Expanding the Horizon

Our highly anticipated fourth forest school excursion continued the trend of setting the bar a little bit higher. Instead of our usual brief walk to Cliveden, we managed an impressive one mile trek to Awbury Arboretum. In addition to boosting our stamina, this new location offered many delights: a pile of humongous tree trunks to climb on, leaf piles worthy of jumping in, a feeling of being genuinely encircled by forest, a shark, and some other new species of plants and insects to inspect. Activities included some old favorites such as collecting leaves, making bows, and building fairy-sized structures, as well as some new ones such as turning a huge log into a seesaw, creating a jumping pit from found materials, and calculating the age of seriously old trees by counting their rings. Our beautiful new forest school blanket also made its debut, providing the perfect setting for yet another picnic lunch. After lunch it was time to get an early start on our sizable journey back to school, but not before another run-through of the practice of "leave no trace."

The growth among the children is becoming more and more obvious. I personally had the opportunity to witness children walk much farther than they knew they could. I watched them work up the courage to successfully climb up and over obstacles that were at first daunting. I saw them give a level of attention and an eye for detail to their environment that most classroom teachers could only dream of. I noticed friendships strengthening and pockets of collaboration forming where they have not existed before. I observed children organically create projects for themselves and carry them through to completion without the need of adult involvement. I perceived children who are loving learning.

The "Secret Garden" awaits.

Our new home base blanket in action.

Leaves the size of Izzy's head!

There is finally stuff to climb all over.

"It's a shark!"

The arrows are becoming seriously high quality.

Sylvie - "This guy was 103 years old!"

"Look at this worm."

Reaching new heights.

The kids quickly discover this huge log makes a great seesaw.

"Dorian. Look at this."

James busy carving away.

Circle time with stump-stools.

Day 3

What is it?

What do you do when you forgot the cups?

Sylvie the strong

Jason - "What are you eating?"  Sylvie - "Grass"

Yearden joined us for the day.

Photo taken by Yearden of his family

"It's monkey bars for the fairy school playground."

"I found a shield!"

Dorian noticed the exquisite texture on this chestnut.

We only saw one bear.

More pictures from day 2 of Forest School last week

                                            Skye and Izzy carry the first aid kit as a team.

                                     Sylvie and Kellan hold hands as we approach the street.

                                                Joan helps Izzy tie his bow a bit stronger.

                                                                 We found a moth!

“I never thought it could be so magical out here.” – Nyasiah

I couldn’t have put it better myself. Our second day of Forest School offered many new and unforeseen opportunities for exploration, learning, fun, and wonder. With an expansion into “the jungle” came a greater sense of freedom and possibility. New discoveries included a hidden place informally dubbed “the city,” a snake, larger downed branches worthy of fort building, a paper wasp nest, a stick turned into a baseball bat, the perfect site for a fairy house, and so many others. The kids also took on greater responsibility: carrying our supplies, preparing snacks, and packing up our “home base” after our picnic lunch. For literally hours, they moved in, around, and through the forest curiously and with thoughtfulness, sometimes running, sometimes tiptoeing, and sometimes taking a break to lie on their backs and watch the clouds drift past behind the tops of the trees. At 1:00pm we just had to go, but the nostalgia started to set in almost immediately, the collective sentiment, “When can we return?”

How big is this tree?

Skye about to venture into the unknown with all the requisite gear (spoon included.)

"Careful. There's thorns back there." - Sylvie

"It's a mystery! How will we find our way through to the other side?" - Gil

"It was like a jungle in that place." - Sylvie

The bushwhacking begins.

"I can pour the water?" - Aliyah

Izzy tying knots.

Was that spoon in Skye's mouth the whole morning?

The bows are becoming sturdier.

What is it?

"It might have been from a scientist!" - James

Building a fairy house.

Concluding with a sharing circle.