Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.

What's on the menu this week on Forest School? Delicious culinary creations that's what. The children have been flexing their culinary and creative juices, stirring, mashing and boiling up some delectable dishes. In the rain. As per usual.  With all the downpours and the related destruction the South West has sustained, I'm surprised we haven't all started to grow gills and fins. Despite this, we at Free Ranger Towers believe in no such thing as bad weather, just poor clothing options. So togged up, we faced the storms determined to cook our way to forecasted oblivion. If we were going down, then we're going down cooking in blazing glory! The aim of this week was for the children to explore their creativity and expand their culinary vocabulary, putting meaning to cooking verbs. Water would also prove to be a popular part of this weeks sessions. As with the title of this blog, taken from Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1797–98), written in Somerset, the children remembered that this week's task was purely for play for fear of trifling with one's constitution!

The sessions began with a brief chat about the activity ahead, and the kinds of foods they might want to make. We also discussed what the children thought was a healthy and unhealthy option to cook. Cakes of various design featured heavily although some opted for a salad to go with their cakes as a sort of balance. We also discussed our Forest School rules as per normal, placing an extra focus on our Fire Pit and Not Putting Things in our Mouths rules as our fire pit hasn't really featured of late, and needed a bit of dusting off. The first task for the children was to add to the array of ingredients already available, including saw dust and wood shavings, cow parsley, pine cones, bark, and sand. A few collected more of the above but others found Buddleia seed, shrunken apples, pine needles, mud, grasses and twigs. Once collected the children headed back to the pop-up kitchen that had been created for them, so they could get on with the task at hand. The fully fitted kitchen included all your regular appliances including an oven, plenty of work surface, water bucket, guttering and fire pit. It was interesting seeing how the children went about their cooking. Some adopted a 'little-of-everything' approach, whilst others opted for a recipe (I use this word loosely), using a few ingredients. As they cooked, I hovered around the periphery, asking questions as to what they were making, how they were doing it, and what they planned to do next, supporting their creativity and thought processes, but not leading it in any direction allowing the children to carry the play.

Whilst most wanted to cook, there are always those who don't want to engage. When doing this activity previously, rainwater was left for the children to freely access in a large bucket. This meant the water very soon disappeared with other zealous cooks dunking whole saucepans into it. Now there's nothing wrong with that strategy, but I wanted to combat this, both to stretch the water a little further, but also to add a deeper context. So I created a sort of water contraption, where by the children would position their vessel at the bottom of a gutter, and climb up to the top where a bucket with a small cup awaited them. The children were asked to think about how much water they felt they needed, say 5 or 6 cups, pour and count the required amount down (maths tick!), then return to their cooking. This proved to work really well, a little too well perhaps, as some decided playing with the water was much more fun but provided a role for those who didn't want to cook. A few self-appointed themselves the Masters of the Water, and aided others with their liquid requirements. I also noted the power of imaginative play during their feedback. Whilst they reported what they had created, some referred back to their physical ingredients they had included, whether it be pine cones or mud, where as others listed chocolate, flour or eggs depending on the dish. One smart boy merged these two lines of thought together to make 'mud butter' for his cake. Clever sausage.

I was pleased with the outcomes of the week, and witnessed lots of co-operative play and personal learning. Some needed a little push to get started, where as some plowed straight on in. The children used excellent language development throughout showing correct knowledge of frying, whisking and mashing their ingredients, as others wrapped their treats in icing and chocolate. Around the fire pit, the children correctly recalled our fire rules and we discussed the differences between smoke and steam, as well as a hilarious conversation about weeing on the fire. Describing their meals also bore fruit as they children delved into sensory language like recounting the temperatures of their dishes, the smells coming from them and the textures they could feel or pretend to taste. Some created dishes with finesse, whilst others cooked but created no end dish, simply experiencing and exploring the materials at hand, using their senses to deepen their understanding of them. Soup was by far the most popular option, but my favourite gastronomic choices included: Apple and Mud 'Smash' Cake (made by smashing everything together with the masher), Banana Squablette (I have no idea...) and Black Soup. Appetising menu no? Recipes available on request. Unfortunately, a couple of sessions fell short due to the cold and wet. Even the hardiest of children turned their backs and called mutiny on Forest School, but I would rather they had a short positive experience outside, then a forced negative time. That would undo everything we strive for. Well done squids. Red Fox is pleased.

With all the negative press against the never-ending showers, I thought it pertinent to balance the tables in favour of the elements with Walt Whitman's poem The Voice of the Rain. It's beautifully written, my favourite part a description of the rain as the "Poem of Earth". The rain can have disastrous effects, but is also vital to life.

But seriously, I'd like some more Sun soon please Mother Nature. Thanks awfully.

Dutifully yours,

Red Fox

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Straight as an Arrow

There has been plenty of detective work on Forest School this week as our little Rangers have been tracking our outdoor space learning how to shape and follow simple arrows with sticks.  The aim of the week was to develop a sense of bearings and build upon their directional vocabulary (left and right, forwards and backwards), as well as shaping and then understanding the way an arrow points. This developed across the week as it soon came apparent using our fingers first to choose a direction enabled the children to better understand not only how to form the basic shape but also how to think about where the arrows should be pointing.

We started the sessions by discussing why we need arrows, raising interesting dialogue about where we find them in our community (signposts etc), including a slight tangent during one session to talk about bows and arrows, where we started to get mixed up with bow saws and tools. We came to agreement that all arrows are tools, either as instruments of direction or medieval warfare. As mentioned earlier, we (swiftly) moved onto looking at using our fingers as a subconscious gesture when giving directions and made it easier to explain where a location is. What we found was that by playing a quick pointing game with the children, first with one finger and then with two first fingers, tips placed together (to make a triangle/roof shape) similar to that of the arrows point. The children noticed the triangular shape and we pointed around the cabin at the triangles we could see in the 'cruck' frames and braces. This was invaluable when helping the children to decide where their arrows wanted to point later on in the session.

