from? One of the children decided she wanted to build a small house for a squirrel and alongside several of her friends, they began to lie sticks against a tree to create the structure. Another child found brightly coloured leaves and flowers which would act as the carpet and decorations. The squirrel home soon changed and became a home for tree fairies who no longer had a branch to sit on. The girls decorated the whole house with flowers and it really did look fit for a fairy!

“We need to use a leaf for the mat so the fairies can wipe their feet” - Jenny

“But fairies fly so they don’t have dirty feet’’ - Alice

As one group of children built their fairy home, another group of children were attempting to place a broken branch back into the ground so it could regrow. This was a very tricky thing to do! The children initially began to place sticks into the ground and using them like a screwdriver, attempted to churn out soil to create a hole. The children soon found that this would not work for such a long branch. They decided to then attempt to pack the bottom of the branch with soil and sticks to help support it to stand. With a lot of hard work they managed to achieve this and were so proud of themselves when their tree branch stood upright independently. But how long would it last? Unfortunately we soon learned that trees require roots to stabilise them as the branch fell down. Never mind, we still had a full afternoon to enjoy and the sky was beginning to turn a dark grey colour. This could only mean one thing…we may be getting wet!

Spring Term - Tuesday 24th May 2022

Before heading into our forest, the children recapped on what they wanted to do at forest school that week. Everyone had remembered our plans to visit the river however a few of the specific details had changed. Now instead of plodging with our welly boots on we were going fishing, going for a swim and splashing in the water. Luckily, everyone had brought spare clothes and towels with them so we were ready for a wet day and a wet day is just what we got! The spring sun shone as the children leapt and ran in the meadow on the way to our site. The sun shone again when we sat for our lunch and just as we finished and headed into the river, it began to rain. Not just a little shower of rain but a huge downpour! The children (and adults) did not mind at all and we walked and splashed our feet in the river, traversed the tyre bridge, clung to tree trunks as we meandered along the outskirts of the river, crossed the muddy island (avoiding the really super squelchy mud!) and eventually splashing in the deep water of the river as the rain dripped down around us. Everyone was wet but no one cared. We headed back to the ‘big shed’ where we dried off and had some yummy scones and drinks. We then had enough time to survey our new ponds and spot some tadpoles. We checked out our poly tunnel and everyone was amazed at our plants, flowers and vegetables.

Spring Term - Tuesday 17th May 2022

We started our day by walking down the lane towards our forest school site. Freddie spotted a construction vehicle and immediately identified it as a telescopic handler. A builder spotted us looking at the vehicle and explained it’s job and confirmed it was in fact a telescopic handler (and also a forklift truck)!

We continued on our route and listened to the sound of bird song as we made our way into the forest. We spotted lots of signs of life from blossom on the trees to bluebells and some animals trails. The first trail we found was a parting in the grass and a large hole into the bushes. We talked about what kind of animal may have made this trail. We finally decided it could have been a fox. We spotted another trail but this one was larger and more like a path. Rupert identified that the path had been created by a human! Yes, it was us!

We found the sneaky staircase and followed it all the way to the path. We were surprised by the changes in the woodland. We talked about why the forest had grown so much. We thought maybe the sun, soil, air, rain and time of year had something to do with it. We then had a decision to make as we approached a fork in the path. Do we go left, right or straight ahead? The children voted and straight ahead was the decision. We had never ventured along this path before. We soon realised this path was taking us higher and higher up into the hill. We navigated steep steps, stinging nettles and fallen branches to reach the peak. We looked down at the vast wilderness below and were amazed that all of the space was ours to explore. We climbed further up the hills until we found a familiar spot. It was our hill covered in beautiful bluebells and pink flowers. We spent lots of time here climbing, scaling the hill, building a fire (a pretend one of course!), bouncing on tree branches, discovering Superworm and identifying letters which had been carved onto a piece of wood. “Look, it’s a M for Mummy!”.

After lunch we ventured down the hill and into our original forest school site. We were amazed to find a den we had built many months prior had now been swallowed up by nettles and other plants. The children felt a little sad as we were now unable to play in our den. We needed to find a new spot to build the best den ever! We began searching and found a fantastic place to explore beside the river. Unfortunately we ran out of time and needed to head back to nursery but we are very excited for next week’s adventures.

Spring Term - Thursday 17th March 2022

This week we decided to go on another adventure in our forest school. We came to a fork in the path and as a group we talked about which way we should go. Should we venture into a part of the woodland we had previously explored or head on to explore a new area? We decided to head to the new area of the forest. We discovered long sticks on the ground, a spooky den and a huge stone which was amazing for climbing. It was a little slippy but everyone worked together to support one another.

