As the Summer has approached it has been wonderful to see the Forest School site changing, growing and adapting to the new season. The improved weather has also meant a lot less mud, which some of us are pleased about.
We have seen a lot of growth on our site, this includes plants and trees which may cause us harm, such as Nettles, Brambles, Hawthorns, Lords and Ladies (Arum maculatum) etc. The children have spent time getting to know and recognise these plants and trees as it is important we not only learn to keep away from them but also value their individual importance on our site. Every plant, tree or animal plays an important part in the cycle of nature.
Site maintenance and development were both important factors this half term, ensuring we are doing all we can to help increase and support wildlife, no matter their size.
World Art Day:
During the first week of the term we took part in World Art Day, with a focus on the artist Andy Goldsworthy.
The children looked at examples of his work, noticing and commenting on his use of natural materials to creature images and sculptures. They learnt about his concept of a 'collaboration with nature'.
The children worked in groups to collect a range of natural materials from our site and then decided to focus on one or more of Andy Goldworthy's 'styles'. They could choose to create images using one or more of the following styles:
Monitoring our site:
During the second week of term we took the time to monitor our site. We took part in lots of bug hunting and general investigation to see what was living in our Forest School, both flora and fauna.
We had a list of items to find, as well as the chance to find other species we did not know were living there. The children throughly enjoyed this week, bug hunting is a firm favourite!
Habitat development:
Following on from the previous week, during week 3 we created habitat in the form of bug hotels, dead wood piles and dead hedges.
During the previous week the children had found bugs living on the site but not a diverse range of different species. So to help attract more species we used dead wood to create safe areas for insects to live and breed in. We used the wheelbarrows to help us move the wood from the top of the field to the Forest School site, this added to part of the fun.
Litter picking:
We took to the local lanes armed with litter pickers, bin bags and gloves this week. We have spoken about how important it is to maintain a healthy ecosystem for both plants and animals in our local area and ensuring there is little to no litter is an important part of that mission. We linked our lovely litter picking walk with Sir David Attenborough's 100 birthday discussing the vital role he has played in helping ruduce single use plastic and general waste around the planet.
Thinning trees and using mallets:
This was our first week using tools! Loppers were used to maintain and cut back the growth on the Forest School site, including low growing branches, thorny hedgerows and parts which had got a little out of control. We saw some fantastic perseverance and determination of children who really got into cutting back the parts which needed maintaining, they were also excellent and listening to the safety talk at the beginning about how to use the tools safely.
The children also used mallets this week to create natural artwork, using the technique Hapa-zome (which means leaf dye). They collected leaves and other interesting plants, placed them on the cotton fabric and hit them with the mallets. This released the pigment and dyed the fabric square. Lots of trial and error was needed as some leaves/ plants worked better than others.
Multicultural week:
The children took part in multicultural week in the last week of term. We focused on what it would feel like to move from another country and linked this to bird migration. We discussed why birds need to migrate and how this can link with human migration too.
The children were split into groups and were asked to taken on the role of a migratory bird. During the session they had to create a way of 'travelling' from one area (country) to another using the equipment given to them. They then had to create their own shelter and sit in it as a group, where they listened to music from the country they had migrated to and also tried some food from that country.