May Day Forest School

Today Year 5 marked May Day by making Nettle Pakoras on the campfire and singing a 500 year old May Day song. A Green Man is now in pride of place on one of the beautiful oak trees in the woods.

Spring is here!

Spring is here is here, the leaves are starting to unfurl, the flowers are looking beautiful. We had a great time making flags at forest school. It involved bashing things with a mallet!

Hape Zome, or leaf printing, is the (originally Japanese) process of extracting the colour pigments from leaves and flowers onto fabric.

Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud!

At Forest School we always learn through exploring the environment and having fun and what better way to have fun than a little bit of mud!

Fun and Games at Forest School

Hedgehog Class enjoyed playing a predator/prey bird game simulating birds on their nest this week at forest school and the struggle to survive. Whilst they children thoroughly enjoyed their activities, it was a shame they weren’t able to go to the woods to play theses games in the natural environment. If you are able to volunteer on Thursday afternoon from 1.15-3.15pm please get in contact. You will need to have a DBS check completed with the school first. Many thanks for your support.

Forest School Blog No. 12

If you’ve got a whole day

• Grow a secret garden for butterflies

• Make a butterfly feeder

https://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/images/Downloads/spotters/butterfly%20detective%20spotting%20sheet.pdf

• Finding moths

Observing moths is very easy; you don’t even have to actively look for them. Moths are attracted to light and also to the smell of fermented sugar and ripe fruit – both food sources.

Light set up for beginners

1.      Any type of light will attract moths. Just leave the porch light on and wait and see what is attracted to it. If you are in the garden, you can use battery-operated lights or even a torch.

2.      Moths need a surface to rest on. White sheets are often used. Hang a sheet over washing line, or fence or between two trees, and shine the light on it. An outside wall also works well if your light is set up near a house or a building.

3.      Wait for the moths to come to your light so you can observe and photograph them.

https://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/images/Downloads/spotters/moth%20spotter.pdf

If you’ve got a couple of hours

• Create a nature garden

• Head to your local green space and look for wildlife

• Read a book under a tree

If you’ve got half an hour

• Go for a run in a green space

• Film wildlife

• Make a game using natural things

If you’ve got ten minutes

• Hug a tree

• Smell a flower

• Step outside, close your eyes and enjoy the fresh air

• Look in the long grass, what can you see or hear?

• Tell someone about your favourite natural thing

When your next out on a walk, how many trees can you identify?

The Natural History Museum has a Tree ID sheet you can use.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/content/dam/nhmwww/take-part/identify-nature/tree-identification-key.pdf

You can also go for a virtual tour of the museum from home.

https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/virtual-museum.html?utm_source=tw-image-post-20200501-vp&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nhmathome

Learn how to be a nature writer
Whether you’re a budding author or a total novice, putting pen to paper is a great way to record important moments, lose yourself in a new story or have a go at the poem hidden inside you.

https://assets.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/nature-writing.pdf

Get closer to nature on your doorstep and join families in their gardens for the Wild Challenge.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-families/family-wild-challenge/

Get inspired by nature and earn your Green Blue Peter Badge.

Over the last 12 weeks, you must have done many things that can earn you your Green Blue Peter Badge.

This is my last Online Forest School before the Summer holidays. Make sure you continue to be nature detectives over the holidays and use all your senses to discover yet more wildlife and enjoy the beautiful natural world.

Have fun!

Mrs Morris






      

Forest School Blog No. 11

I hope you are all enjoying being outside and having fun whatever the weather. Here are a few more activities to keep you busy whether indoors or out. As the weeks have gone by, I’ve learnt how to do so many more things on the computer. The pictures have links!

Why not try some of these activities:

If you’re stuck inside

Wild Yoga

Wild Yoga

Start a Nature Table

Start a Nature Table

If you’ve got a balcony or limited space outside

• Plant herbs, like lavender, thyme and mint, in pots. Not only will you get tasty treats, so will insects!

Why not reuse yoghurt pots or a milk container?

Make a Wormery

Make a Wormery

yoghurt pot.jpg

If you’ve got a garden

• Leave a patch of your garden to go wild! Choose a patch and leave it all summer. Keep checking to see what wildlife has moved in. How tall will the grass grow? How many different types are in your lawn? Are there any flowers?

• Help butterflies, moths, and other insects by planting Ivy against a wall or trellis or if you already have some, don’t cut it back until late Winter. Let the Ivy flower; the nectar, pollen, and berries of ivy are an essential food source for insects and birds during autumn and winter when little else is about.