We walked up high into the mountains of our forest before discovering the orange river we know so well. From here we were able to track our way back to the minibus and nursery.

Spring Term - Thursday 10th March 2022

This week at forest school we walked along to our orange river. The children have been fascinated by the colour of this part of the river for weeks now and today we decided to engage in some scientific exploration. The children thought about what colour the water was and why. There was a lot of different theories, maybe someone had put food colouring into the river, paint was another guess and carrots another. We all guessed if we took some water out of the river, it would be orange but to our surprise it was ‘water colour’ as one child put it. This truly astounded the children. We knew we had more research to take part in.

As we walked deeper into our forest, we found a huge fallen tree which the children enjoyed navigating. We tried different ways of moving around, over and under the tree.

Spring Term - Thursday 3rd March

This week we explored a forest school a little closer to nursery. We enjoyed moving through the bushes looking for the wild animals which may be living around us. Would we spot a deer, a bear or maybe a tiger? Lucky for us we spotted lots of bird and met some very friendly dogs (one of which decided he would rather stay with us then his own grown up). We spotted some beautiful white feathers and decided to follow the trails to discover who they may belong to. We spotted a pigeon, a white duck and a swan. We wondered which one of these animals the feather may belong to.

In the woodland, we created a story circle to celebrate ‘World Book Day’. We laid out sticks in a circle shape and stood around it. We worked together to create our own story by giving one sentence each. Our story featured a grumpy crocodile which everyone thought was hilarious!

Spring Term - Thursday 24th February 2022

Today we enjoyed a trip to our forest school. We discussed what we would do that day and the children were excited about visiting the site, climb trees and mountains and go on an adventure! This week we were taking a new grown up with us, Adaline from baby unit! The children ensured that Adaline knew how to be safe in the forest by demonstrating how to cross the road sensibly, they explained why we always leave berries on the tree and how we stand to stand to the side to allow dogs and their owners to pass us.

When we arrived on our site we looked around and found the den which the last forests schoolers had created. This group of children decided they wanted to cross the super swamp and head up onto the mountain. We carefully crossed our tree bridge and headed up the steep slope. We found a great tree for climbing and everyone took it in turns to negotiate the tree and get down safely. We then headed further into the forest where we slid down hills on our bottoms, climbed steep mountains, negotiated small pathways, met some friendly dogs, discovered an orange river and admired the view from the best position, on top of the world!

Winter Term - Tuesday 15th February 2022

This week the children were very excited as it was fire week! As usual the children had previously discussed what they would like to cook on the fire. We agreed on starters of bruschetta, a main of vegetable stir fry and to finish bananas and custard! Yummy! After lunch we still had lots of time to head into forest school and explore. We headed across the meadow where we were all free to run in the huge expanse of space. As we explored, we were reminded of the witch we heard last week. We found witch tracks on the ground and decided to follow them. We then heard the witches cackle! What should we do? We headed deeper into forest school where we found a tree which had blown down and twisted. Kirsty directed us to a safe route so we could get back to the minibus and away from the forest witch!

Winter Term - Tuesday 8th February 2022

What a busy day we had at forest school today. As we headed down into the forest we chatted about our den. Would it still be there or could the storm have blown it down? As we approached our site, one of the children shouted “It’s alive!”. Everyone was so excited to see that our den had survived. “Our magic fingers must have worked” shouted Rupert.

We began to add to our den whilst some children helped to build a shelter to keep us warm and dry. The children decided to create a fire pit, chairs and tables to make their den even better! After lunch we continue with our building work, carrying branches back and forth and even making a trap!

Winter Term - Tuesday 1st February 2022

As we headed to forest school we were aware the wind could make our day problematic. When we arrived the wind was quite strong so we discussed together how safe it would be to venture into forest school. We decided that the way to keep everyone safe was to spend our day on the allotment. We had lots of jobs to do as we had not been to our allotment over the winter period. We began by moving compost into our new beds and weeding our existing ones. We then moved our rhubarb patch into it’s new home and then finished our day by using our wheelbarrows to carry bark from the top of the hill down into our allotment. What a busy day we had had. We thought about the den we made last week in forest school. Would it be there next week? We weren’t so sure as the wind had done a lot of damage. Let’s see what next week brings!

Winter Term - Tuesday 25th January 2022

This week we decided to walk down to our forest school site as quickly as possible to ensure we could make the most of our time there. We passed lots of dogs on our way and the children remembered to stand to the side to allow them to pass us safely. As we continued our walk we spotted lots of birds and nests which the children were very excited about. Preschool had been discussing the big bird watch at nursery and how they could get involved.

