Ship Ahoy!

With a warm afternoon ahead of us we thought it would be nice to play with some water.  An old storm damaged tarp was put to good us as it was cut up to be used to make the outer skins of some sailing boats.  We started by cutting some willow and forming big bushy rings which were held together with string, these frames were then laid onto the tarp to measure how much fabric would be needed so we could get afloat.  Once the tarp was cut out, we got the needles and thread out and stitched the tarp to the frame with a stick sown across the middle of the boats to attach the masts.  The masts was square lashed to the boats and then a sail or two were stitched to them, then rigging was added to keep the masts upright and the boats were ready to sail.  Most of the crew had a go at the sewing and the making a frame.  One or two needed a little more support to get their boat sea worthy.  It important to remind the children we go at their speed, they set the pace not us. When the boats were ready we went of to the pond to float them unfortunately the pond is quite low at the moment so it was more sitting in harbour than taking to the high seas.

Not all the children wanted to make boats and those that didn't went off to play games of their own making.  One was all about lions living in the long grass at Forest School.  This is the nice thing about Forest School, it's up to you what you do and if you're not interested in the activity the majority are doing you don't have to take part, we will help you find something else to do. 

Sorry I deleted the photo of the boats afloat before adding it to the blog!