If you’ve got a bit more space

• Scatter wildflower seeds in a flowerbed or create a border.

• Make a pond. A pond is one of the best things you can provide for wildlife. It doesn’t have to be big, even ponds, made from old washing up bowls, can make a difference. You won’t believe what creatures will find their way to it!

This is my wildlife pond I created this year. Yes it is my old bath!

This is my wildlife pond I created this year. Yes it is my old bath!

frog.jpg

After digging a big hole, I sank the bath into the ground and let it fill with rainwater. I added the plants in the Spring and 9 tadpoles.

Over the last 14 weeks we have had creatures come and go. The tadpoles became cute little frogs that have now left. I still have pond skaters, snails, whirly gig beetles and some larvae which could be caddisfly, alderfly, dragonfly and damselfly. Plus, there maybe more.

It has been so exciting to see it change; there is always something new. I really recommend creating one in your garden. My first pond was as small as a washing up bowl and a frog came to stay for a while, so however big or small something will visit and maybe stay for a while.

https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/discover/in-your-garden/ponds 

Have fun!

Mrs Morris

International Mud Day!

mud day.jpg

International Mud Day is annually celebrated on 29th June.

In 2009 a teacher from a school in Western Australia and a teacher from Nepal both belonging to a Nature Action Collaborative, discussed the challenges their children faced when playing in mud. They noted the lack of mud in Perth as it is situated on a sandy plain and also the reluctance of their culture to ‘get dirty.’ In Nepal, they had lots of mud, but many children did not have enough clothes to be able to get them dirty or soap to wash them. The children in Australia decided they could send clothes to the children in Nepal so that they could play in the mud. Instead they raised money for the school in Nepal to buy clothes. Since then the two groups have celebrated and played in the mud together, although in different countries. What began as an exchange between the children of Nepal and Australia, is now an idea shared throughout the world! Mud is free for everyone to play with, you just need your imagination to explore.

Lets shake off “don’t get dirty” to “get dirty”.

This week is going to be a challenge after all the hot weather, but I’m sure with all your creativity and great imagination you’ll be busy for hours playing with mud, but if you need any ideas here’s a few.

MUD PAINT

Ingredients: Mud, powder paint/paint/food colouring, pots, washing up liquid, water, cardboard and painting implements – brushes, sticks, fingers etc.

Mud paint.jpg

Directions:

• Put a large scoop of mud to each container.

• Add a colour source from the ingredients list use 1

- 2 tablespoons of each colour.

• Next add a squirt of washing up liquid. It helps

the mud paint spread easier on paper.

• Mix it up with small amount of water to reach

the texture you want.

• Paint away!

mud dough.jpg

MUD DOUGH

Ingredients: soil, water, vegetable oil, large bowl, corn flour

Method:

• Add one cup of water and one cup of

vegetable oil into a large bowl.

• Add up to six cups of soil. Adding one cup

at a time and mixing as you go. If you

have dry dirt you won’t need as many

cups to make your dough.

• Use corn flour as needed for dirt that is

extra moist.

• Knead all of the ingredients together to make a mouldable mud dough.

• Now make anything you want!

mud brick.jpg

MUD BRICKS

Once you have your mud dough why not make it into bricks? What can you build?

If you have an ice cube tray you could use that or mould with your hands.

MUD PIE MASTERCHEF

Some make pies. Others make soup. Lots like stew.

Whatever you like to eat, it can be made in a mud kitchen.

Hot chocolate anyone? What variety of cakes, pies, smoothies can you make?

Why not challenge someone to be the Mud Pie Masterchef Champion 2020?

DINOSAUR SWAMP

If you have any little dinosaurs then let them hang out in the mud for a while, like hippos, they enjoy wallowing in mud. Put little twigs, ferns and big leaves sticking upright. This creates a miniature “Jurassic Park”. Or take your favourite plastic animals to a watering hole and let them wallow in the nearby mud. Create a mini mud world for them to live in.

dino swamp.jpg

MUD BETWEEN YOUR TOES

On hot days it can be very cooling to let your feet have a mud bath. Watch them dry and crack in the sun before washing off.

Make muddy footprints.

Find a patch of mud to walk through in your bare feet. If you can find one, make a bucket of muddy water, it will feel the same.