After lunch we decided to build the biggest den we could. We found lots of long branches which we worked together to carry and put into place to create a dome structure. We then added dried grass as a roof and even found an old brick which was converted into a television. We are looking forward to adding to our den next week. We were a little worried the wind might knock over our den but we won’t know until next week so watch this space!

Our den

Winter Term - Tuesday 11th January 2022

Today was our first trip back to forest school this year. It was quite a cold day so we wrapped up nice and warm before venturing out to the woodland. On our way we talked about what we may see on our adventures. Almost immediately after our conversation, we heard a quacking noise before spotting four ducks who were happily waddling around. We then spotted two friendly dogs, a squirrel and lots of birds. We spotted the biggest dog we have ever seen before. IT WAS HUGE! We asked the dogs owner what type of dog it was to which she answered, “He is a Boerboel”.

As we headed further into the woodland we found some areas to climb and jump. Some children decided to jump over the small ditch along the path whilst others attempted to use the hanging vines to climb higher and higher up the hill. It was very tricky as the soil was loose. Using the vines and low hanging branches the children managed to negotiate a route. Rupert even made it all the way to the top!

Winter Term - Tuesday 14th December

Our last forest school session before Christmas had arrived. The children were very excited for fire week where we cook our meals on the open fire. The meal of choice was jacket potatoes, beans and cheese with our favourite dessert of pancakes, chocolate and strawberries (these really are simply delicious!). 

We talked about how to stay safe around the fire and after a late start to our day we got to work immediately constructing our fire. We knew we needed kindling but what else would we need? Whilst lunch was cooking, Angela began to prepare our Kelly kettle for a very festive treat – hot chocolate and marshmallows! The children sat back in amazement as the fire burned out of the top of our Kelly kettle. We talked about the differences between smoke and steam and what we should do if the smoke moved towards our eyes. 

After a warm drink our lunch was ready. It was very tasty and before we knew it our pancakes were ready too! We were so surprised at how quickly our fire had cooked everything and that meant we still had lots of time to explore our forest school. One child wanted to visit the horses who live in the meadow so we headed down the lane and across the field where we counted five horses. We then headed down a deep ravine into the woodland. There were lots of steps to walk down but the children were very aware of how to keep themselves safe. As we continued along the path, we encountered a problem. A huge tree had fallen across the path and we were unable to continue any further. Ruby suggested we climb over it. We discussed it and decided we would give it a try. We all negotiated a pathway around, under or over to move past the tree and everyone was amazed at their achievement! We continued and found more trees which had fallen but these were safe enough to climb on and try to balance. We also found a hollow tree which was great for hiding in. As the day ended the children sang Christmas songs all the way back to nursery. What a fun and festive forest school day!

Autumn Term - Tuesday 30th November 2021

Once we arrived at forest school, we talked about Storm Arwen and the damage it may have caused on our site. We also discussed the hidden dangers which may be present such as fallen or snapped branches above us. The children looked around as they moved through our site and pointed out areas which they felt may be dangerous or had created challenges for us. We found lots of broken branches on the ground and some trees which had been blown over in the wake of the storm. One child decided that we could push the tree to an upright position if we all worked together. Everyone lined up along the tree and attempted to push it back up into a standing position but unfortunately the tree was too heavy for us. We even found some large rocks which the children believed had been blown down the hill. The children attempted to push these back up the hill but they were just too heavy! 

 

As we continued our journey through the woodland, we spotted something lurking in the bushes. We looked closely and spotted a deer! But not just one deer, it was a family of deer! The children were amazed! We found a small clearing where we continued to look for the deer but sadly were unable to spot them. We did however spot a huge ditch which some of the children enjoyed jumping across. The children enjoyed discovering different ways to move over the ditch and helped support one another with encouraging words. 

Autumn Term - Tuesday 23rd November 2021

This week we welcomed a new group to forest school. The cold, wintry weather could not dampen our spirits as we headed down the lane to forest school. As we went we talked about the things we may see. The children were adamant they would spot squirrels, foxes and deer but to our surprise the first animal we encountered was a horse. A very large, friendly horse. We stroked the horses nose and he really liked it. He also liked the children's bobble hats a lot too! 