We then moved onto how we shape arrows. In true Forest School fashion, we had some peeled sticks of hazel and bamboo to construct them out of, as they stood out clearly on the muddy ground. The children made the 'roof' first and then placed the third in the middle to finish off the arrow. Once the majority of them had grasped the basic idea, we put it into practice. One group went to hide in the paddock taking it in turns to leave a trail of carefully placed arrows behind them, for the second group to follow. As each child made one, I asked them what direction they wanted to go (usually forwards, left or right) and then helped, if needed, to shape their arrow using my fingers as a guide. Once hidden, I had to make sure the children following the arrows left them alone as there was a risk they would pick them up before realising where they were pointing! As the children followed the route I assessed their understanding of direction, seeing if they could tell me where it was pointing until the group was found.

I was really pleased with how this energetic week went, and the levels of understanding across it. As to be expected, some children understood better then others, the younger of the Forest Schoolers struggling the most. It was interesting to note, that something we take for granted for us to make, structurally was quite confusing for the children. But I was glad that the majority of the groups managed it, which in turn helped those struggling to get a better grasp and helped the sessions flow. The weather again was against us, which despite togging our children up with their thermal waterproofs, still meant the sessions were shorter than normal, but aims and objectives were still met, so those wanting to stay out for longer could, whilst those who succumbed to the cold headed in to warm up. I was also pleased with how the new children have settled into the routines of Forest School in the Den, and the older children have helped in this transition. This week was a good team building task also, as the children would have to work together to figure out where to go, and shared the responsibility of leading. We have some very helpful, sociable children at Free Rangers. Well done them...

Who's looking forward to more wet weather next week?! Anyone else ready for some drier weather?

Have a great weekend, wherever it finds you.

Red Fox

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February Half Term Forest School Club

Roll up, Roll up! It's time for the first Forest School Holiday Club of 2014! Booking is now open for children aged 5-11 year olds so do please contact us to book places for your child, children and friends! All your favourite activities and games are available, including whittling, tool work, den building, fire lighting, obstacle courses, and more! We will be running the club during the February half term - Monday 17th to Thursday 20th at All Hallows Prep School in Cranmore. Timings are as normal - 9am till 4pm and costs £30 per day. Lunch will be provided, in the form of homemade pizzas cooked in our very own pizza ovens with a variety of delicious and healthy toppings. As always, a range of snacks will be available, including hot and cold drinks, biscuits and the odd marshmallow!

To book please ring the Forest School hotline on 07925417261 (do please leave a message if there's no answer) and you can click on these links to download a copy of the Parental Consent & Medical forms (although best to make sure you have a place before downloading). In the meantime, if you'd like to see what we got up to last year on our Forest School Holiday Club click in the link below!

Look forward to seeing you all soon.

May Half Term Forest School Holiday Club

Red Fox

Monkey See, Monkey do

One of the most popular features of the Forest School paddock is our assault courses. The original assault course, although now old and in need of a little TLC has proven itself as a worthy piece of developmental equipment, challenging its users both physically and mentally to overcome their fears and instability. This week, Forest School has really hit this idea home, as the children were once again given the opportunity to use the new assault course in a slightly different context. The incessantly wet weather has made the assault courses and ground quite dicey to navigate. Should this be a reason not to use them? We at Free Rangers think not. There's no such thing as bad weather after all...

When planning my Forest School session, I keep in mind that variables will often come into play, changing my planning completely, or like this week giving it a new context. I had planned for the children to explore different movements with our bodies in conjunction with the assault courses. I wanted them to be able to follow a string of movements as they navigated them, to follow a particular path on occasion. However, after the first day of Forest School it soon came apparent the instructions I was giving the children also worked in helping them better navigate the slippery logs and understanding my directions with greater clarity. To begin with, the group explored a range a movements at our new cabin, to warm their bodies up, and get them used to the main movements they would have to use. Then we would traverse the log piles and fort putting these movements into practice, but in true fashion, our children didn't want to follow a set path for long. And why should they? The assault courses are for freely climbing over, around and under, finding their own routes. These were the movements we explored:

• Bigs Steps like a dinosaur - A favourite with our boys, taking long strides and stomps (with the obligatory roars included) helped the children navigate the stepping stones, where as before most would 'hop on and then hop off'.
• Sliding like a slug/snail/snake - Although this wasn't a direct aid to them navigating the assault course, it helped when instructing the children to dismount in a particular way, especially at the end of the old assault course where the bark had come loose and left a very slippery surface beneath, not suitable to jump off from.
• Jumping like a Kangaroo/Hop like a Bunny - When dismounting the assault course, aided or unaided. With the added 'boing!' to go with.
• Crawl like a Caterpillar - One of the more pertinent moves for independent travel on the assault course, this would be instructed when navigating parts that they would normally need to have a hand held to complete. Also they could find small spaces that they needed to climb under like through the "Rabbit's Hole".
• Small steps like a Mouse - For those confident enough to travel upright across the assault course, but who are still not too sure. They also walked sideways like a Crab on particular parts.
• Climb/Swing like a Monkey - for accessing most of the assault course and the Fort the children have to climb to get there. Also gives them an excuse to act like a monkey too. A few found parts of the assault course to swing on too.

After the first couple of sessions were over, I reflected that the animal movements allowed the children to better decipher my instruction to aid in their independent travel across the assault course. So instead of the aim of the session being to travel across in set movements following a pattern, I allowed the children to show me different ways and patterns of moving across them, even jumping off midway to land in a muddy puddle. They found things to balance on, roll across, swing through, slide down, hop off and generally act like little monkeys! There was lots of "Look what I can do!" which spurred other children to have a go and see if they can imitate or better the movement. The unaided element of these session were excellent for confidence and self esteem, especially for our younger children that have graduated up from the Burrow or to our very new arrivals who have just joined the Free Rangers family. Often all they need is a little push to get them to walk across that high beam, or to climb down the wooden ladder, but with clear direction, staying nearby to offer support as they move and lots of positive praise when they achieve the outcome is fantastic. You can see the sense of achievements in their faces. It's very rewarding, and has meant for a very successful week of Forest School for both me and my little Forest Schoolers.

Until next time, 

Red Fox.

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Make hay while the sun shines. Plant trees when it's raining.