Can you make the mud ooze between your toes?

watering hole.jpg
mud toes.jpg

MUDDY STORYTIME

https://worldforumfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Who-Likes-Mud-Book.pdf

https://worldforumfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/The-Mud-Book.pdf

DRIPPY CASTLES

Scoop up a handful of wet, dripping mud. Turn your hand upside down and let the mud drip through your fingers and thumb to the ground. Soon a little mound will form which will grow in size as you add more drippy mud.

Can you create mud spires and peaks? Make a line or circle of drippy castles.

POEMS AND SONGS

Do you know any songs or poems to do with mud? Do your family?

Could you write your own? Sticky, gooey, slimey, squishy are good words to describe mud to help you get started.

It’s time to blow out the twigs on your mud cake and make a big splattery wish for more outdoor play, with a large dollop of physical connection to the natural world.

Happy Mud Day.

cake.jpg

Have sooooo mud fun!

Mrs Morris








POODUNNIT!

Droppings and dung, spraint and scat, faeces or frass. Call it what you like, but you can learn a lot about wildlife from it’s poo!

I found this in my garden a few days ago – Poodunnit?

poo.jpg

Now it’s your turn to play nature detective ...

Examine the clues and see if you can work out whose poos are whose!

https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/poo-dunnit

So who visited my garden?

poo1.jpg

Here’s a story you might enjoy

mole book1.jpg
poo2.jpg
wash hands1.jpg

If you are out and about looking for signs of animals; just look.

NOT A STICK – THEN WHAT IS IT?

It’s a … let your imagination run wild!

• Collect several sticks and sort them by length, width, shape, colour AND texture.

• Draw a picture or write letters, words or names in the dirt, mud or sand.

• Use as pair as drumsticks on a tree or rock to make outdoor music.

• Practice your shapes, numbers or letters using sticks on the grass, dirt or pavement.

• Design and make a nest for backyard birds.

• Make a frame for your nature art

• Use a bunch as the framework for a fairy house or dragon cave. Larger sticks can be used to build a fort or den.

• See how high you can build a stick tower by layering sticks on top of one another.

• Have a pretend sword fight with an imaginary foe.

• Paint them (or paint with them) with bright colours, pastels, water or mud.

• Find a bridge over a stream or river and play Pooh sticks. Two players each drop a stick into the water on one side of the bridge, then race to the other side of the bridge to see whose stick comes out from under the bridge first.

• Add some string to make a fishing rod.

What is your favourite way to play with sticks?

nest1.jpg
stick1.png

Hedgehogs

Animals that visit our gardens eat all sorts of things. Hedgehogs are insectivorous, which means they eat insects. They eat caterpillars, earwigs, beetles, slugs and earthworms. But they will also eat other things such as frogs, fallen fruit and cat food (fish-free pet food only) or special hedgehog food that you can buy.

hog food.png

Remember: it is important not to leave bread and milk out for hedgehogs as it can cause diarrhoea.

https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/

hog.jpg

Did you know?

• Hedgehogs shed their baby spines and grow new ones when they are fully grown. This is called “quilling”.

• They sometimes make snuffles and grunts to each other in the night

• Hedgehogs live for an average of 2 to 3 years in the wild.

• What’s a hedgehog’s favourite flavour of crisps? Prickled onion

Things to make

https://assets.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/Files/individual-pack-hedgehog-cakes.pdf

http://7474fab53f1b6ee92458-8f3ac932bad207a00c83e77eaee8d15c.r12.cf1.rackcdn.com/SIMPLE-HEDGEHOG-HOUSE.jpg

wild.jpg

Forest School Blog No. 8

If you have had a chance to watch Springwatch, you’ll know that there is so much wildlife to see everywhere. You only have to look in some long grass, look up under a tree or amongst the flowers. You’ll even find things in unexpected places.

What wildlife have you spotted over the last few weeks?

I spent 5 minutes in my garden and spotted these creatures.

Look through the pictures below and see if you can identify the following:

Migrant Hover fly, Rose Aphids, White-tailed Bumblebee, Black-spotted Ladybird larvae, Common Green Bottle Fly.

snail collage.jpg
Yes, it’s a Cheerio worm!

Yes, it’s a Cheerio worm!

Egg box minibeats.jpg

Cloud-gaze!

cloud.jpg

What shapes can you spot in the clouds?

While you are looking up, let the clouds be your thoughts.

Let them come and go and notice that they are always changing.

Have lots of fun!

Mrs Morris



Final Blue tit Update!

Hello and welcome to our weekly Forest School blog number 7.

The Blue tit chicks have all fledged now. A couple of them fell out of the nest box, but safely landed in the flowerbed below. Seven flew off, but sadly one chick died, we think it was due to the heat, as the two days before they left were hot days.

