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