21 March 2025
Today was a clear, bright day. We donned waterproof trousers, coats and wellies when preparing for our session but most children chose to remove their coats later as it was warm in the sunshine. A beautiful day for Forest School Friday! We walked to our Forest School site, singing our song, and gathered at the log circle to discuss the session. We talked about our boundaries and a couple of children were chosen to set out the boundary flags. After recapping our Forest School rules, the children were asked to explore the site, looking out for letter cones that had been hidden around it. The children were excited to spot the cones, saying the sound for each letter when they found it, and thinking of things in nature that began with that sound. Two blows of the whistle brought everyone together again and the children were given their second task. It was my birthday today and the children were excited to share in my celebrations, so, after singing ‘Happy birthday’, they were asked to work in groups to gather natural materials and ‘make a birthday cake’ for me. They were very excited about this activity and showed great imagination when finding materials and suggesting what they could be used for. The cakes were all topped with candles – some using sticks, some using the letter cones, some using pine cones. Each cake was decorated with a variety of items including daisies, leaves and stones. We allowed time for the children to share their work with the rest of the class, and, of course, I had to ‘blow out’ all those candles! The children were given time for free play afterwards. Some continued along the theme of birthdays and cakes and made great use of our mud kitchens. Others preferred to dig for ‘treasure’, transport items in the wheelbarrow or count and smell the flowers beginning to appear. There was a lot of great discussion around seasons and the signs of Spring. At the end of the session, the children worked together to ensure that we ‘left no trace’ and every child indicated their enjoyment of today’s session with a ‘thumbs up’.