Here are a few last videos for you to enjoy.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fnGPs2a_bWRikGHr0NmCNNLZiRi6w6O0

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1iHoTUVhcdy5nBIWpA3xD5aC7gTgtBFdj

ChickAtEntrance20052020.jpg
nest2.jpg

We have removed the nest and cleaned the bird box in case another bird wishes to use it. It is an amazing construction full of moss, dried grass, hair, and feathers. The nest is 10cm high, but the actual size of where the eggs were laid is only 6cm wide and 2cm deep.

Bees

I thought we’d think about bees as they are amazing insects and as important to us as trees.

There are about 20,000 different bee species in the world. Most are solitary types that live alone and don’t make honey. Social bees live in colonies. In Britain there are 270 different species of bees and just under 250 are solitary.

Sadly, bee numbers are declining as they are struggling to find places to nest and feed.

We had a swarm of bees in a tree in a neighbours garden. They were looking for a new home.

20200515SwarmClose.jpg

https://itsybitsyfun.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/bee-facts-for-kids-ilovepdf-compressed.pdf

Be a Bee Detective

Is it a bee or wasp?

What bee-friendly plants can you find in your garden or out and about?

How many different species can you spot?

http://www.seenature.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/FoE-UK-Bee-Identification-Guide.pdf

Make an egg box bee

Make an egg box bee

draw bee.jpg
Make Bee Hotel

Make Bee Hotel

bee eyes.jpg

See like a bee

Wild flowers depend on clever little bees pollinating them. Bees have awesome colour vision. They see different primary colours to us. So they see wild flowers in a very different way.

Bees like us have three photoreceptors in their eyes. So all the colours they see are based on three primary colours. BUT whilst our photoreceptors see blue, green and red. The bees see blue, green AND ultraviolet. We obviously can’t see the ultraviolet. AND the bees CANNOT see red!

On your wildflower hunt look for …

ALL the blue, purple, and violet flowers you can. Now spot all the yellow and white flowers.But are they really yellow? Remember if you’re going to see like a bee yellow is blue! That is the ultraviolet at work AND it is the same for the white flowers. White is blue for bees.

sunflower.jpg
white flower.jpg

Bee vision!

Make a pretend UV light. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsCrjtcVamU

flybee.png

Have lots of fun!

Mrs Morris

Forest School Blog No. 6

I hope you’ve been able to go outdoors and enjoy the lovely weather.                                 

flower oic.jpg

There so many wild flowers out alongside the paths and hedges, and all the trees are covered in new leaves now. I wonder how many different trees you can name in the woods, and when you go for a walk see how many wild flowers you can spot too. Can you find all of the flowers on the spotter sheet? https://wildlifewatch.org.uk/images/Downloads/spotters/summer%20flowers.pdf

http://treetoolsforschools.org.uk/activities/pdfs/pdf_leaf_spotter_sheet.pdf

Even if you don’t use the spotter sheets you can create a picture in the woods, like the one above, or you could even bring a few back home and do one of my favourite Forest School activities – leaf bashing or Hape Zome (Hape Zome, or leaf printing, is the ,originally Japanese, process of extracting the colour pigments from leaves and flowers onto fabric.).

Here are some youtube videos to explain what to do. We often make our prints into flags by making a couple of small slits, with a pair of scissors, on one side and sliding a stick through. Put your flag in the garden on display, you could even try a rainbow flag or some bunting. Go on, give it a go, it’s great fun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vioIHWFjsiE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEU8bcE-4t0

There are so many Forest school activities you can do in your garden or out on a walk; you’ll be surprised what you could do, e.g. stick people - just a few twigs and some pieces of wool or string to hold them together. Peel a little bark off to mak…

There are so many Forest school activities you can do in your garden or out on a walk; you’ll be surprised what you could do, e.g. stick people - just a few twigs and some pieces of wool or string to hold them together. Peel a little bark off to make the face and with a pen make a stick person.

Mud faces – mix a little mud and water , use your hands to firm it up into a ball and then press it really hard onto your tree, look around for stones, cones, leaves and soon you’ll have a tree face looking at you. Don’t forget to name them!

Mud faces – mix a little mud and water , use your hands to firm it up into a ball and then press it really hard onto your tree, look around for stones, cones, leaves and soon you’ll have a tree face looking at you. Don’t forget to name them!

