This week the children and staff have enjoyed making boats and setting sail at the pond.

After snack, we shared with the children, our pond rules; always asking the children to discuss these safety reminders, so we can gauge their understanding of these important behavioural expectations and work hard on personal risk assessment and independence. I demonstrated lying on my tummy when looking into the pond and crouching down slowly by the edge to put our boats in the water. Role modelling the safe way to interact with the more "risky" areas of the Free Rangers' site is a great way to show children how to stay safe, rather than simply telling them.

First I demonstrated to the children how to make a boat.

1) We placed white tac in the foil tray. (This is a good workout for their little fingers and helps to build fine motor skills)

2) With some adult help, we then pushed the mast into the white tac.

3) We then chose a sail.

4) Set sail!

We could hear the children exclaim “It’s floating” and “Well done Lauren."

We encouraged them to carefully test their boats before we set sail in earnest, once we'd discussed if any fine tuning in our designs were made, we then placed them in the pond. We were all amazed at how quickly they zoomed across the pond. “Wow, it’s going fast” one child told me.

This week we have encountered lots of wind which of course didn’t stop us, and made for great boating conditions. If the boats tipped into the water we asked the children why they felt the boat capsized.

A few children said it was because "It's windy" which led on to discussions about weather in general.

All in all it was a very productive week and I hope that all our parents/guardians enjoy seeing what the children have been making, and maybe have fun building their own boats at home

Thanks for reading,

Lauren