We love going to our forest to play. There are so many things to discover in the forest and we find something new to do each time we go. It’s our favourite outdoor classroom!
We hold hands with a partner and practise crossing the carpark safely on our way to the forest.
The boys and girls in Nursery have been particularly interested lately in the signs they have found in the forest. They have been using their sounds and letter skills that they have been learning in Nursery, to try to read the signs and discover what they say.
These barrels and trees make great shelters for animals and creatures in the forest, but they also provide great climbing and balancing fun. Risky play really helps to develop our gross motor skills and allows our children to test and affirm their capabilities, as well as problem solve every day activities.
There are lots of exciting places to explore and hide, but some children have already begun to ponder……
” What will happen when the leaves grow? (Rory)”
“How will we get through the forest? (Owen)”
We found some more signs and worked together to find out what they said. Anri and Maximus wondered why there were no signs to show us how to get to the forest and thought about ideas of what signs we might need and what they would say.
There are lots of amazing things to discover and find in the forest. “What is this? Where did it come from?” Lottie-Mae wanted to take what she had found back to Nursery to look at it a little more closely.
We were having too much fun to leave the forest so we stopped for a quick picnic snack.
“Look what I found! Is it a pine cone? It’s very small. (Archie)”
Look at us climb!
“I’m the highest! (Johanne).”
“I’m like a monkey. (Anri).”
“I got up! This tree must be very strong. (Lucille)”
“You have to put your head down low to get through. I nearly got stuck. (Elsie).”
We loooove a muddy puddle….
We visited our nature pond to see if the Frog spawn has hatched yet. We hope to take some tadpoles to Nursery to look at more closely and see how they change into frogs.
Who will be first to spot a frog?
We found lots of frog spawn but still no tadpoles….
It’s hard work to walk through long grass and heather. Sometimes we find it tricky and fall over but we are getting better at it and our legs are getting stronger.
Yay – we caught a frog! It was great to take a closer look at the frogs. They look tiny but when the frog was trying to jump out of the bucket, we saw it had really really long back legs.
“That’s so they can jump high” (Maximus).
“I can see another frog!” (Honor)
We also took a closer look at some frog spawn. Some had black dots in the middle but some were beginning to uncurl into tiny tadpoles, getting ready to hatch.
Owen found a tiny caterpillar on the ground. He carefully and kindly picked it up so as everyone cold have a closer look.
We love getting outdoors to play. Even better when the sun is shining!
The bairns are really enjoying building their own obstacle courses. It is fantastic to see them working together to build the obstacles and helping each other as they build their confidence with balancing.
“If you put your arms out like this, it helps you balance.” (Anri)
“I’m rocking!” (Anri)
“It looks like you’re surfing.” (Maximus)
“If we both go on we can do it like a see-saw.” (Lucille)
“Let’s see if we can all balance on it.” (Lucille)
Learning without stabilisers…..
Mark making with chalk…..
Drawing around each other and our shadows. Who is the biggest?
Building a house…..