Today I assisted at one of the school holiday workshops.  (The workshop ran between 10.00 and 15.00.)  There were 11 children attending who usually only come during the school holidays.  Some of the children practiced making fire using the fire sticks, for most of them it was their first time and it was great to see that smile on their faces when they managed to do it all by themselves.  One of the boys was especially proud of himself as he said that at the beginning of the day he was scared of the sparks and fire, but before the end of the day he was freely practicing with the other children and overcame his fear of fire by the end of the session.  It was a rainy, wet and cold day and I was impressed how the children all took to taking part in the games and did not complain about the conditions.  We all had some pancakes, as it was pancake day, and some children helped with the mixing up of the different ingredients.  Some children dug for barks and collected some in a jar for their pretend hamster whilst some others mixed leaves and mud for Rapunzel’s pretend chocolate cake, and Tom turned into a parrot after eating some and I turned into a chocolate-head – elements of creative play.  The children also built their own shelters using tarpaulin sheets and ropes.

With the morning group (22 boys-only reception class) we had a treasure hunt.  The children were excited when they found the coins hiding under crosses and on trees.  Then they developed stories around the treasure hunt pretending to be pirates, their ship drowning as a shark attacked them – connection to children’s creative thinking – ‘what is this?’ ‘what can I do with this?’ -> possibility thinking.  The theme carried on in the afternoon with the group of homeschooled children and all of them were able to find the coins.  We did some cooking using some mud, water and tools to mix the different ingredients together.

I had a discussion about praise with Tom.  His viewpoint is that when a child achieves something or completes an activity or task whilst at the forest school, he prefers to talk about the actual process of the activity and how the child achieved his or her goal.  For example, if the child was able to climb up on the tree for the first time, he would tell the child that ‘it must have been difficult for you at times to pull yourself higher on the tree but you did it and you climbed the tree’.  Instead of saying to the child ‘well done’ or ‘that’s amazing’ or ‘good boy/girl’.  He would also say to the child that ‘you must feel proud of yourself for not giving up’ which I think is a good way of putting to the child so that they can be proud of their achievements and that the motivation to do this came from within – intrinsic motivation.  Tom mentioned that his colleague has a different approach to praising and that she would tell the child that he or she is amazing.

As it was a rainy day we put up a tarp, some of the children listened to the sound of raindrops and observed the movement of the rain on top of it.  In the morning session, we had a small group of children attending (ages 3-5) with their nannies and parents, some of them homeschooled and some attending nursery.  During the morning session, Tom read a book to the children about parakeets and other animals that can live in the forest, most of the children were happy to participate in the reading activity and enjoyed looking at the miniature animals Tom brought along to look at the different animals, such as a deer and wild hog.  We then did some games such as hide and seek.  During the afternoon session children of a mixed age group from 3 to 7 years attended.  We built a hideaway with long logs and covered it with leaves to shelter us from the rain.

I played with a 7-year-old boy, we dug a trap for a toadlet, used small bendy sticks to cover the trap and hid it with leaves -> imagination -> using first-hand experiences -> natural materials available in the woods/forest.

During the morning session (22 boys only reception group) there was a monster theme throughout.  We looked for some clues such as footprints, scratches and paw marks on tree trunks.  The children immersed themselves in the theme and had great fun making something for the monster.  Some of the children also gave the monster names such as ice monster or fire monster.  I was paired up with a group of 5 boys and we decided to make a trap for the monster using only sticks and tied it around with ropes -> creativity.  During the afternoon session, a group of 7 children (ages 3 to 7), some of them home-schooled, and we built a tipi.  We also learnt how to make clove hitches and worked together as a team to tie the three main tree trunks together for the tipi.

Thinking about the subject and argument for my presentation, I’ve decided to do it around children’s creative learning.  I would like to explore how children in the forest school can freely explore the natural environment and create something from their imagination, act it out if they wish to or share it with their peers.  I’m intrigued by this type of freedom children have in the forest school compared to previous experiences in other early years setting (nursery and reception class) where children are usually being told what to do and what is expected from them.

Today I attended the afternoon session with a group of 3, 4 and 5-year-olds kindergarten children and their teachers.  We planted some wild garlic and lily of the valley by digging holes, covering the bulbs then the children used sticks to mark the newly planted bulbs so that people won’t walk across it and damage it.  I was paired up with a girl to dig and plant together.  She was hesitant at first when Tom asked her if she was happy to be paired up with me, however, she did say yes and we worked well together.  The children then all chose to give making a fire a try, some with fire sticks and some with matches.  They were all given ample time to practice this activity.  I noticed that the teachers observed the children and took notes during the session, which I was informed they use to reflect on the children’s learning in a forest school environment.  Note: It might be interesting to compare a traditional class-based learning environment to a forest school one and look at how children learn in these different environments with a specific focus on their creative learning.

It was my first session at the forest school today.  I joined the morning and afternoon sessions with different groups attending.  In the morning a boys only reception group attended (22 in total) with 2 teachers, 1 TA and 1 trainee teacher to support the children.  Tom (forest school leader) put an orange string around the campsite to indicate how far the children were allowed to go within the campsite.  All the children I spoke to knew about these boundaries and that they should not walk within the circle of the base camp but around it.  On arrival Tom welcomed the children, they arrived by minibus and then we all walked to basecamp.  Tom showed the children how to light a fire using fire steels and cotton pads.  All children had the opportunity to choose whether they wanted to participate in the activity or not which I thought was different from the way children are thought in a formal school environment.  Tom explained to me that he feels strongly about letting the children explore the forest school and initiate their own play, instead of adults telling them what to do.  I personally think this is great because children can freely choose what they want to do and the adults can assist them by extending their learning.  Some of the children chose to build a den by using long sticks and moving and lifting them around which helps with their physical abilities and develops their social and team working skills.

In the afternoon a small group of homeschooled children arrived with their parents.  They also tried out the fire sticks and most of them joined in the activity to make fire.  It was interesting to see that although most of the children in this group have been coming to forest school for over a year, they were not interacting with each other much and played mostly either with their parents or siblings.  Note: I could explore how the forest school environment might affect/increase homeschooled children’s confidence?