1 October 2025 – Bird Feeders (Forest School Club)

The main activity of this session was making bird feeders. At the outset, the children were gathered as a group into a circle and reminded of our Forest School rules, with an impetus on the importance of hygiene and safety rules, particularly regarding washing hands thoroughly and safe use of string. We then discussed the important role of birds within nature, how they find it more difficult to source food during the autumn and winter months and how we can help them, even in our own gardens. The children were then shown examples of fat balls and photographs of local garden birds. This generated lots of discussion and enthusiasm amongst the children who were keen to help our birds.

The children were divided into pairs and worked together for this task. Firstly, they mixed seeds with softened lard / suet by hand in bowls. Next, they moulded the mixture into balls and pressed them into yoghurt pots / pinecones. They then placed a loop of string into the centre of the fat ball to allow the fat balls to be easily hung. As a group, we then explored our school grounds and identified suitable locations for our bird feeders.
We then completed this lesson with a quick game of hide and seek within our forest area.