Better prepared than not.

We welcomed back one member to FS this week who came to the first term but then went missing and also had two new members joining us so circle time was full of rules and name learning.  There was a new rule for everyone this week, which is to get everyone paying attention during circle time; anyone can start making three circles with their hands and then finishing by clapping them together as people notice they join in too.  The idea is to give everyone time to refocus before the clap so we are all listening again to whoever is talking.

After last weeks soaking we got the shelter up in the corner of the FS site as soon as we had finished circle time.  We have moved location of the shelter so we don’t end up in a hollow, paddling about again but this did mean dismantling a den.  The parts of the den went to join the big den so it now is massive.  It turned out to be a lovely sunny afternoon with no sign of the forecast heavy showers, which was great.  Due to the forecast I brought the storm kettles out and we had hot chocolate with birthday cake thanks to one of the lads from Sycamore who even though he could not stay this afternoon because he had a suit fitting he dropped the cakes off so will have to wait until next week for to hear us sing happy birthday to him.

We don’t do a lot of tool work because of ratios but one tool we do use are saws and today was a chance to get them out.  Last week we decided to have a go at making wood cookie badges.  To start this off we put up the sawhorses and went over how to use the bow saws safely.  Everyone took it in turns to cut a wood cookie while the rest of their group helped hold the wood in the sawhorse for them.

We had some good self-directed play and some not so good self-directed play today.  The good play involved a found plastic bowl and the collection of a salad (not eaten of course) made up of different herbs and weeds fund in the FS as with all good ideas after a while a number of the children were collecting different things in bowls.  The not so good play involved jumping on each other, which breaks one of the FS charter rules of no physical contact with each other, a rule written by the children.

We finished the day by collecting more material for the den from around the playing field.  I have brought the wood cookies home to drill holes in and next week the children will decorate them and we are going to try making a rope ladder as well.

A birthday in the rain

We started a new term hoping for spring like weather and we almost had it, for ten minutes! I’ve run three FS session this week and have been watching the weather forecasts intently and until today I’ve escaped a soaking.  After a slow start and having to convince everyone although the sky was blue it would be a good idea to take a coat out as showers were forecast we made it to the FS site.  Until now the shelter tarp has always lived at the bottom of the big red bag but it seem like today was going to be the day we needed it so armed with rope, tarp, mallets and tent pegs we went of in search of two trees to erect the shelter between.  Once we strung the rope between the trees the children unfolded the tarp and flung it over the rope.  Pulling the four corners tight they banged in tent pegs and tied off the guy ropes.  With the addition of a ground sheet we were ready for what ever the heavens had for us.

Now we have been running FS for a while and we have a core group of children who come I wanted to see what rules they thought we should have at FS.  With a large piece of fabric the kids wrote out their own Forest School Charter using fabric crayons so we will be able to hang it in the FS site.  We have so great new rules now; you must be kind, you’re not allowed to stomp, don’t touch mushrooms, don’t be naughty and have fun to list a few.

At the end of last term as we sat around the fire in tee shirts thinking that summer was here and decided to stop having hot chocolate in favour of squash although with the change in weather I had brought the old faithful with me today.  Instead of building a fire we used a Kelly kettle that works by having a bowl in which the fire is lit, then over it the kettle sits.  The kettle has a double wall so the flames go up the middle and heats a jacket of water around the column.  It can be safely used by the children who feed the fire by placing sticks on the top of the kettle and letting them fall into the fire keeping their hands away from the fire.  A number of the children had a go at this as they helped prepare the hot chocolate.  Just as the kettle boiled the clouds opened so we rushed into the shelter for snack time.  As the rain drummed on the tarp and water started puddling on the outer edges of the ground sheet we sang happy birthday to one of the boys at the top of our voices so we that we could be heard.  He declared this to be the best birthday ever whilst eating his second biscuit (wet days = 2 biscuits (Kate’s rule)).

As the rain eased off some of the group went of to work on dens and others remained to play in the shelter until it was time for home.  Next week wood cookie badge making and in the following weeks climbing frames ready for the assault course at the end of term.

Egg rolling gets everyone in a bit of a spin!

You could tell that it’s the end of term by the hyper group we started with today.  After much excitement from egg rolling in the afternoon it took a little time for everyone to calm down.  We started with the animal name game as we had two visitors, mums of two of the boys had managed to get an afternoon in the sun off and wanted to come and see what FS was all about.  We collected fire wood for the last time for a while today as next term the group have decided to have squash instead of hot chocolate as the weather gets warmer and they were reminded that a sun hat would be a very good idea to keep the rain off.  The three eldest boys build the fire and then lit a corner each with the fire steels, ready to cook pizza wraps for everyone.  The hot chocolate was made extra special with mini marshmallows and the feast was finished with a biscuit.

