Easter is an eggciting time for children. Chocolate is one way to delight children, but believe it or not their are others. There is some truth in the age old adage that anticipation is 9/10 of the pleasure. Involving children in Easter preparation is key to marking the significance of the celebration. Here are some ideas for Easter activities for Forest School. Symbolism of eggs Talking about the symbolism of eggs and new life. Most birds in the UK (apart from chickens) nest in spring. Nesting Birds Have any of the children seen any nests or chicks?  The RSPB have some interesting facts ..read more

Need inspiration for an outdoor learning activity. Valentines day is coming up and its the perfect time to talk about love.  Instead of romantic love we’ll be focusing on love for nature. How we can show we care. Rather than buying pink tat we’re going to make wildflower seed heart paper to give to people we love. How to Make Wild Flower Seed Paper Valentines What You Need 1 cup of ripped-up newspaper or scrap paper 2 cups of water Wildflower seeds A paper frame and large baking tin 2 large bowls Blender Prep Your Paper Tear the paper  into small pieces. My children enjoyed doing ..read more

At Cambridge Forest Schools we like to help children connect with the rhythms of nature. Celebrating Imbolc and other festivals our ancestors marked when peoples activities were more closely tied to nature is an engaging way of doing this. Imbolc marks the halfway point between winter solstice and spring equinox. It marks the start of the agricultural year; lambs are born and the soil starts to warm up. The original word Imbolg – means in the belly.  Mother Earth is pregnant and the signs of new life are just beginning to show. Observational Activity to mark the coming of spring Ask the ..read more

Outdoor Learning in winter Rule 1 when planning your Outdoor learning sessions is to take account of the season and the weather. It sounds obvious, but all to often teachers start with the curriculum and ignore the changing seasons and weather. Treating the outdoors in the same way you would the controllable environment of an indoor classroom can mean missing out on the magic and your plans being scuppered by the weather. Hierarchy of needs On our Forest School and Outdoor Learning courses we teach the importance of meeting children’s basic needs for warmth/ protection from the elements, food ..read more

Christmas can have a negative impact on our mental health. Christmas can be a stressful time for many reasons. Moreover the pressure to be joyful can be too much. Peace is a word that appears on many Christmas cards but is noticeably absent in many of our celebrations. Natural Peace Unsurprisingly, my best tip for feeling better is to spend time in nature. Watching birds flocking across a  winter  sky or watching a Robin singing it’s heart out helps me appreciate the present moment.  Significantly,  Mind talk about the benefits of nature on our mental health. Furthermore ..read more

Christmas Forest Craft Log Characters Its nearly Christmas, So we wanted to give our learners in the woods some festive activities to do. A Christmas Forest School craft that would develop some of the skills they’ve learnt over the term and give them a cute ornament or play character to take home as a gift. The first and super simple idea are the wooden santa’s/ gnomes/wizards/ witches.   These are brilliant if you have coppiced wood that you can use on your site. We’ve also found that they are achievable within an afternoon Forest School session. The children enjoy having something ..read more

One of Cambridge Forest Schools Level 3 Alumni is involved in this introduction to bee keeping at Cambridge Steiner School this weekend.  We thought you may be interested. https://www.cambridgeforestschools.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Introduction-Flyer-1.pdf The post Introduction to Bee Keeping 11.09.21 appeared first on Cambridge Forest Schools ..read more

Facilitating learning through play in nature is what I do. I’m delighted daily by how well children play in the natural setting of Forest School. So, I’ve been reading around the subject to see why this may be. When working as an Early Years teacher, play was a key component to my teaching (as it is for the majority of reception teachers). Tragically, the time for play in class time is already dramatically reduced by year 1. Yet, my year 1 groups at Forest School become engrossed in elaborate play that lasts for many sessions. The games vary widely; some children happily mix potions, some con ..read more

Outdoor Learning on a windy day One windy day my son’s class went outside for their maths lesson. His school were admirably trying to practice Outdoor Learning. Predictably, all the learning resources they’d been sent out with got blown away and the children raced after them. Sadly, the children got shouted at for running around. What went wrong? I believe, the problem stemmed from trying to take the indoors out rather than using the weather and nature as a learning opportunity. Our Outdoor Learning Training trains teachers to build a bank of activities that they can access depending on the c ..read more

How on earth can you train Forest School Leaders or Outdoor Learning Practitioners online? Good question, and honestly if you’d have suggested I do it this time last year I’d have refused on the grounds that these are things that should be taught in the woods not on a screen. Fast forward a year and lockdown is part of  our vocabulary. Millions of children have spent months learning online. One negative consequence of this is that millions of children have missed out on the opportunity to learn about their natural environment  and work collaboratively with their peers. As a conseque ..read more