Welcome back to Forest School Year 3.
We started off building tunnels - fitting in with the book Year 3 was reading, thinking about how we stay safe when building constructions. Children could choose which groups they wanted to work in and as it was a little rainy the tunnels served as great shelters.
This term the children explored conkers, learning the name 'Horse Chestnut tree', painting with conkers, drilling into them to make craft and painting them into hedgehogs. We had a 'conker and spoon race' as well. The children picked tomatoes that had grown big over the hot summer months and collected sunflower seeds for next year.
Thank you to everyone who has donated spring flower bulbs - the children have been busy planted these around the Forest School area. We had also been gifted a new Silver birch tree as well as rhododendron bushes which were planted by the children.
The new toy birds which make the respective noises were a big hit with the children. We have started a feather collection - if the children would like to bring any interesting feathers into school, they are very welcome to.
We went on an Autumn treasure hunt, taking photos on the ipads to preserve our nature area and not pick everything as well as staying safe from touching mushrooms or berries. One of our rules is: 'No pick, no lick, be careful with a stick.' which we practise regularly. They explored hammers, nails and wood slices, making their own creations. Some children created obstacle courses, others really got engrossed in their big hunt (they found and identified a Devil's Coach beetle) and the hammock was never empty when it was out. Some children created leaf rubbings with the beautiful Autumn leaves.
The final week was all about hedgehogs. The children walked around and found out some facts about the woodland animals, they built hedgehog homes and built mud hedgehogs with sticks. We talked about how children can help hedgehogs in general and especially over the winter months.
Year 3 Forest School Autumn Term 1
