Outdoor Chronicles 11th June 2021

Beach School

Welcome to the summer term at Beach School Foxes!
Today the children were raring to go. The team were faced with a riddle before they got to the beach. Could they guess it in time? They certainly did!
Not only did they guess the creature – it was a crab by the way – but they also worked out the starting sound accurately of ‘cr’. Fantastic sounding out skills, Foxes!
On arrival at the beach, the Foxes were all drawn in by the calm high tide and found pebbles to throw in the water. ‘Plop’ ‘Splash’ They all listened carefully to the sounds. They learnt the importance of staying on ‘the mountain’ of pebbles in order to keep balance and not fall down towards the water. Safety first, Foxes.
After snack, this exploration continued, powering up the stones as they went into the water.’1,2,3, into the sea!’
Leonora filled the big bucket with water and the children collected and scooped lots of pebbles into the bucket. Once again, they listened for the sounds. ‘Plop’ Splash.’ There was a discussion about the different types of sounds the pebbles made. In the deep water, there was a heavy ‘ker-plunkl’ and in the bucket, it was a calming musical sound. Each was enjoyed in its own realm.
Scooping, transporting and tipping was popular. It took a lot of team work to tip the bucket full of water. Listening to commands the children were able to navigate how to move the heavy bucket.
Role play, art and storytelling also played a part in the session and by the end the children did not want to leave!
The Foxes cannot wait for next week’s session.

Forest School

The Badgers were very excited for their Forest School trip. They begand the session with a check on the boundaries in the park. They played 1,2,3, Where are you, which is a game of listening that’s a little bit like Hide & Seek. they loved this and ran through the trees listening for each other’s calls.
After snack, they received a letter from Kitty, the Forest School mascot. She set the Badgers a riddle! Could they solve it and guess what they needed to look for? Of course they could!
They guessed it correctly – it was a tree. And then they had to find the tree with the most leaves! It was a difficult choice, but as a team, they wandered amongst the trees looking up and down and side to side.
They found a tree with a note from Kitty! And then they found Kitty! She was challenging them to make some magic wands. So the Badgers went looking for sticks, the best prop for a magic wand.
They learnt how to use the tools and whittle their wands. They learnt how to tie a clove hitch to make a decorative magic wand, and most importantly, they explored the sunny forest together.
They enjoyed stories under the tree, making up stories with the story stones which involved a lot of concentration and listening.
And of course, they played, 1,2,3, Where are you again!
What a fantastic Forest School session Badgers team!

Kitchen Garden

At the plot the Faye and the children drew a map together, the children deciding what is important to be on it. They talked a lot about the kitchen garden safety rules together – very important for the start of their term of gardening and exploring. The previous group had grown sunflowers from seed last half term so this helpful group planted them out in one of the beds and talked about them having more space to get big and strong. They will be keeping a close eye on those! Also part of their Kitchen Garden intro the children went exploring around the area by taking walks around the many other plots, seeing the different scarecrows and discussing why they are there. They also went on a scavenger hunt to see what we could find and a lovely allotment owner let us observe their newts. The children loved them! We found some elderflower and rosemary, enjoying the varied smells. They even had time to plant some corn and a lovely lady brought them some sugar snaps from her allotment which were delicious and the children loved trying them – nothing like fresh veg straight from the ground! When it’s been very warm, Alex has used the hose to cool everyone down, which everyone has found very exciting!

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