Wednesday 27th April
To begin our Forest School session this week, we played a game called ‘Pine Cone Takeaway’. The children were placed into one of four teams with two teams competing against each other. 21 pine cones were placed on the ground between the two teams, each team taking it in turns to take away one or two pine cones each time. The winning team were the ones who removed the last pine cone. This required the groups to work out strategies, plan and problem solve together. Two particular teams didn’t lose a single game, so we held a takeaway tournament to find out which was the greatest problem solving team!
Afterwards we sat around the fire circle and learnt how to tie a piece of string onto a stick using a clove hitch.
Here is our story to help you remember it…
Make a fish and then a dish. Put the fish on the dish, and place your stick through the two hoops.
We also learnt about the properties of fire; oxygen, heat and fuel. We talked about the qualities of deadwood and how to build up the fuel to establish an effective campfire.
Later we had the opportunity to use the flint and steel fire strikers. At first it was quite a challenge to create a spark, but after a little practise everyone mastered the technique and ignited a ‘pixie pillow’! What a sense of achievement!
Whilst some children were mastering this new technique, others were being creative by producing environmental art pictures, in the style of Andy Goldsworthy or continuing to develop their den making skills with the introduction of tarpaulins.
After our hot chocolate and biscuit, we had a rendition of ‘Everywhere we go’ before sharing our highlights of the session. Fire lighting, den building and for some a little mud exploration proved to be the most popular.