Yr5 have had the opportunity to come out and participate in our Forest School sessions, through the first half of the Spring term.  There have been some pretty cold days but, the groups have coped really well, showing good resilience.  We have been refreshing the rules to maintain safety, and it was good to see lots of good safe practice.  

One of the favourite warm-up games has been creeping foxes.  One person is ‘on’ and is blindfolded, amongst the trees.  The rest of the group needs to creep up and place a stick on the shoe of the blindfolded person, without them hearing them.  This proved more difficult than first thought as care had to be taken not to brush against branches, rustle leaves and break twigs.  It was a good exercise in trust, as the person who couldn’t see, had to trust the group and the leader to keep them safe whilst in an unnatural setting.

The groups have had lots of opportunities to experiment and develop their shelter-building skills using basic materials.  They were taught some basic knots like the timber and half hitch and had a demonstration on how to set up a ridgeline, but the rest was up to them to experiment and adapt.  

Throughout the sessions, the children were introduced to, or re-acquainted with, various natural resources found around the school, and the different uses they have.  How willow was useful in crafting and using it as skewers on the fire due to its water content and flexibility.  How elder could be used to make beads, and the berries and flowers are used in food and drink production, but not burring this wood on a fire as the smoke and fumes can be harmful.  The great use of birch in the whole process of fire creation.       

There were also some crafting opportunities.  With the use of pruning saws, the children made necklaces or bracelets, where they were able to cut small rings off elder branches to make beads, scoop out the spongy pith and then thread their beads on to string.  Lots of concentration and perseverance was on show with the sawing as it took a few attempts to get the technique right, but everyone did really well, and safely.  Another exercise saw the use of knot-tying and weaving to create colourful God's eyes.  It took a bit of practice and lots of errors and re-starts, but in the end there were some impressive results.    

 For the final week, they looked at fire.  Before the session commenced, we talked about fire safety and an introduction to the fire circle, how we all need to be very respectful when dealing with an open fire, and the correct stance to adopt when feeding the flames.  Once this was done, we were able to think about what was needed to start a fire and the 3 elements that were needed.  I gave a demonstration of how to set up your resources beforehand and then lit and began feeding the fire.  At points, some of the group were able to come and help build the fire until it had become well established.  As an end-of-term treat, we all toasted chocolate chip brioche buns (to much excitement!).  Everyone felt a great sense of responsibility to keep the fire alive but also to do so in a manner that was safe for themselves, others, and the surrounding environment.