Welcome to the first Forest School blog of 2014, and may we wish you a (very belated!) healthy and happy New Year, especially to our new parents joining the Free Rangers family. Before we get started, we must apologise for the lack of blog posts recently as our website has been full to the brim, meaning we had to do a little premature spring cleaning to make room! Last week and this week has thrown some pretty cold, wet and windy weather our way, but we've definitely braced the worst of it in favour of getting outside! The past week has seen our little Rangers helping to establish a new hedgerow in our rather bedraggled looking Forest School paddock. The reason? Not only will it disguise and 'soften' the bottom fence line, it will also provide an excellent habitat for a host of birds, insects and animals. These saplings were from the Woodland Trust, offered as part of their Tree Planting initiative to restore woodland and hedgerow that have disappeared from our landscape thanks largely to 2 World Wars, tree diseases and modern farming techniques and practice. We received two huge boxes with 420 saplings to plant. No rest for the wicked...

The children have helped to achieve this by rolling out weed matting onto a stretch of cleared earth (thanks Vince), and then hammering a wooden steak through slits to create a hole for the saplings to sit. We had an interesting mix of Rowan, Hawthorne, Cherry and Dogwood, which will provide an excellent variety of shapes, textures and colours throughout the seasons. Once the holes were createde, we talked about the different parts of the saplings, in particular the roots and what they were for, and why the earth around the roots was a different colour to that in the ground. Then the Forest Schoolers carefully placed the plants into the earth, pushing them firmly into the holes and covered with extra mud to make them secure.

The hardest part of this session was trying to prevent the children from the mud. The ground was churned up from the constant activity of this week, and proved too much to resist for some, so it was important to keep them focussed for a while before letting them loose! Despite the distractions the children did excellently and we completed a huge length of successfully planted hedgerow. This hasn't been the first tree planting session at Free Rangers, and I'm sure won't be the last. We hope in the near future to arrange another "BigDig" day, but we will keep you posted on dates. In the meantime should any of you parents like to come on a Forest School session to see what they get up to, do feel free to get in contact with me (aka Red Fox) and we can arrange a time for you to come.

Many thanks,

Red Fox

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"Hello Outdoors!"

This week on Forest School the children have been getting to grips with their stamina, and testing their mettle on some slightly more testing walks than they're used to. Up to this point the children have been warming up their Forest School engines, getting to know the rules and routines of our Forest School. Now that they have grasped these ideas, and have explored the immediate Forest School paddock, they have spread their wings and explored the other areas of Free Rangers we use to expand their little minds and exercise their bodies. These walks, (I quite like to call exploratory walks) are left open to the children's imagination and natural curiosity. This could be something as physical as a stream to splash in, exploring the sounds and feel of the action, or spotting the falling leaves and discovering why they change colour (answers on a postcard please).

One location on our list of places to trek to is 'The Mountain'. The children have many different names for it, but the mountain refers to our plantation, where the children can ramble, slip and slide up the muddy hillside to get in a fantastic view from the top of the hill. It's quite a walk up to the top, and I'm sure your little Rangers all dropped off to sleep very quickly once they were at home! The view from the top was magnificent, and the children guessed what each of the buildings were in the distance, what noises they could hear, and also looked at which of the trees had already lost their leaves and which ones hadn't. Once at the top we had our snack and a well deserved hot drink! Then there was the inevitable slipping and sliding on the way back down the hill! Lots of fun, and lots to explore.

Another location was the brook, and although not as long or as steep as the mountain, presents its own challenges. The field we cross to get there is considerably muddy after being churned up by the horses and the rainfall recently. But that's what waterproofs are for right? After helping the the children tog themselves up in waterproofs, wellies, hats and gloves, we set out through the farm and then out cross country. En route, I constantly risk assess with the children asking of anything we should be careful of: What do we do at the top of the path? Should we be running down the slippery stony slope? Watch out for the dog mess! Can we touch this plant? Do you know what this plant is called? The aim of this being that they start to risk assess themselves when they continue their time with us at Free Rangers, but also at home and throughout the rest of their lives. As we walk through the field, the children took the chance to gaze at the horses in the frosty misty setting of the field, to watch the water at the brook wind its way through the Alder and Willow lining its banks, and also splash in the water that trickled down from the plantation. This caused much hilarity amongst the children and soon spawned a game of 'I can make a bigger splash than you!'

Once we arrived at the Weir, we set the children down on a tarp, and had our snack. Unfortunately the horses must have thought they had been granted an invite to the party and we soon had a few taking interest in the delicious contents of the snack box. After the snack had been consumed and hot drinks had warmed up some chilly bodies, the children split into two groups. One group went to explore the roar of the water as it cascaded over the weir, the other to say hello to the horses. The water at the weir made a fantastic sound, and the closer the children got, the louder the roar. We discussed whether the children liked the sound, or how it made them feel as well as where they thought it was flowing (most said 'that way' and pointed!). They all enjoyed it, a few saying it sounded like a dragon's roar. Some decided to throw a few pooh-sticks into the water to see what would happen as they went over the top of the waterfall, but most were lost to the murky depths. The other group had fun meeting the horses, and gave a few of them new names. We talked to them to this about how we needed to behave around the horses, and calm voices, and gentle hands would be best.

A great exploratory week, that will hopefully lead to more exploring next week as we head down to the Otter Brook Woods for some wintery fun, and maybe a few fires too! Which reminds me, as we are now in the full grip of the chilly wintery weather, please make sure your children come to Free Rangers with plenty of changes of warm clothing, especially hats and gloves. We want to enable your children as much as possible, but only have a certain number of spares we can provide! Thanks very much.

Have a great weekend, and see you all on the other side!

Red Fox

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'Fort'-itude

Forest School this week has revolved around the brand new Fort that now adorns the paddock. Up until this week the children had only seen glimpses of the wooden hut that proudly stands as the cornerstone of the bigger and more challenging assault course currently being made! At Free Rangers we have never been practitioners to shy away from a challenge, and we also like to project this onto our provision with the children. The nursery as a whole has challenged the children whether through navigating the tall grass of the paddock on the first assault course we made, but as the weeks and months went by, we quickly realised that the challenge of the assault course wasn't enough for some of our older pre-schoolers as I noted in a previous blog post. With the demise of the allotments, the Forest School team moved in and we hired the services of a local friend of Free Rangers (A man who can - basically with a tractor) to come and landscape the ground and move some hefty looking logs into place to create the layout. This was incredibly helpful as to have done this by hand would have taken months. With the logs in situ and the 'Sisters' in place calling an end to stage 1, stage 2 commenced: The Fort!

