It was really difficult to hear. My Forest Schoolers rarely dishearten me over things they might mention during the sessions but one had stopped on the Timber Trail on one particularly wet Forest School session.
Read moreLeaf Crowns
It’s my favourite time of year. There’s something very comforting and familiar about Autumn. The kaleidoscope of colour. The falling of leaves. The chill in the air. The smell of wood fires. Hot drinks and woolly hats. It's a riotous assault on the senses.
Read moreMacho Macho Kids
Our Forest School focus over the past few weeks has looked at the children’s perceptions of strength. If you ask any child if they’re strong and you’ll get a mini Mr & Mrs Universe lineup of bicep tensing as a visable display of their perceived strength!
Read moreIs it a bird? Is it a plane?
No! It's Free Range children flying down the zip line with the greatest of ease! Over the past few weeks, our focus on Forest School has been all about challenging the children's perceptions of their confidence and physical ability and just how far they can push themselves to conquer fears.
Read moreForest School in the Den
Forest School at Free Rangers is our bread and butter. It's what drives the nursery and it's our aim to get your children learning, exploring and (most importantly) playing outside as much as we can.
Read moreFood For Thought
There's something wonderful about allowing children to make a legitimate mess. It can provide such fantastic learning opportunities. It's when we apply a certain level of meaning to the mess created that we can see the magic happening...
Read moreTea from the Hedgerow
What do you do when the hedgerows are burgeoning with ripening blackberries, and the early apples are starting to drop? You make sure you use them in as many ways as possible! Blackberries have been a focus across the Nursery and in the Den we opted to make some hedgerow tea!
Read moreWhy We Love REAL Tools
We love working with tools at Free Rangers and they have become a key component of Forest School, providing another avenue of access to the natural world. Tools help create and inspire, they help us understand the world, as well as ourselves and help promote confidence.
Read moreThe Free Rangers Mini 3 Peaks Challenge
You may have noticed recently some of your Free Rangers staff tackled the 3 Peaks Challenge, attempting to climb Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in under 24hrs. Whilst this challenge fell at the feet of an intrepid few nursery staff, we wanted to extend the challenge to our Free Range kids as well, and set about challenging them to their own sponsored mini 3 Peaks.
Read moreReady, Steady, MOVE!
Children like to move. If you've ever tried to keep a child sat still for any length of time you'll agree that it's nigh on impossible. So when we go on Forest School we make sure we keep any stillness to a minimum!
Read moreThe Assault Course is Dead. Viva la Timber Trail!
In the first year of Free Rangers opening, we did some serious development of our blank canvas. From the outset, we knew our outdoor space was special and we didn't take it for granted when planning its conception (nor do we now!) Our brief: to make it as appealing, varied and challenging a space for our little adventurers as possible, turning bare grass into the tangible, climbable, and jumpable. We built it, and they came. But that was a long, long time ago...
Read moreNot Everyone's Cup of Tea
As spring thoroughly forges ahead, the newest, tenderest shoots are often the fodder of deer and rabbits. But back in March on Forest School, we decided to make use of some rather more volatile ones for ourselves...
Read moreI can eat 3!
"The Anticipation" - just too much to bear!
The Den and Burrow teamed up last week to make some rather delicious pancakes to mark Shrove Tuesday. And what a delicious week it was...
Read moreFinding Their Own Path
I should probably apologise. If your child has been coming home and making arrows from anything they can get their hands on and appropriating foods at dinner times for arrow making purposes, then apologies for any lost property and distracted children at the dinner table...
Read moreTeamwork Makes the Dream Work
Many hands make light work! 💪🏻
Happy New Year lovely parents and readers! I hope 2017 has started well for you all and I'd like to personally offer a warm welcome all of our new Den room families! I look forward to sharing all our Forest School adventures with you over the coming months. We've jumped back into the outdoor fun with plenty of work to keep our bodies warm and the site looking ship shape!
Read moreThe Forest School Holiday Club Christmas Special
MERRY CHRISTMAS! 🎅🏻
We once again opened up our Paddock to welcome lots of excited children back for our Holiday Club. This time it was the turn of our Christmas Special: Two days of 'Festive Forest School Frolicking' in the wonderful outdoors.
Read more"That's not a knife, THIS is a knife!"
If, when picking up your child from Nursery or Kindergarten, you were informed your 3yr old had been whittling with a fixed bladed bushcraft knife whilst sitting out in the cold, what would your immediate reaction be?
Read moreTea from Harvested Hedgerows
We have been getting the Den children used to rhythms and routines in our busy room, as well as to the wonderful outdoor space in the Paddock we share on Forest School.
Read moreWe're Going On A Blackberry Hunt!
Double Thumbs for Blackberry Picking!
Today the Den children were lucky enough to venture out of the nursery grounds to search far and wide for blackberries!
Read moreDo You Need a Hand?
Forest School offers a lot of freedom. Freedom to explore. Freedom to imagine and create. Freedom to move. Sure, they get these element elsewhere too, but being able to do this throughout the outdoors, largely unfettered by the nuisance grownups sticking their oars in, makes their learning and development meaningful and memorable.
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