And who doesn’t enjoy a bit of den building. A few sheets or blankets and a bit of ingenuity, and there’s two camps to keep them happy all day! Just remember to help put it all back when you’ve finished – the parents are going to love me, as usual!!

And who doesn’t enjoy a bit of den building. A few sheets or blankets and a bit of ingenuity, and there’s two camps to keep them happy all day! Just remember to help put it all back when you’ve finished – the parents are going to love me, as usual!!

Well, that should keep you all busy for now, hope to see you all soon, happy den building!

Blue skies,

Mrs Jesse

Chick Overboard!

Hello and welcome to our weekly Forest School blog number 5.

It’s not easy being a Blue tit chick, they need perseverance and determination. Watch to see Super Chick!

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XK8CjG6glz00bCrZz_ojNd4r7rjky_iN

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1109cYcbHAOrEaiS7HqU1QNq4vF5s-pB3

We think all 8 eggs have hatched!

HungryMouths.jpeg

It is so tricky to see all the chicks at one time as they are constantly wriggling about. Both parents collect caterpillars and insects throughout the day to feed them. They all compete for food, making so much noise to attract attention with their yellow beaks wide open.

Here’s a few new videos for you to enjoy.

How many can you spot?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1J9AVIkKIEa7j5KmXNSveu3VEu98Enggr

https://drive.google.com/open?id=17iLp2jCzQkDPrD3XB-MS7KIiF4OQamWv

Make a Blue tit mask.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/globalassets/downloads/kids--schools/make-a-blue-tit-mask.pdf

International Dawn Chorus Day – 3/5/20

International Dawn Chorus Day takes place on the first Sunday of May every year. It is a worldwide celebration of nature's greatest symphony. All across the world people get up early to listen to the sweet sound of birdsong.

At 5am on that Sunday morning when it was still dark, I walked to a wood close to my home to listen to the most amazing celebration of sound. As the light increased the beauty of the woodland at dawn was revealed.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1QDUqJVBrA2B6_Ou41CViN86VQx1O8huE

While walking close to my home I have also heard our Cuckoo and for the very first time, I heard a Nightingale.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r1I_qIEVwEq2SFHdotfMDxXEpJyojR0S

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1A8OOG-dzt1zeBNoHapUAWSHjmOcHspvq

Minibeasts

What is your favourite minibeast? I can never decide, they are all amazing in their own way. A woodlouse rolls into a ball when threatened, a snail has eyespots on its upper tentacles and feels and smells with their lower tentacles and bees have 5 eyes and six legs!

Can you make your favourite minibeast? You could make it out of Lego, mud and sticks, boxes and containers or even play dough. Be creative.

Snail.jpg
Spider.jpg

Wild Weaving

You can create a weaving loom from a Y shaped stick or a piece of cardboard (I used a cereal box). Use string, garden twine or wool to make your loom and then weave whatever you can find into it.

If you have an area nearby where the grass hasn’t been cut for a while there will be plenty of different things you can collect from there or in your garden or on a walk.

Why not add a dandelion, clover, different types of grasses or a feather?

v stick.jpg
weaving.jpg
weaving1.jpg

Have lots of fun!

Mrs Morris



Forest School Blog No. 3

Mrs Morris’ bird box has had visitors!

Mrs Morris’ bird box has had visitors!

Hello and welcome to our weekly Forest School blog number 3.

I am very lucky to have a camera in a birdbox in my garden. We put it up for the first time this year, at the end of February and within a few days a pair of Blue tits began investigating it. Well, they moved in!

Here are 2 videos for you to enjoy.

Blue tit nest building

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UETeeAK2k9iTT6158ooty9jBCWN1_gNk

Blue tit eggs

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1UHULY_gdGZF4-C5fsQuphpoJ7s0RNoj4

mrs morris bt inside.jpg

The British Garden: Life and Death on your lawn -

Chris Packham and a team of wildlife experts spend an entire year exploring every inch of interlinked back gardens. They wanted to answer a fundamental question: How much wildlife lives beyond our back doors? How good for wildlife is the great British garden?

This is a programme that you can watch on BBC iplayer. It is a little long, but is broken up into the 4 seasons, so you might want to watch in 4 parts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08xyqcs/the-british-garden-life-and-death-on-your-lawn

Chlorophyll painting

The leaves of most plants are green, because the leaves are full of chemicals that are green. The most important of these chemicals is called “chlorophyll” and it allows plants to make food so they can grow using water, air and light from the sun. This way that a plant makes food for itself is called “photosynthesis” and it is one of the most important processes taking place on the whole planet.

chlorophyll painting 1.jpg

Draw the outline of a tree on a piece of paper. Now using any young leaves, (I used dandelion) make the canopy of the tree by scrunching up the leaves and rubbing them on to your paper.

