Flying the flags

It felt like spring today at forest school as we returned after half term.  The sun was out, it was warm and not dark when we finished.  After reminding ourselves of the forest school rules we had a round of the name animal game.  Most of the group went off to mulch the trees we planted at the end of term while three of the group helped build the fire for boiling the water for the hot chocolate.

Once back together we started making flags to decorate the forest school site.  Using charcoal to draw with, everyone drew pictures of their animals and used watered down clay as paint to added colour.  We threaded sticks through our flags and then using round turns and two half hitches we tied string to them so we could hang them in the trees.

After hot chocolate and biscuits we built two rope swings using our new climbing ropes.  Once again using our round turn and two half hitches (it’s a very handy knot) we fixed a piece of wood to one end of the rope and the other end was tied around the tree.

Next week there is no forest school because I’m off to Devon on a forest school course.  The following week we will be looking at knots and spending more time on the rope swings and building a rope walk between two trees.