Spearheaded by Vince, wood craftsman extraordinaire , we set about buying, borrowing and recycling materials from both the farm as well as few helpful donations from friends and family, to make the plans we had on paper a reality. I was keen not to let the children play around it too much before letting them loose, especially in the final stages of the development where Vince (and Vince's coerced Brother!) masterfully added the roof and final touches to make a cabin to end all cabins. There were a few instances where they kids were allowed to sit on the deck just to gauge how they dealt with the height, and to see what the space was like with a group of kids and true to form our little adventurers loved it.

With the final touches in place,  the children this week were released on the Fort. We piled into the cosy cabin and tucked into our snacks, and went through the Forest School rules as normal,but we also discussed how the children were going to use the Fort and how it was best for them to navigate their way around. As the weather had been particularly inclement this week, the children recognised the wood would most likely be slippery and walking up and down the Giants Causeway, scaling the ladder or crossing the hidden bridge would have to be done with care, and due respect for other children using it. Now with the excitement of having this new play equipment there were a few occasions where two children tried to use the ladder at the same time or met head on in the middle of the bridge. This is a great opportunity for the children to practice their conflict resolution and in fairness to them they did very well portraying plenty of sharing and cooperative play. With the aforementioned weather too, the children have also started to don their full thermally lined waterproofs. This does unfortunately take a little longer to get them outside, as well as to get them changed afterwards (including a hose down in some instances), but it's essential to me  they know they can get muddy and remain comfortable and warm whilst they do it. We do like the children to get themselves changed as it both allows them some responsibility over their own welfare, but also means we can get out the door quicker! The clips are quite tricky so it adds a little challenge for the children as well. It also highlighted just how poor some children's outdoor clothing is. Many of the coats that are supposedly waterproof, are in fact only showerproof having a saturation point. It's definitely worth spending a little more on a fully waterproof coat to enable more protection and longevity out there. We are considering naming and shaming a few brands and styles but I digress...

The main purpose for this new assault course is to work as a step up for the children who have conquered and out-challenged the smaller one. There are of course children who find the smaller much in their comfort zone, but we are all for gently pushing their limits. The Fort is higher than anything else we have for them to climb on, and if they can stand tall on that they are halfway there. The benefits of physically challenging the children like this, in an natural outdoor environment are vast. Mentally and emotionally, benchmarks will be set as to how far or high the children think they can go, but when they push themselves to go past that, the confidence and esteem that can be garnered from this is huge. Throw into the mix the fresh air and the hardening of the immune system, stamina and physical development being boosted, socialisation and relationship skills from aiding each other up and down or across the various sections, the children's own concept of risk and how to self manage it being developed, creativity and role play from playing 'families' or 'guard towers' for instance, or the strengthening relationship and respect towards the environment through a tactile and kinaesthetic approach to the session, you've got a pretty big tick in the "DO MORE OF THIS" box. I was expecting some children to not want to go up, but every child who went out to the fort, went up and enjoyed their time there. A few needed a little assistance in the first instance, but once they hit that bravery switch and overcame that little bit of fear, they were, well, like children in a new purpose hand built fort: Happy.

I guess you could say at Free Rangers, we put the 'fort' into fortitude! (sorry...) Onto the next project! Again, sorry it's a secret...

Have a glorious weekend all.

R.Fox

I would like to say a massive thanks to Ann Cooper and Dave Bruton from Brington Engineering for their continued support and generosity. You guys rock! :D

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Dipping into Nature

Continuing our mini-beast theme, this week the children have been revelling in the delights of the pond and all that lurks in it's murky depths. These past few weeks have been great for the children as they have an innately curious nature when it comes to exploring creepy crawlies, and nothing has proved this more than the last few weeks. As I mentioned in the previous Forest School blogs, the emphasis on these sessions has been all about looking after our little friends that live their secret lives beneath our feet, out of our sight so when our little explorers do find a bug, their first instinct isn't to squish it, but to carefully pick it up, perhaps look at it and learn, and then put it back into safety to go about its important business. That's what's key to these kind of sessions: making sure there are plenty of opportunities for positive interactions with these creatures, so they can better understand them, their roles, and how they can protect them for the benefit of all.

I was very impressed at how responsible the children took this task to hand. Before starting the dredging of the pond, we discussed how we should locate ourselves around the pond in order to make us as safe as possible for when we stretch our rods into the water. Our general rule for when the children are on the pond platform is to lie prone on their bellies and lean over the side; children are less likely to lean over too far this way as the majority of the weight is behind them, and they are also nearer the water too for an up-close and personal with the pond snails. For the nets we opted for an 'on our knees' approach. After the first dips into the pond, the children learnt an important first lesson: you have to be sneaky to catch pond life and know where to place your net. Simply sloshing your net through the water will unfortunately only net you a bunch of pondweed and probably a wet face! Also the children had to think carefully about what they did with their nets. The nets are quite long, and once the children retrieved them from their dipping there was the problem of inadvertently poking the child next to them, or dragging a muddy wet net across a child's head enroute to the identification tray.

Despite it being quite a quiet time for pond life, we were still graced with a pretty good range. We found Pond Snails, Flat Ramshorn Snails, the tiny Wandering Snail, Water Slaters, Water Boatmen and Backswimmers, Damsel Fly Larvae, Dragonfly Larvae, and Flatworms. It was important the children felt what they were netting was of value, so everything that came out was made a fuss over, and made sure that the children were told about the value of what they had found, even if it was yet another pond snail! On a few of the sessions we were also entertained by a Hawker Dragonfly who was very intrigued by what the children were up to!

All in all, a very successful week of pond dipping!

R. Fox

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Not so "Incy Wincy" After-all...