Do you get different shades of green from different leaves?

Can you use flowers in the same way?

Why not try a dandelion flower first?

Reveal a secret message

Pick a dandelion and use the white sap that oozes out of the stem to write a message on a piece of paper. You won’t see it while it’s wet, but just watch what happens as it dries!

Do you know what dandelion flowers do at night?

Butterfly Conservation Project

The Butterfly Conservation charity are working on a project local to our school. They are linking up isolated colonies of the very rare Wood White butterfly by creating lots of additional flower-rich habitat to enable the species to spread.  This will in turn help many other species.

Fiona Haynes who works for the charity was hoping to visit our school this spring and summer to tell everyone about the project, and to see if there are any areas within our school grounds where we could undertake work to benefit butterflies. 

As she couldn’t visit at this time, she has sent a link to her assembly.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1o_oeCB6vO8gkCWQ0g6etibI0DmpejYzP

You may also be interested in this colouring competition that the charity has just launched. 

https://butterfly-conservation.org/our-work/education/colouring-competition

Have lots of fun!

Mrs Morris

Forest School Blog No. 2

Mrs J and Mrs M.png

Hello and welcome to our weekly Forest School blog number 2.

We want you all to continue enjoying the beautiful world around us, whether just in your garden or out on a walk with your family.

The Bluebells are at their best now, so I hope you can find a wood near you with a lovely blue carpet ! Get down to ground level, enjoy the perfume, and try counting the number of bells on a plant to find out the highest number of bells on a plant, or even try listening carefully, can you hear the tinkling of bells ? You might hear the Chiff-chaff, singing his cheery song, it’s the first summer migrant to arrive and easy to recognise. Here is a link to RSPB audio to hear his song.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/chiffchaff/

And, of course, don’t forget to listen for a cuckoo !

You can also keep your eyes open for signs of other animal activity, like squirrels chewing pine cones, birds nesting, snail trails, and more; have a look at the Discover Animal tracks and signs poster on the Sussex Wildlife Trust website, link below.

https://sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/discover/go-wild-at-home/activity-sheets/outdoor-activity-sheets

In fact, most of these activity sheets, are for activities to do in the garden. I really like the Make your own small mammal tunnel, How to make a mini nature reserve, How to build a bumblebee nest, and How to build a mini wildlife pond.

Well, that should keep you all busy for a while, hope you enjoy doing some of these activities, best wishes,

Mrs Jesse.

P.S. I’d like to know if anyone has any success with the small mammal tunnel, maybe you could take a photo and show me when we are back at school.

Hello and Welcome!

Mrs J and Mrs M.png

Hello and welcome to our weekly Forest School blog. Mrs Jesse and I wanted you all to continue enjoying the beautiful world around us, whether just in your garden or out on a walk with your family.

Each Friday look out for fun things to do over the weekend and share them with your parents.

Being outdoors during the Springtime is magical!

Explore your garden to discover what lives there.

What type of birds do you see and hear?

What insects can you find?

Do you have any Spring flowers?

What is wriggling in the grass?

lego maze.png

Make a maze for a Woodlice

Use Lego bricks to make a maze that has a T-junction. Put in some woodlice (be very gentle picking them up, it’s best to scoop them onto a spoon) and let them wander around. Add a brick to make them turn right, then let them choose. What do most of them do? Go right or left?

Here’s an idea of how you could set out your journal.

Here’s an idea of how you could set out your journal.

If you’d like to start a project that you can add to each week or when you have a free moment, why not create a nature journal? You can ask yourself, “What is happening outdoors where I live?” You can be outdoors or inside looking out. Watch a cloud, plant, bird or animal. Note down its appearance, behaviour, surroundings. Use all your senses. Write what you see, hear and smell. Include sketches, photos, leaves, feathers and flowers.

If you find something you can’t identify, note down where it is – shade, sun, sandy soil, rich earth – in your journal and take a photo. Use your notes and the picture to help you identify it in a book or online.

Spotter sheets to use while out on a walk.

https://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/images/Downloads/spotters/signsofspring1.pdf

https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/media/48350/blossom-and-catkin-id-sheet.pdf

https://www.wildlifewatch.org.uk/images/Downloads/spotters/yellow%20springtime%20flowers.pdf