Forest School
Crab Lane School is surrounded by woodland, meadows, and ponds. Our incredible outdoor space means we love to learn outdoors.
Outdoor learning helps to build confidence, resilience and problem solving skills. We value these skills and the team spirit that is created when we work together outdoors.
A lot of children’s learning in Forest School is initiated by themselves as they explore and discover. They do this alongside planned activities such as cooking on an open fire, whittling and shaping sticks, den building, natural artwork, use of tools and much more. The combination of child-led play/discovery and practical activity enhances your child’s learning during Forest School sessions.
Year 1 have been completing their Forest School this term. Have a look at some of the fantastic activities they’ve been getting up to:
Autumn art
After a session to familiarise ourselves with rules and boundaries of the outdoor area, Year One completed some fantastic autumn art. We spoke about the autumn weather and how it causes our outdoor classroom to transform. Children went out and explored and found lots of materials to complete an autumn collage.
Little Friends settlements
We went on a whole group walk around the outdoor area looking for any signs of Mr Snell’s ‘little friends’. Children were told the story of the Crab Lane dragon who is allergic to children and had destroyed the little friends settlement with a sneeze! The children were asked to help the little friends in any way possible. Some decided to build new homes, some built traps for the dragons and some children even built a sneeze catcher to protect the new village!
Senses
Year One had a chat about the various senses we have and what we use each one for. We spoke about how the different senses are heightened when we remove one. Children closed their eyes and were given an object from the outdoor area. They had to feel with their hands and guess what it was, based on the different features they could touch. We then pushed our boundaries even further and trusted a partner to take us on a walk with no vision or hearing. This was a real test of team building and the children really excelled at helping each other. After an initial walk, children were asked to guide their partner to a tree and back to where they started. Children then had to guess which tree they had visited!
Talking Tools
This week, the Year One group were introduced to various tools that we can use in the outdoors. We spoke about the different names, features and uses of each one. Children broke off into groups and took turns with each type of tool. Some cleared the pathed areas using a rake, some used their hoe to churn up the soil and Jack used his spade brilliantly to mark out an area which he then proceeded to dig.
Friendship Tree
Every week, children gather around our friendship tree and we talk about the various parts of our session (children are called back using animal noises, wherever they are when they hear the call, children must return to the tree. Please watch the video below) It’s a great opportunity to discuss what we have been doing and how we are feeling. Children are asked to bring items from the forest that show how they are feeling and how their item symbolize these feelings. This week, we decided we would plant our own new friendship tree! The seeds were items found in the forest which represented many things including happiness, freedom, friendship, family and weather. What a lovely response from the Year One children.