The children had decided that we were going to play hide and seek and then after the feast, play on the slack line and rope swings.  One of the mums was impressed when two of the boys who had not been caught answered to ‘123 where are you’ straight away.  A lot of what we do at FS is standing back and letting the child get on with it.  A good example came at the end of the session a small group had started working on a circus routine last week on the slack line and today they performed their show using the line in lots of different ways.  This creativity could so easily been crushed by me saying you just balance and walk along the line from one tree to the other but they took it to a completely different level working as a team, with individuals working out what they could do on the line and then getting the whole FS together to watch their impromptu show.

Next term we are going to take the slack line and rope swings farther as we look at building an assault course.  I’m already thinking about making a net to crawl under, rope ladders to climb up and a problem solving bridge exercise in

slacking off

It’s interesting how ‘I don’t want to do that it’s boring’ turns into ‘just a minute I just want to finish this bit’.  One of the favoured activity at FS is hide and seek but on a playing field there are not many places to hide so today’s activity was to build some structures to hide behind.  We had five to build and so we ended up with randomly chosen groups of three working on each structure.  We already had willow, which could be woven onto the structure and then it was a case of finding what you could.  One of the boys had the idea of stripping the bark from the logs that line the entrance to the FS to use to build into his structure.  Soon we had what appeared to be a gang of beavers working on all the logs, so now we have naked logs and somewhere to hide.  I hope we will keep adding to the structures over time but very much like the den design it's up to the kids.

After a drink we set up the slack line, which is a length of webbing strop that goes between two trees and then is pulled tight through a ratchet.  Whilst some children were still working on their structures and some playing a game of tag we had a small group balancing along the line.  

Its great when we have lots going on and the children can dip in and out of activities and also start to lead on the activities.  With the slack line we started off by walking across it then someone decided that they could balance in the middle and then jump up and land back on the line.  Once one had had a go then someone else wanted a go and so on.  When this happens you just step back and watch the self directed play - great!

Today’s session was a bit of a rollercoaster ride with highs and lows.  We started in the school hall as we needed to sit down and talk about behaviour at FS as there is a small disruptive element who keeps pushing the boundaries and behaviour has been slipping over the last couple of sessions.  FS operates an open door policy, which means we will do our best never to exclude anyone, we work on trust, you gain it and you lose it, but you can always gain it again.

Once outside in the fresh air we had three new fire builders putting together the tipi of sticks ready to boil the kettle while everyone else collected wood for next week.  With the kettle over fire and the boys divided the hot chocolate powder between the cups ready for snack time. 

To enhance the FS site we planted primroses along the entrance to the Forest School as one child called them ‘leading lights to bring everyone into our special area’.  It is interesting how the group are gaining a real sense of ownership of the site, as they worry about the rest of the school damaging their hard work.

Last week we decided to play games this week and I said I would teach the group a new game but when it came down to it only a handful wanted to play.  The group divided up some going off to build a new den, some to play hide and seek and some to kick about in the leaves.  This is great though, we are all about being child led and we plan activities but sometimes the group have different ideas. By the time the session was drawing to a close most of the group were back together playing hide and seek. We finished the session inspecting the new den with as many of the group as possible hiding inside. 

  

When the rope touches the ground there is one to many on it

Back after a week in a forest in Devon training for me to this weeks knots and rope walks.  We take a vote on want we are going to do at the next session and last time it was more rope swings and a ropewalk and learning the knots we would need to build these aerial constructions. 

We had some good stick collecting although one or two have forgotten the no thicker than your thumb and not longer than your arm rule so next week we will just go over the rules again.  We had three new fire builders today and their fire went very well, the kettle was boiled before we had finished our knot revision.

We have not looked at knots for a whiled so we started with a stopper knot and then the figure of eight.  Then to get everyone working together we learnt a new knot; the sheet bend.  This is made by first tying it in our own cord then standing in a circle we tied our cord to the person standing on our right.  Once we had a complete circle of cord we tested our knots by holding onto the cord then leaning out with everyone supporting each other, we then stood inside the circle and leant back on the cord using it as a seat.

After hot chocolate and a biscuit we started on the rope bridge.  Between two trees we tied a low rope and a rope just above head height using round turns and two half hitches at each end of the bridge.  To get the rope tight enough there was a lot of pulling.  With too many children on it, it did touch the ground in the middle.  Once we had made a bridge just off the ground we went up a foot, but still with too many on the rope it touched the ground.  Next time a less stretchy rope we think.

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.