Forest School ideas

[adie.h]

Hi
I have just joined this group and am in search of ideas.
I teach Forest School to Primary ages pupils with Social Emotional and Behavioural difficulties and just wondered if people have any fun woodland lessons/activities. We have to drive to the woodland that we use so by the time we arrive we only have around 45 minutes per session. The pupils have a fairly short attention span so am just looking for some fun, quick and easy ideas really.
Any help would be greatful.
Thanks
Adie

 

[mrcharly]

I guess you already do 'build a fire and cook something'. If not, I recommend that. If the fires are built in the dirt, they are pretty safe. In my experience of working with kids, when you throw some trust at them, they don't abuse it (much). Particularly if they've had a ****ty time. It is the bored, over-privileged ones who cause trouble.

"You're going to let us build a fire? By ourselves. You're crazy. Can we burn anything?"

45 min is plenty of time to gather some wood, break up twigs, get a fire going and burn some toast.

 

[dewi]

This time of year is great for leaf patterns... get the kids to collect some leaves, all different types, that are laying around on the woodland floor... use a screenprinters roller to roller some poster paint onto the leaves and then press the leaves onto a blank sheet of paper.

Quick to setup... and you could even get them to add their name and the name of the tree the leaf came from. Educational and fun, albeit a little messy

 

[spandit]

We're planning on running a series of sessions centered around planting a tree. They'll have to prepare the site, paint their name on a stake, plant and protect the tree (spiral, mulch etc.) - will give them a long lasting memory that they can revisit at a later date. We're also going to teach them enough knots to make a square frame that they can then throw into the field to survey for different species

 

[ged]

Building on mrcharly's Lesson 1,

Lesson 2: Catch, kill and prepare a grey squirrel.

Put it in the freezer when you get home.

Take it out of the freezer well before lesson 3.

Lesson 3: Cook the squirrel and eat it.

 

[Goatboy]

At this time of year might be fun to incorporate Dewi's idea with the leaves onto paper masks to make some Halloween disguises. Might end up with a class of Greenman door knocker lookalikes but seasonal fun.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[snozz]

Hi
I have just joined this group and am in search of ideas.
I teach Forest School to Primary ages pupils with Social Emotional and Behavioural difficulties and just wondered if people have any fun woodland lessons/activities. We have to drive to the woodland that we use so by the time we arrive we only have around 45 minutes per session. The pupils have a fairly short attention span so am just looking for some fun, quick and easy ideas really.
Any help would be greatful.
Thanks
Adie

Hi Adie and welcome.

I'm level 3 forest school trained and also work with pupils with social and behaviour issues. You will hopefully find that the quiet and withdrawn children come alive and those with behaviour issues calm right down. It is very rewarding!
Some things I've done:

-Den building with tarps
-Den building with all natural materials
-House building for a soft toy - I have a bag of small soft toys including bears, tigers, Lizards a dragon etc. The children are given one and have to build a shelter to best suit that animal then talk through their choices to the rest if the group.
-Natural art: make a frame with 4 sticks and children create a scene / art inside.
- The story of a tree - each picks a tree and has to tell the rest about it, using books and other resources using leaf shape etc
- Firesteel session. The children learn how to use a Firesteel in pairs. Really good for developing focus and determination to achieve.

I don't think I'd bother with killing squirrels...

Snozz

 

[anvik]

I am no teacher, but with my kids we make lots of things and the one thing they love is a conker copter. Find 2 big feathers. Push them into a conker at about 45 degrees apart. Throw it up as high as you can and you get a helicopter spinner like a sycamore seed. So you could use this to show how sycamore seeds are distributed.

 

[tracker1972]

Like the conker 'copter idea! I'm part way through my level 3, just writing the portfolio to go... My kids at school, a group of proper lads chosen for similar reasons to yours adie.h really love building stuff. As we are using space on-site at school we have built some pretty permanent structure. When splitting wood for a fire they noticed a couple of slightly knife shaped pieces, so I sharpened the edges and they pretty much skinned (OK, removed the bark from) a couple of huge branches for a couple of sessions. They really enjoyed what they found beneath the bark. My own kids and their friends enjoy cooking, playing in and with mud (pies or faces on trees).
I do like the idea of a long term project to build a little village for a bunch of soft toys, although if probably go for stick men we made, so they could live there.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[anvik]

When I get home I will go to the forest school village we have here. I will get some photos for you. There are a lot of great things they do there. I am not sure how it will compare to a UK forest school, but it is a really great place. Lots of things for children to look at and experience. I remember they have a xylophone with each note painted a different colour, then they have a sheet with the bird calls so you can play them by using the colours. That is pretty good. I will send you some pics anyway.

 

[Whittler Kev]

When I get home I will go to the forest school village we have here. I will get some photos for you. There are a lot of great things they do there. I am not sure how it will compare to a UK forest school, but it is a really great place. Lots of things for children to look at and experience. I remember they have a xylophone with each note painted a different colour, then they have a sheet with the bird calls so you can play them by using the colours. That is pretty good. I will send you some pics anyway.

What a brill idea

 

[Klenchblaize]

Keen to learn more about the group killing of squirrels. Particularly the Risk Assessment & Method Statement!

K

 

[ganstey]

Just to add some variation to the ideas already given.

I've found that just lighting a cotton wool ball using a firesteel gives a huge amount of satisfaction and sense of achievement, and can be done in about 10 minutes, so could be used as a filler activity. If they're good at it, give them natural tinder or birch bark, and perhaps a traditional flint and steel.

A variation of the leaf-printing activity already given is to place a leaf with a strong vein pattern onto an ink pad (like you use with rubber stamps), cover with a couple of layers of scrap paper and press to make sure ink has transferred onto the leaf. Carefully transfer the leaf to a piece of card, and repeat the process using some clean scrap paper, making sure the leaf doesn't move. Carefully lift of to reveal a unique print. Can be used as a picture, or greeting card.

I'm hoping to do my L3 training next year, so will be watching this thread with interest.