Today we are going to a different forest,  all the way in dorking. There will be some children from the morning sessions and some children from different schools. I am quite looking forward to being in a new enviornment, where there are different areas to explore and different children expressing their creativity.

I just found out we are bow making, there are 7 children here today. Three girls and 4 boys. We all separated off to find our wood to collect for our bow and arrow. Two of the girls worked together, the boys worked together and then some worked individually. The two girls seemed very quiet together. But as they became more comfortable in the group they began chatting and giggling more. They were leaning on each other, running off to play, carving out different pieces of wood for their bow. They were taking selfies with their phone and showing them to the group. They made a few interactions with the boys, however the boys showed little interest in interacting with the girls and spent most of the time collecting firewood and forming their bow. Some of the boys didn’t know each other before. They seemed to instantly bond whilst making the bow and arrow, they were changing, laughing and asking each other questions.

This has all got me thinking about the differences between male and female friendships. It has got me thinking about the theories behind friendships and peer relationships. With the homeschoolers, making friends in forest school is important, because they have fewer interactions with children outside of it. Whereas for these girls who came today, they are at school and have just come for the experience, there was no need for them to build friendships. Those alongside them were their peers. Does a Forest School enviornment enable children to form friendships more easily? In creativity and freedom are children able to connect on a deeper level?