17 September 2025 – Mini Rafts (Forest School Club)

The main activity for this lesson was making mini rafts. This week, we met in my classroom within the school building to watch a short video about how to make a viable raft. This provided hints and tips on effective raft making, as well as a variety of knots which can be used to put the raft together.
After watching and discussing the video, we then moved outside to our Forest School area. Once there, we recapped the rules and set out the boundaries. The children were then asked to select their own partner and I combined the pairs into groups of four. This allowed the children to work with people wanted to, while also allowing me to ensure the groups were diverse and of mixed-ability. Once in their groups, the children gathered the resources needed to create their mini raft. They then used these resources, including sticks and wool to build their rafts, displaying great teamwork and communications skills in the process. Once the mini rafts were built, we all gathered together to test their stability and buoyancy in a container of water… the white water rapids of Lisnasharragh Primary School! Following testing, as a group, we evaluated the rafts’ effectiveness and discussed how they could be improved further.