Hello Parents & Carers,
Welcome back to the Forest School Blog…
Last week at Oxford Road we had an indoor session of Forest school with Preschool due to the stormy weather. The children learnt about the dangers of strong winds and had a role play session where the children became park rangers. They dressed up in their “uniform” hi – vis-jackets and other apparel from their fancy dress corner and had a series of tasks to do including building a bridge over the pond tuff tray. We used chai seeds in the water play area to mimic frog spawn and talked about different wildlife in ponds. The children then used their tools to “fix the fence” which had “blown down in the wind”; I also showed them how secateurs and loppers would be used to maintain the park’s flora.The children also went on a treasure hunt to find the missing fledglings that had been blown out of their nest and had to return them. We finished with a campfire which we crafted out of coloured paper and cardboard tubes as logs. The children pushed cotton wool at the end of a paintbrush to imitate marshmallows.
At Norfolk Road the children enjoyed getting very very muddy. After a night of heavy rain, the children were very excited to see great big muddy puddles in the forest school area. They enjoyed pouring water, connecting plastic tubes to create mini chutes and waterfalls. The children also painted the fence and the tree bark with thick squelchy mud. It was so lovely to see the children having fun and not worrying about getting dirty!
At Harborne Road the children enjoyed getting messy with compost and seeing their tulip bulbs start to sprout. They also enjoyed exploring different resources like insect toys and binoculars. As an extension from the previous week, we took some time to reflect on what birds we learnt about.
Another gentle reminder … The weather has been significantly cold and temperatures are dropping very low, it is imperative that all children have waterproofs, coats, gloves and hats, especially on Forest School days to ensure that they are safe and can enjoy their sessions outdoors.
Oxford Road: park ranger role play, role play campfire, learning about tools and park ranger jobs.
Norfolk Road: waterplay, jumping in muddy puddles, tree climbing and kitchen role play.
Harborne Road: waterplay, digging compost, hide and seek and bird watching.