We had a wonderful theme last week that has permeated through many different activities throughout the Den. Although the controversial subject of the theme is also cause of the most common phobia in the world obviously has nothing to do with it... If you haven't guessed, I decided off the back of the bug hunting weeks, to focus on one particularly incredible creepy crawly that literally puts the 'creeps' into many of us. Wonderful, fascinating, and wholly essential: Spiders. They are an integral part of the natural balance of an ecosystem, preventing us being inundated with mosquitoes and crane fly.

Spiders, much like sharks, get a bad press. Media has always sought to sensationalise the biggest and nastiest, the scariest and most deadly creatures known across the world. And to be fair there are some truly deadly and nasty looking arachnids out there, and we need only look at a Camel Spider, Goliath Bird Eating Tarantula, Giant Huntsman or a Wandering Brazilian Spider and most fears are justified! (Seriously, the Camel Spider is horrific!) Fortunately our climate in the UK, has spared us from the nastiest of the arachnids, although there are a few species capable of giving a painful nip and a few that can cause a nasty irritation and swelling. Apologies, I know I'm not doing anything to help change your opinion here. Let me try a little harder...

It was my aim for this week to try and dispel a few myths for the children through plenty of positive interactions with our 8 legged little friends. And that's exactly what we did. Michael Rosen's excellent book "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" formed the basis of the search, and we appropriated the rhythmic words to fit in with our own spider hunts. Our variations were changing the "What a beautiful day!" line, to fit in with the varied weather we had that week:

"We're going on a spider hunt,

We're going to catch a hairy one!

What a windy day!

We're not scared!"

Similarly, we also used the locations in the story as locations in our outdoor area to search for different spiders, as not all spiders live on webs. We looked through the 'swishy, swashy' grass, in the 'squelchy, squerchy' mud (under logs and stones) and in the 'splashy, sploshy' river (pond, although they didn't go in!) There were other places the children explored as well, like under our platform and in the apple tree. As with the aforementioned Bug Hunts from the previous few weeks, I wanted to instil the same values of respect in the children, as well as the value of spiders in our environment. Every bug or mini beast has a role to play in the environment, and keeps a balance, especially in our gardens as they are excellent at keeping pests in control.

Autumn, September in particular, is an especially busy time for spiders. It's peak mating season: the males are on the prowl, and the ladies are fattening up to make themselves more maternally appealing to the chaps which is why they are much more apparent then at any other season. This also explains why you will see so many house spiders indoors during the colder months. If you find one, it will probably be a male, as they have to do all the running around in this mating game. Our paddock was no exception, we couldn't walk 2 metres before a child found another. We were also fortunate enough to see a few orb web spiders making their intricate webs, and the children fascinated by the spiders' silvery thread being produced out of their bottoms! (They had a hard time believing me when I told them they recycle their thread by eating it!).

We found some fantastic specimens, mostly orb web spiders like the Common Garden 'Cross' Spider (due to a cross of white spots on its abdomen), but we also found several comb footed species, as well as the impressive 4 spot Orb Weaver, not to mention water spiders which the children enjoyed chasing with their fingers onto the water to see them scuttle across using the surface tension of the meniscus layer. Furthermore the children also discovered a bug similar to the spider - the weird looking Harvestman. Easily confused due to their 8 legs, that is where the similarities end, as they are only distantly related to spiders. They neither have fangs, produce silk or produce venom, and only have two eyes, but you could be let off from assuming they were.

It was a really successful week, and I'm really glad the children enjoyed their time. It certainly wasn't a hard week to get the children out and the pond dipping this week is going just as well!

Thanks for reading and as always, leave a comment if you liked what you read!

R. Fox

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Softly Softly, Catchy Buggy...

With logs rolled and grass explored, the children have left no stone unturned in their pursuit of the creeping, crawling beasties that live in our Forest School Paddock over these past two weeks. Bug hunts are a popular choice for the children as the variety of interesting insects, amphibians, and mammalian species we have at the moment is both varied and immensely fascinating, for adults and children alike. There's always something new to see, but the old staples are usually close by for the children to explore as well. Revealing the secret lives of insects can be thoroughly rewarding. They innately jostle for the best viewing position to get a closer look at the peculiar Harvestman. An inexhaustive list of the discoveries made by our little naturalists includes: woodlice, centipedes, grasshoppers and crickets, slugs, snails and worms of various shapes and sizes, slow worms, bees, wasps, hover fly, crane fly, butterflies, moths, a common toad, frogs, caterpillars, beetles and beetle grubs, hundreds of different spiders and short tailed voles! And that's not even including what we found at the pond such as several dragonfly species like hawkers and darters, water boatmen, pond skaters and water snails. (and rather curiously, tadpoles still!)

We are very fortunate at Free Rangers to have a large outside environment that enables the children to learn not just the names of the flora and fauna they're looking for, but also why they are important to them and their world, as well as what they can do to look after them. It has been a bumper year for lots of life at Free Rangers; we had a heavily ladened apple tree to plunder for snack time thanks to the wonderful sunshine and downpours over the summer, the butterflies and moths have been having a whale of time thanks again to the heat and other insects too are plentiful, especially so in our minimally managed forest school paddock. Since opening we have taken steps to revert the intensively farmed land to a wild nature haven. This has been done by planting wildflower seeds, building bird boxes and insect hotels, and keeping 'maintenance' to a minimum such as cutting thin paths through the grass for the children to access particular parts and only taking plants like stinging nettles/thistles/lords and ladies away from the highly used areas. We don't completely remove hazards such as these as many bugs rely on such plants, and also if the children don't know what these dangerous plants look like, how can they learn from them?

The most paramount part of sessions like this is to harbour a respect for the life they are finding. By looking after their environment and the creatures that live in it they are taking a small but positive step to better their immediate world. Setting these ideals in children at an early age and carrying them on throughout their lives is immensely important, if we are to preserve the balance of delicate natural world around us. More practically, children don't always know their strength and can unknowingly squish something they're holding or whilst trying to pick up! I tend to pick up bugs for the children to hold but it is still good they know what to do once they are handling them: "softly softly, catchy buggy" as the saying goes. It's also good for children to overcome their fears. These fears have often been unintentionally passed on by parents so I'm always keen for them to see just how interesting they can be and not scary at all!

