7 October 2025

While out on a ‘Colours All Around Me’ walk, we discovered that many apples had fallen onto the ground. We looked closely at the apples. The children loved examining the various levels of rot and decay on the apples. They discussed who or what might have eaten them and found one apple that had been devoured by little slugs, which they observed closely.
The children thought it was nice that insects and minibeasts got to eat the apples: not just humans. We planned a way to use the fallen apples to feed other animals and decided to make bird feeders.
The children collected apples from the ground, being careful not to pick apples that were still on the tree and intact, as they intended to eat those themselves. We found both eating apples and cooking apples and began to discuss the differences between them. The children listed recipes they knew that used cooking apples.
They decided that birds love seeds, so we brought some seeds to entice the birds to the apple feeders. Working in pairs or small groups, the children collected apples and sticks suitable for the task. They used apple corers and peelers to core the apples, allowing them to thread string through and practice their tying skills to attach the string securely.
With great care, they pushed seeds into the skin of the apples. They commented that the finished feeders looked like spiky hedgehogs! Knot tying proved to be quite tricky, so we agreed this is a skill we should practice again in future activities.
Once the apple feeders were completed, we walked around the area to find the perfect spots to hang them. Some children wanted to place their feeders low to the ground, but others warned that this could put birds in danger, perhaps a cat might catch them!
We discovered that some of the apples were quite soft and began to fall apart. This is something we’ll remember and use to inform our bird feeder-making skills next time. As always, following our ‘leave no trace’ principle, we agreed to return and collect the string once the apples and seeds have been eaten.
Using the feeling faces, we assessed how we felt about the activity. During our Forest School session, we also found many footballs and small balls, which we returned to their proper location. Sadly, we always seem to find litter on our trips, but we do our best to leave the area better than we found it.
We loved making the bird feeders and look forward to observing visiting birds and watching how the apples decay over the next few weeks.