This week it was welcome to Emily who joins us as a parent helper on Thursday and it should have been a warm welcome to Charles on Friday but the school closed due to snow at lunchtime. I had been getting quite exited about Forest school in the snow so was a bit disappointed not to have a session so went sledging and I expect all the Forest Schoolers also got outside!
It took along time to get ready and to get outside on Thursday. Everyone seemed to be on a ‘go slow’. Once we did get out we played name animal and action to introduce Emily to everyone and so she could start putting names to faces.
At some sessions, if you ask for firewood to be collect there is a half hearted response, today they were really into it and some of the wood was a little bigger that arms and thicker than thumbs but it was great to see them all working together.
We managed to get the fire going after sometime as some of the wood was a little damp and a little green so with the kettle on the go we started to look a whittling. Most of the group have used the knives before but today we went from working on the ground in a three-point stance to sitting on the log benches leaning forward on knees supported by elbows. The group checked their blood bubbles before starting to work on lengths of hazel. I showed the group a butter knife I had carved to give them something to aim for. The real exercise was to get them to get used to using the knives and see what they could do with them and work on improving their skills. It is a shame how quickly some of the group gave up, if they perceive that something is too difficult. As part of Forest School we uses small achievable tasks to build confidence. So we had to do a little pepping up of the group to keep them going. By the time the hot chocolate was ready they all had given it a good go and said that they had enjoyed it. We will need to start work on our spoons soon so we will be carrying on with the whittling next week, snow permitting.
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