In fact, I think a few of you parents should come out next time too...

Thanks for reading guys, and see you next time.

Red Fox

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Gentleman, Start Your Engines!

As we shake off the long, warm lazy days of Summer, the golden hues and cold winds of Autumn have finally arrived to blow us decidedly into the new term. The first two weeks of term have seen our Forest School focus revert to a back to basics approach. This allows the children who are new to the routines of the Den to familiarise themselves, but also allows the children who have already had a year or so of coming out on Forest School, the chance to reinforce what they have learnt after a long hiatus, and the opportunity to help the younger children who have moved up from the Burrow or who are completely new to the Nursery.

During the first week, the children had the chance to explore the paddock, as for a young 3 year old, the size and wildness of our outdoor area can seem quite daunting at first. It's key for me that the children feel as grounded and comfortable as possible before exploring with confident strides so as to maximise their time whilst there.

The main learning aim for these first weeks was to begin to reinforce the rules and basic routines of our Forest School sessions whilst allowing the children to explore and familiarise themselves with what areas are where, how they can travel there, as well as who is on the Forest School session with them (both adults and children). The basic routine of our Forest School follows the same pattern each day: they find their wellies/coats/waterproofs (if required) and then  make our way to either our Fort in the paddock, fire pit or to the Apple Tree Den, where the children will have their snack and drink, before discussing our three Forest School rules:

• We don't put things in our mouths - this allows me to talk with the children about poisonous plants we have on site, like Ragwort and Lords and Ladies.
• We don't wander off without an adult - the Forest School paddock is quite large and our little forest schoolers can easily get swallowed up if they go for wander, so keeping them within eyes reach is important. The exception being when we play "1, 2, 3, Where Are You?"
• We don't run around our Fire Pit - for obvious reasons...

We then talk about the session at hand, so this week, the children were free to run and explore, but with one stipulation: they had to go as a group, meaning they would all have to agree on where to go next. It was great to see the children working together, discussing where to go next and what they should do when they get there. The assault course and the new fort were very popular and was nice to see the children enjoying a little sneak preview to the Fort. Their teamwork was extended on the mud hill and assault course where the children were excellent at helping each other up and down the hill with the knotted rope, and I was pleasantly surprised by their tenacity to achieve. We have also been blessed with a bumper crop of apples this year from our apple tree and this brought up new meaning for some of our Forest School rules, where by we decided picking up apples from the floor might be a bad idea as wasps may well be snacking on them too!

On Week 2 we extended the activity of week 1 with more exploration around their Forest School area by going on a hunt to find special objects. We initially explored the concept of what was special, and the children highlighted things they felt were special to them. This brought up some really interesting answers, such as family, friends, pets. Some children said that certain toys were special or certain places were special to them, most of which came back to family members. They were then tasked with exploring the paddock collating objects that had some special appeal to them. On the whole the children collected a wide variety of objects, and when questioned the majority of them related to the sensory side of the object (i.e. its texture or smell) as to why it was special to them, or that they wanted to give it to Mummy or Daddy as a present.

The children collected some fantastic objects, although many of them were left either in a special place out in the paddock, or the children lost interest in them and deposited them. During their search the children also found many bugs and creepy crawlies, which fascinated them, so we shall be doing bug hunts in the following weeks!

Thanks for reading,

Red Fox

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Variation on a Plamping Theme

This week, we have in a long winded way, continued the "Plamping" from last week's Forest School activities. It has been very mixed again, but there has been plenty of ad hoc focus on the play camping, with the tipi again being utilised as a play space as well as a learning and exploration. The week has taken on various different aspects. The children redesigned the 'bypass' on our assault course as they felt it wasn't very safe anymore so a group of 5 like-minded boys set to task to remove and reshape the alternate route. They've also released frogs back into the murky depths, watched two male Emperor Dragonfly's arial acrobatics as they dog fight over territory above their heads around the pond, not to mention the occasional sporadic "let's lift this up and see what lives underneath" moments. But what caught my attention the most this week was the  children's own extensions of the "plamping" we did last week. The children had dismantled the Burtonsville Fire Rig I had made for them (no pleasing some children!), as well as the fire pit, for reasons unknown, but regardless of why, they found they had lots of mini pegs and pieces of kindling lying around the camp. They also had the logs from the fire pit surround. Naturally, they put two and two together and began hammering them into the ground!

I've found that any activity embedded within kinaesthetic, tactile and physical play, is usually a safe bet for our Free Rangers, and this was no exception. A few girls started this activity, then like bees to the honey pot, they soon found themselves surrounded by those who also wanted a go, or wanted to show them a different or improved method. And here we found ourselves with a problem. 8 children all wanting to hammer these little pegs into the ground but only 2 hammers doesn't make for good social maths! I managed to scrounge together a few chunky logs to improvise but still was short. Plan B? Make some more! A few children were keen to help so we set about sawing and chopping a large, thick piece of hazel to make long handled mallets for them to use. This was a great motor skills activity, especially when two children where hammering atop the axe to make the handles which meant for some serious teamwork and timing! (see the gallery below!)

While this activity was going on, the tent was still being utilised as play station, and more fire making was being modelled by the children using the offcuts from our mallet making! Previously I hadn't wanted to light any fires in the garden to protect the grass, but more importantly because of the amount of children present at the time. However, this week I felt due to our reduced numbers we could light a small fire, but also show the children an alternative method of lighting fires by using Cramp Ball fungus (Daldinia Concentrica otherwise known as King Alfred's Cake) and a fire steel. This is done by landing a spark onto the concentric rings of the internal part of the fungus and then blowing on the ember until the fungus turns into a coal. This is added to a tinder ball of dried grasses or similar and then further agitated by blowing or waving softly through the air until the tinder bundle catches alight! It's quite dramatic and the children were transfixed watching the smoke get thicker and thicker before flames leapt out of the grass and they loved exploring these rock hard but beautiful fungi. Some the children thought they smelt of chocolate but I wasn't so sure. Once lit, they then assisted in feeding our miniature inferno by carefully adding on the hazel chippings. There was plenty of healthy discussion throughout, some accurate, some not so much, all of it valuable.