 

We followed the path further down and into our site. We were amazed to spot a squirrel run across the path and up into a tree. Now that the leaves have fallen from the trees we can see a lot more of the animals who live in the forest. As we continued our walk, Freddie and Dylan thought they could see eyes watching us from the bushes. We wondered what it may have been. Could it have been a bear or a tiger? We came to a small bridge with a river and followed it downstream in search of more wildlife. We stopped several times to listen to the sounds of the forest. We could hear the grasses brushing together and the branches rubbing on one another. We heard lots of birds and spotted a few robins and sparrows. Once on our forest school main site we listened again. The noises were different this time, the forest had become more dense and the sounds had changed. We decided to make our camp and have lunch. We chatted about where we would like to explore and the huge hill was first on several children's lists however this would have to be our first stop next week as the day was almost over. We walked back to our minibus. We had enjoyed our walk into forest school so much that we were now very tired. A little nap on the way back was just what some of the children needed. We look forward to climbing the huge hill next time!

Forest School 2021 Autumn Term Thursday 18th November 2021

This week was a particular favourite for the children - fire week. The end of our sessions marks the time the children select what they would like to cook on the open fire. The children had chosen to make pizzas, pancakes and noodle soup, creating a delicious three course meal. The weather had taken a turn for the worse so we also decided we should have warm drinks all day and the majority vote was for hot chocolate (with marshmallows of course!). The children sat around the lunch table in the fire pit and Tara explained how we stay safe around the fire whilst Jen got working on our Kelly kettle. Lisa explained how we could use the fire to cook our lunch and came up with a barbecue style fire pit with an old metal bin which allowed our fire to be lit but remain safe in the windy weather. This was a huge success and our starter of noodle soup was soon ready to try. It was delicious. Thank you Maya for a great suggestion! 

 As the windy weather took hold we held our hot chocolates in our hands to stay warm, snuggling closely to one another. The fire provided us with lots of heat so we were very toasty! It was beginning to feel very wintery. Next up were our pizzas which we folded to create our own calzone style. They were delicious and then for afters, pancakes! We had another hot drink before the wind really decided to blow. It was nearly time to leave but we decided to take shelter in our shed where we listened to the wonderful story 'The Enormous Turnip'. As everyone's eyes grew heavy we headed to our minibus for a well deserved rest (and a few moments of snoozing for some). 

What a super (if not a little windy) day!

Autumn Term - Thursday 11th of November 2021

This week at forest school we had a new grown up coming to join us on our adventures in the woods.  Lisa’s friend Kath joined the group and was excited to meet the children and share some of her lovely ideas with everyone.  Kath enjoys knitting and had brought along some lovely, knitted fairies.  As we prepared for the day getting our warm suits on Kath secretly hid some of the fairies in different parts of the garden.  Before we set of into the woods Tara told a tale of the magic fairies of Blaydon and that they had been spotted flying around the meadow! Could they have landed in our allotment? We were desperate to find out.  The children crept quietly around the allotment as we know fairies do not like loud noises.  It was then that Hannah spotted our first fairy, she looked closely at it but did not pick it up.  

It did not take long for the children to find all ten fairies, but no one had attempted to pick them up.  

Lisa asked Ruby “are we not allowed to pick them up” Ruby replied, “yes we can but we have to be so careful they do not like it when it is too noisy, let’s be careful!”

We gathered to look at the different colours and discuss why the fairies had landed in our allotment, the children had lots of ideas and were so excited about what they had discovered.  We then decided to head into the woods and see if we could find any more fairies or maybe fairy houses.  As we walked down the steep hill, the children talked with Kath about the ‘dangers’ of forest school and what she should do to keep herself safe.  Kath smiled as the children’s knowledge was incredible and they wanted to ensure she knew everything, they discussed brambles and nettles and why we should not touch them.  Road safety and why we should look left and right and what we should do if we see dogs when in the woods.

As we reached the bottom of the hill, we were greeted by the horses in the meadow, the galloped towards the fence and the children wanted to stop to see them.  Jen had brought carrots to feed the horses, Neve was excited to help and laughed as they chomped the carrots. As we moved towards the woods, we discovered more horses in the nearby field who were also very excited to see us.

We carried on into the woods and found a lovely area with low hanging trees, Aubrey then spotted a fairy sitting in the tree.  Tara asked the children, if this fairy is sitting in the tree what type of fairy do you think she is?  Ruby thought she must be a tree fairy.  Millie then found a fairy on the ground and the same question was asked.  Olivia decided this fairy must be a ground fairy!  The children then continued looking for fairies and fairy houses, we found several more fairies and a big cluster of mushrooms (fairy houses).

