Planet Protectors

Spring is such a wonderful time of year to observe and learn about nature. Over the past few weeks we have enjoyed watching the birds feeding their young and their young graduating from the nest, the crows are a particular favourite. We have also noticed the effect the warmer weather has had on the ground - it is harder, dustier and we are finding different sorts of insects.

April was also exciting in Forest School as April 22 was Earth Day - a global initiative to raise awareness and take action for the environment. We were so impressed with the children's ideas on ways in which everyone can help the planet, whether we are at home, nursery or out and about. These included: putting rubbish in the bin, and taking it home if there isn't a bin; not using too much water by having long showers or deep baths; putting food waste in the compost bin; sorting our rubbish and recycling paper, plastic, tin and glass; being gentle with animals and insects; planting and caring for trees and plants. To celebrate this special day the children were challenged to make an eco warrior bracelet with four special things that they had gathered from the woods. The children were encouraged to look for things which felt special to them, this included daisies, dandelions, feathers, sticks, leaves and mud. The children were also taken to look at some plants which were dangerous for them and shouldn't be picked, either due to being spikey or poisonous. We very much believe that knowledge is power for children so giving them these opportunities to learn about dangerous plants and to think about how to gather flowers responsibly is the perfect way to encourage them to think about safeguarding the planet. You can see some of the plants to look out for below so please do be careful of them when you are out and about.

Sharing the Woods

Last month we learnt about the animals who were starting to wake from their long winter sleeps and it occurred to us that many of them were nocturnal, and were awake at night-time. This led us to be curious about who we were sharing the woods with so we donned our scientist hats to look... could we find claw marks, burrows or perhaps some poo? Maybe there would be feathers or nests, or what about nutshells or signs of a last meal? After completing our investigations the children were charged with choosing a location for our new gadget - a Trail Cam. This whizzy bit of kit was received as part of the Learning through Landscapes grant and allows us to capture photographs of the woods while we are not there. The camera is triggered by movement, have a look below to see who came to visit...

Springing into Action

Now that Spring is here we have been investigating the changes in nature and the ways in which Forest School is waking up to the warmer weather. As well as watching the growth of new leaves, the children have been learning about animals who hibernate who are now waking up. We've explored the hibernation habits of hedgehogs, bats and amphibians and imagined them waking from their long winter sleep with the sun on their faces. We have also looked at minibeasts and noticed that with warmer weather the ants have returned. After our bug hunt we practiced our maths skills by counting their number of legs and sorting them into groups, not easy on a centipede! We've talked about community action projects like our local toad patrol and the Butterfly room have been studying frogspawn which will be added to our Forest School pond areas.