Forest School

This morning Primary 1 went outside for some outdoor learning:  they built bridges to get over “burning lava”; made mud pies; drove cars (which looked like a boat); worked on filling up a bath and played with their special tunnel too.  Primary 2 went to the woods this afternoon and some used figure of 8 knots to make a giant catapult while others let out of shrieks of delights after uncovering a massive toad! I don’t know who got the bigger fright:me or the toad! 

Primary 4/5 learned about staying safe when being around a Kelly kettle and fire. They also had a shot at tying a clove hitch (or a 'kissing knot' as it can be known.) One group built an outdoor cinema and another group had included an outdoor toilet by their den-some of the sound effects from there were worryingly realistic at times! The class  helped gather firewood and some of the children got the chance to use the loppers to cut branches down in size. They will get a shot of trying a flint and steel at their next forest school session in October. (Next Thursday is the Macmillan Coffee Morning.)

Primary 2 had a great day in the woods this week-they were digging for underground cities, building houses in the woods again, making pretend fires, learning how to use a hand drill and having a go at using a bow saw! It was a very productive session!

This class was made for Forest School! Their enthusiasm and grasp of knots makes the sessions great fun and they have a terrific ‘can-do attitude’. Today they were shown how to do a “Round Twice and Two Half Hitches” knot and Kayden demonstrated that he had remembered it from a brief demonstration a fortnight ago. They learned that this knot is strong enough to hold them but is also useful for den building. They were making dens and adding “fires” and seats to make them comfortable as they were set the task of making a large shelter as if they were in a desert island. As for the weather: to misquote ‘Frozen’:The rain never bothered us anyway!