As we approached lunchtime we began setting up and space to sit, Kath then unpacked some items from her bag.  The children were intrigued and wondered what could be in her little basket.  Hannah looked inside and Kath asked Hannah if she knew how to make fairy flowers?  Hannah looked excited and said she didn’t but quickly sat down with Eve and Camille and they watched as Kath placed out different resources that they could choose from. Kath talked with the group about fairy flowers and explained how to make them, Olivia asked if she could choose any colour she wanted, Kath uncovered the basket of different colours and smiled ‘yes any colour you like’.  As the children began making their fairy flowers, they discussed their flowers and maya was excited to take hers home to show her parents.  She decided it would be her fairy wand.  Kavish was thrilled with his fairy flower and held it proudly to show everyone once finished.

The children really enjoyed working with Kath and engaged with the activities she had planned, Kath had just as much fun as the children and this is her reflection of the day…..

“I think you and your colleagues have an amazing ability to encourage the children to use their imaginations and loved the way the morning was led by the dolls…. Who became fairies to explore their surroundings and interact with nature!!  

They knew how to keep them selves safe and me as their visitor.  I’ll never forget their enthusiasm and pure joy for the morning activities and their ability to learn as only children can.  

I loved the way Tara introduced something new to the allotment, what could it be? Had the children noticed anything new?... From badgers to bird poo came the reply!!  Their interest was sparked straight away and everything was learning and magical after that as they inquisitively searched for the fairies.

It is not a situation I have found myself in before but I applaud you all for the joy and love of nature you give to those wonderful children.  I found the experience uplifting and filled me with joy. 

Best wishes to you all and thankyou for letting me be part of your world for the morning xx”

Autumn Term - Thursday 4th November 2021

This week was the first for many of the children and wow were they excited! We headed down into the woodland chatting about what we might see that day. Would it be deer, a rabbit or maybe a bear or a tiger! As we headed down the lane we spotted our first animals, two very friendly horses. The children were amazed at just how big the horses were. They decided to name them Barnamiel and Ria. We then headed further into the woodland. We stopped to look at the beautiful trees all around us. We looked at the colour and shape of the leaves and thought about which leaves belonged to which trees. Some of the children were able to identify the oak leaves and pointed out which tree they were from. We talked about the seeds which grow on oak trees and the children were able to identify an oak tree as growing acorns which the squirrels love to eat!

 As we neared the entrance to forest school, we noticed an area with a huge accumulation of leaves. We grasped handfuls of leaves, counted to three and threw our leaves up into the air allowing them to float down around us. We repeated this trying to throw them higher and higher every time. Ruby spotted a long ditch which she realised quickly she could jump right across. It was a tricky crossing as the other side was higher so using both hands, she managed to pull herself up. Everyone else wanted to try and before we knew it, we were all jumping across the ditch. The children supported one another with encouraging words or with a helping hand. Leo was thrilled to jump across the ditch independently. “I did it” he shouted.

 We walked on and found an enormous rock sitting beside the path. Camille thought she could move it so gave it a push. It was a tricky job moving a rock that big. Camille’s friends came over to help and everyone pushed but the rock would just not move so we decided to leave it for another day. Once in our forest school site, we created our camp by placing a tarpaulin on the floor. We sat down and ate our lunch which was delicious and very filling! Soon it was time to tidy up and venture onto the huge steep hills above us. Leo and Eve quickly scrambled up the hill before standing at the top to admire their achievement. The children then sat down and slid all the way to the bottom of the bank before repeating this several times. We even found a huge log to walk and balance along before engaging in more climbing. Before we knew it, the time had come to leave our woodland playground and head back to nursery. We were excited to see if our horses were still there and to our amazement they were! We said our farewells to them, promising them a carrot next week. Goodbye forest school for another week!

Autumn Term - Week 4, Tuesday 12th October 2021

This week was one of our favourites – fire week! The children discussed what they would like to cook on the fire and pizzas are always a firm favourite. The children enjoyed preparing their pizza by selecting the ingredients they wanted. They created their tomato base, sprinkled on the cheese and then chose from sweetcorn, ham and mushrooms. Delicious! Kirsty discussed fire safety with the children and everyone was extremely sensible whilst moving around the fire. Once we had prepared our pizzas, we had a little time to complete some allotment jobs. We began weeding our beds and preparing them for winter. We found lots of minibeasts which we observed closely. We also tidied our shed, moved our new pots into the greenhouse and sorted the compost bins. By this point we were all very hungry and it was time for lunch. Everyone enjoyed their pizzas and Toby pointed out that Kirsty was very good at cooking pizza. After our pizza it was time for puddling. It was our favourites (besides pizza of course), pancakes with melted chocolate and strawberries. We thoroughly enjoyed our lunch and sitting under our shelter in the rain together.