The ‘Elf On The Shelf’ story by Carol V Aebersold has introduced the Den room children to ‘Star’ the Den room elf. His name was picked out of a selection that the Den children suggested and yes, ‘Poo Poo’ and ‘Wee Wee’ were also in the mix!
Read moreHow long is a piece of string?
When wanting to encourage children to think about maths it is important to provide them with hands on practical activities. This week we have been asking our children ‘How long is a piece of string?’ (half its length times by two!!!)
Read moreThe Many Ways To Explore Our New Book
‘I See, You See’ the new Free Rangers book offers many ways to explore literacy. The story can be read and adapted to suit children’s different ages and abilities, enjoyed as a whole or broken down into smaller parts.
Read moreGarden Update #2
Since the last ‘Garden Update’ blog we have continued to look after our plants and have been rewarded with good crops of strawberries and radishes. For several of our snack times in the Den we have had strawberries and radishes that have been grown and picked by ourselves.
Read moreFree Rangers Children Fleeing the Nest….Warren…..Burrow and…… Den
So the time has come when our little Free Rangers are leaving us to start their new venture of Primary School Education. Some of our children joined us in the Nest and have had a positive journey throughout Free Rangers and finalising their time in the Den.
Read moreHelter Skelter in the Den
Discovery is everything. To be the one who discovers Newton’s third law in the sandpit at Freerangers and then share that discovery with others is the key to enhanced learning. Kinaesthetic learning (learning by doing) is the most preferred mode of learning.
Read moreGarden Update!
Many years ago people grew plants for sustainability, which is also true to some families today. We are all aware that we should be eating more fruit and vegetables to maintain a healthy body, what better way is there to encourage children to eat more fruit and vegetables than to grow them in the garden?
Read moreGoodbye from Katie!
This is just a small blog post saying that I will sadly be leaving Free Rangers. For those of you who aren’t aware, at the end of June I will have completed my Level 3 Apprenticeship. I joined Free Rangers to gain my qualification and the time has come for me to develop my career further and gain experience within other settings. My last day will be 30th June 2015.
Read moreMichelangelo Mark Making
How to make mark making interesting, especially for those who do not choose to participate in mark making activities? Inspired by an image from ‘Pinterest’, an online site that shares ideas, we stuck paper to the underside of a table for children to lie down on the floor and reach up to make marks.
Read moreIce!
In the Den we seem to have been hit with a case of ‘Frozen fever’ since the film Frozen came out at the cinema. There have been lots of moments in role play where ‘Elsa’ and ‘Ana’ came to play, and the children have been skating and dancing around when we listen to the Frozen CD.
Read moreThis Week in The Den
This week in the Den we have been very busy – our activities have focussed on investigating how we process information, and we have also been exploring how we can use our imagination and manage our emotions!
Read moreRole play in the Paddock
As Red Fox has been out with the Forest School holiday club it has been Crazy Owl (Katie), Muddy Mouse (Lucy), Ground Beetle (Tam) and Excited Swan (Sophie) running Den Forest School this week. We know that children need lots of opportunities to role play and use their imaginations.
Read moreSIMPLE TECHNOLOGY...OR IS IT?
I'm sure most of us who have spent time with young children will be familiar with the constant questions about 'how things work'. What does that do? Why? How? Does it move? Why doesn't it move? How can you make it move? Can I push it?
Read moreAdventure Time
Telling the children We're going on an adventure! is an excellent opening sentence for Forest School. The children's eyes lit up with glee when they heard these words and you could almost see their cogs of creativity starting to spin into action.
Last week many of our children had asked if they could go on an adventure, whether it would be a pirate orientated one, or hunting dragons and dinosaurs.
Read moreSticks and Stones
In this case sticks and stones will not break our bones; they will enhance our brain development. This week in The Den we have been exploring concepts of Mathematics; how sticks and stones can make many different patterns and shapes;...
Read moreExpressive Drawing
‘Action Painting’ was developed in the 1950’s by Jackson Pollock using full body movement. He believed painting is a physical activity that connects mind and body. In the Den children made marks in response to musical sounds, picturing how the sounds look - lines, dots, curves etc.
Read moreA very prehistoric week in the Den
It has been a very prehistoric week in the Den, with dinosaurs being the main focus and topic of conversation, continuing the children’s interest in them from last week. We made a dinosaur (a very rare species with no legs, a massive body, long spiny neck, two little wings and a ribbony tail!)
Read moreMud!
As most of you are probably aware at Free Rangers we like a bit of mud, or rather we like a lot of mud! We decided to use mud as an interesting material to mark make with INSIDE the Den last week.
Read moreChristmas Cake Time
Once a month in The Den we have a cooking week and this was the week! Val gave us the recipe to make some lovely cranberry Christmas cakes, as we explained to the children what we were going to do they’re little faces lit up with excitement at the idea of being able to bake at nursery.
Read more‘Little Rabbit Foo Foo’ – by Michael Rosen
This week our group activity has been focused around one of our favourite stories in the Den – Little Rabbit Foo Foo, by Michael Rosen. In the story, Little Rabbit Foo Foo rides around the forest on his bike, bumping mice, worms, tigers and goblins, on the head.
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