I really enjoy these weeks, as the children effortlessly lead the direction of the activities from day to day, and each group brings something new to the table. All I have to do as a practitioner is watch, listen and assist when required. It makes planning much easier too, as the children are showing you where their interest lie. Rather handy really...

Here's to the start of the new term! We look forward to welcoming you all back from your summer breaks, to new and exciting times ahead!

See you all next week.

R. Fox

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Forest School Holiday Club - July/August 2013

4 weeks of glorious weather and then as soon as we open our doors for our Forest School Holiday Club, the heavens open. Typical! Undeterred, we persevered with our Forest School programme enjoying spells of warm sunshine amongst the drizzle, nipping outside when the rain ceased to pour (and sometimes when it hadn't!) Similarly, week 2 bore witness to a brand new venue for our holiday clubs at All Hallows Preparatory School in Cranmore. Both weeks offered very contrasting days... We've seen a few changes to our Forest School Club this time around. Firstly, as I mentioned earlier, during week 2 we ran our Forest School at a new venue at All Hallows. Otter Brook Wood has served us well as a woodland, and continues to do so as part of our learning environment for the nursery's Forest School sessions. It's a perfect size for the age range, easy to maintain, offers the brook's depths to wallow in as well as a balanced mix of open glade and overgrown thicket to explore. However, despite being private land, it also has permissive access running through it which brings dog walkers (and consequently dog mess from some) and unfortunately unwanted visitors who see fit to vandalise the trees and grounds, and remove wood without permission. This is heartbreaking for both myself and Vince who have put in countless man hours making seating, fire pits and improving access with stairs, not just for the children at Free Rangers but also for those who treat the space with the same degree of respect as we would. This is half the reason for the move. We felt by running sessions at All Hallows, we could provide a better service for your children. More diverse space, and some superb resources (rustic kitchenettes with pump-able rain water and pizza ovens, tree suspended canopies with firepits, a roundhouse, an outdoor classroom and plenty of hidden extras for the children to discover) would make a great experience for them, not to mention our lives easier too. The only downsides being the distance our regulars (we love you lots!) would have to travel and a lack of a river/stream to explore in the woods as it remains one of the most popular activities we offer at Otter Brook.

Free Rangers HQ saw a real mix of weather. What started as a rather wet week, turned into glorious sunshine by the last day. On Monday and Tuesday we opened up our Forest School barn to provide some shelter for the children during the downpours, but for the most part, the children were happy to get stuck into making their own shelters/dens in our paddock. We also figured out a way of utilising the slacklines into rope swings, and the children had lots of laughs swinging on them seeing who could travel the furthest. They then modified them to include a tyre. Genius problem solving by the children. Inside the barn we had plenty of tool work for the children to be getting on with, creating their own wooden dogtags complete with their own Forest School inspired name, sawing and chopping wood for our fires and helping to mix the batter and then cook our (slightly) healthy pancakes. A few children decided to really challenge their leaders wanting to make helicopters! Challenge accepted.

Thursday saw the sun decide to rear it beautiful face again, and we marched down to the woods to enjoy a lovely cool, sun dappled Forest School day in the woods. The usual smorgasbord of activities was on offer, with the children exploring the river, lighting fires and putting up some amazing tarp based shelters. We also completed some tree studies, where the children learnt more about their beautiful surroundings. It's important to us that they learn that the space isn't just there as a playground, but an important part of our landscape, a rich ecosystem and integral to our environment. The children were intrigued as to how we had made our mallets too, so in the afternoon the children put their tool skills to good use and made some of their own. The day was incredibly relaxed, with the children being very settled, very focussed and showing great confidence in their abilities. Great stuff.

All Hallows saw a completely different change to the pace of the two sessions we ran there. The size and scope of the woods, allowed the children a great deal more freedom to create and expand their own games, shelters/dens and in other respects, themselves. We had a real mix of ages, but I was happy to see the older children taking many of the younger children under their wings. There was a definite buzz about the two days we ran at All Hallows, especially the Tuesday. Having all that space allowed the children to run, duck and climb, sating that desire for physical activity for all those kinaesthetic learners! The woods provided endless opportunities for den making, and they relished the chance to pop up some hammocks underneath some strung-up tarps. We also lit fires, and children all learnt an important lesson in dry fire wood! Pancakes were once again cooked and demolished, marshmallows toasted, and then we played various games of hide and seek, and manhunt (with yours truly being the prisoner!) The woods was alive with activity with the noisy throng of childhood excitement. It's great to be a part of.

Both weeks offered varied experiences for the children and staff, and despite being apprehensive about the logistics of how running Forest School at All Hallows would pan out, I think it went incredibly well. The mix of children we had on the days was pretty well balanced and the levels of involvement and concentration were really impressive! Whether we decide to run fully at All Hallows or stay at Otter Brook Wood will have to be decided upon, but what ever we choose we hope to see you all back with us in October.

If you have any questions or feedback about the Forest School clubs, do please leave a comment below. We would love to hear your comments.

See you in the woods,

R. Fox

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Spiked Tea

This week has seen a continuation to the cooking outside theme. Recent weeks have seen the children's interests develop from fire lighting to play cooking over pretend fires, to foraging for natural ingredients this week to create a revitalising natural tea. It's been great seeing this development of interest, however, once we had cooked the pancakes a few weeks ago, the children wanted them every time! The sessions revolved around reinforcing the children's ability to spot the required ingredient for our Bramble leaf tea, which is a rather revitalising drink. Lots of deeper learning went on throughout, where by the children learnt to spot what this otherwise prickly customer looks like, it's benefits to bees and pollinators, as well as its uses in alternative medicine. Whether you subscribe to the medicinal properties of herbal remedies or not, the results of the sessions were very positive and the children very much enjoyed the foraging part, mostly due to the use of pruning shears and scissors! I've also found that collecting is very high up in many of the children's list of favourite things to do on Forest School! We have a very old lopsided apple tree in the Forest School site, under which is our Apple Tree Den where the children indulge in their snacks/drinks before our Forest School sessions begin. The 'June Drop', whereby many of the immaturely developed fruits will be shed, has been quite severe this year and has been caused mostly by the extended period of dry weather. The children have delighted from this treasure hunt around the base of the tree and there hasn't been a session these past few weeks where the children have brought back pockets or hats full of tiny dwarf sized apples! Interestingly, these little apples turned out to be a key ingredient in many of the children's pretend meals from a last week!

