Over the past couple of weeks we have been focusing on fire and what elements come with this. Whether we’ve been looking at cotton wool or our fire steel the children have shown great interest in this activity!
When I tell people outside of work (no I unfortunately don’t live at Free Rangers) that I do fire lighting with the toddlers they can never quite get their heads around it. This week the children have amazed me even more than they do normally with the safety precautions around the fire. They knew that we don’t touch fire, they knew not to stand in the fire and they told me to remember my glove.
Once the fire was burning the children were asked to go and find some sticks for our fire. Off they ran around the upper paddock trying to find some sticks and the amount I got back was incredible! One little boy, who is very physical, was bringing me back logs and planks of wood. Each time they bought me something I praised them with great spirits which of course made them ecstatic. When on forest school it is very important as a leader to trust the children, when taking out other staff members I remind them to let the children go. They know our “123 where are you” game and “we must listen to our adults” rule, it’s important to ensure the children know them but it is more important that they understand them. Allowing the children to go a little bit further than their adults gives the children the trust they need to thrive when outside.
After the children had bought back their sticks we sat around the fire pit on our knees. It was time to reward the children for helping me build the fire and what was best for this… Marshmallows!! We sat around as a group and tucked into some yummy warm mallows, talking about our great stick finding and communicating with each other. I’m a believer that fires are a great talking point for socialising and this definitely proved it this week!
Please take note that due to having too much fun on Forest School I didn’t manage to take many pictures! I have included some of us fire lighting also,
Thanks for reading,
Lauren