Its been a hot and sunny week in Forest School and pupils have played games under the shade of one of our maple’s tree canopies to keep cool. The children were excited to play the sleeping lions game and watching the branches and leaves sway in the breeze, so that pupils do not overheat in the sun.
This week we have been continuing our Wildlife Trust #30 Days Wild challenge, where this week’s topic is to discover nature.
Fish Class went on a bug hunt around the Forest School area to find a variety of minibeasts. They used their independent enquiring skills to identify, match the minibeasts to symbols, discuss colours, sizes and features of each of their findings.
Seals, Turtles, Seahorses and Penguins classes took part in a challenge to ‘make a splash’ which was a perfect choice for a challenge, due to the increasing temperatures outside. They explored ocean creatures and their habitats, played collaboratively in the mud kitchen engaging in some role play, used the water chute to roll the water balls down and make a splash, engaged in some fine motor skills using sand for mark making and the Japanese technique of ‘hapa zome’ where pigment is released from natural objects to leave an imprint. They also used water play to fill and empty a range of containers using their creative thinking skills to begin to learn about ‘full and empty’.
Lobsters class’s #30 Day wild challenge was to ‘survey like a scientist’, placing a hula hoop on the grass to see what insects and flowers were in their hoop. This was a great exercise for pupils to use their mathematical and identification skills to count, learn colours and shapes of objects. The children recorded their findings by using their creative skills to draw their results.
Dolphins and Rays #30 Days Wild challenge was to make a butterfly feeding station. Pupils learnt about what food was needed for the butterflies and cut up some left-over fruit from another activity. They put holes in paper plates and tied string through which was a fantastic opportunity to continue to practise their knot tying skills, before placing the fruit and a small lid of water on a suitable tree.
Jellyfish class continued with their story of the hungry caterpillar and using the hapa zome technique as the activity but this time made key rings using wood cookies with their art.
Starfish Class also ‘made a splash’ using their creative thinking skills to make a boat using a range of materials. The splash came when we tested the boats to see if they would float or sink!
Please remember to send your child in with sun cream and a hat for Forest School in the hot weather, thank you.