As with the previous weeks Forest School, the children were briefed about the kinds of plants the children can and can't play with or pick. We were aiming for the brambles, a plant the children have been previously warned about for their thorns. It's not a plant I have told the children they cannot play with, like with Lords and Ladies, or Fox Glove, but one that can be touched carefully should they want to, but at there own peril! There is a lot to be said about dispelling myths about plants with children, especially when they can provide us with a deep purple, juicy and sweet snack on Forest School during Autumn! However, this week we were after the newest leafy growth of the long tentacle-like bramble stems. Armed with pruning shears and scissors and freshly briefed about safety with the equipment (Where do the children put their fingers? Do they run with them in their hands?) we marched into the undergrowth of the paddock, eyes peeled for stinging nettles and marsh thistles that might be lurking in the grass ready to nip our ankles. The first day we tried this, many of the brambles had fallen in-league with the stinging nettles (someone must have pre-warned them...) and they didn't go quietly. Then a small brainwave. Whilst the children chopped and hacked the nettles away to get to the prized bramble tips, I thought instead of wasting the leaves of the nettles, they could be added to the tea as well! We have made nettle tea previously so it seemed like a perfect marriage.

Once gathered we brought the freshly collected leaves back to the nursery, with stung legs and scratched hands hoping this brew would be worth the pain! In my planning I had originally wanted to continue the theme of fires here as well, by boiling the water needed in the kelly kettle, but the foraging took up most of our time, and I didn't see the point of pre-boiling the water so it was ready as there would have been little educational benefit or learning to gain from this, so opted for the kettle inside, so I could continue to progress the session. We spread the leaves out and made sure there were no little bugs or unwanted 'bits' that were going to end up in our foraged tea. After a quick rinse, into the jug they went topped up with hot water, a little local honey and some lemon to add a little extra flavour (blackberries and lemon are a superb vitamin C combo. This recipe is one of my favourite ways of marrying the two ingredients from my childhood - you have to try it!) We let it steep for 5 minutes or so, then drained the leaves and lemon out. Letting it cool considerably, we shared our tea with the other Den children. It was a hit! The inclusion of the nettles on the first week however, proved to be a little too strong, so for the rest of the week we opted for plain old bramble tea. It was delicious, and I recommend you try it yourselves.

Enjoy your weekends everyone, and I hope you don't get too soaked now our Summer has finally arrived!

Thanks for reading,

Red Fox

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Ready? Steady? Forage!

Last week's Forest School saw the children develop their foraging and culinary skills. The previous week's focus on pancakes really inspired some of our little Free Rangers, so I thought what a good idea it would be to allow the children to create some lovely meals for themselves. The recipe for the session? Mix equal quantities of foraging, creativity and imagination and Voilá! you have a rather wonderful forest school inspired culinary creation. Foraging was a key component to the session, and the children were tasked with finding all of the ingredients they needed for their meals. Before I let them explore the grounds for their sundries, we first discussed what the children thought they would like to create, as well as the foods they like to eat at home. Delving a little deeper through the obvious answers of "Cake!" and "Sweets!", some thoughtful and promising options quite often were offered as to their chosen favourites. I also enjoyed how this session tied in with other wider learning. Some of our little alfresco chefs made foods from other cultures, so the session was often extended in doors were we discussed where noodles or curry might come from. The same was said about Mama Panya's Pancakes story from Kenya, despite the pancakes being more western in origin. Once ideas had been generated, we discussed the plants that were safe to gather, ones that might give you a bit of prickly time, and ones to avoid. Off they set to gather the components to their culinary masterpieces.

The foraging part was great to witness. The children ambled through the long grass of the paddock, scouring through the hedges and pacing the ground, looking for interesting things to put into their food. Their use of tools was also reinforced here as they used child friendly scissors to collect certain plants. It was a thoroughly sensory activity, one where the children were encouraged to study the textures of the rye grass seeds, or smell the warm, sweet aroma of the Pineapple Weed (this was a firm favourite). As they collected I asked them whether the ingredient was exactly what they collected or perhaps emulated something else. For example, on one session, some trimmed grass that had been collected represented some noodles for a stir fry. The creative imagination of children will never cease to amaze me.

Once the children had foraged, then it was back to the makeshift kitchen I had created for them. Pots, pans, spoons, kettles, trivets, pestle and mortars, and cups all awaited their return, and the fire pit stood by to await the cooking. Language was expanded here as well: mixing, whisking, frying, flipping, stirring, shaking, sprinkling, hot, cold, pour, and splash, were just some of the words we explored as they cooked. Evidently, a few children opted not to cook anything, which was fine. Some children feel more at home being involved in more direct learning, so they were tasked with keeping an eye on the "fire" and putting more fuel on when needed.

A common occurrence across the week, was the mimicking of recipes. If one child had a good idea, then very often it would be replicated by the majority of the group. Then it would morph into a variant before turning into something completely different. Fickle little chefs! On the subject of change, another interesting observation was the co-operation that played a role throughout the week. I had originally wanted to create a banquet type scenario so that they children could bring up their creations and we could explore what they had made. Fairly frequently, interest would be lost in their own meals and forces were joined with other children. One afternoon saw all 8 children start separate meals and end the session as one homogenous '16 armed cook'. It was lovely to see how accepting the children were to other's ideas and help. For many of the group it was also the final Forest School session with us, as they flew our nursery nest to continue their journeys onto Primary School, so I was glad that it was a successful week for them to end on. There were some delicious sounding concoctions created, some not so, all of which the head chef Red Fox had to sample to check the seasoning...

In conclusion: a good week, with plenty achieved. Thanks for reading.

Red Fox

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