Rabbits, 7 June

Deer on the Bluff! Our class was so fortunate to see a deer on the Bluff, we were able to observe it at length. The children discussed what it was eating, what predators it has and why it was here.

The interest in civilisations in our wood and metal creations inspired a conversation about how we know about ancient cultures and how history and mythology have been recorded. We discussed rock/cave drawings and symbology and made our our records of the battles and events in our forest school classes on rocks. We used clay rocks with strong pigment , both crushed or whole and wet to draw on our rocks, also using nails and other stones to illustrate out stones. We used these as an opportunity to reflect on and express feelings about our play as the children told stories with their rocks about their experiences of the battles, etc.

Rocks ignited the curiosity and imagination of the play in class, with some breaking rocks to examines "crystals" and discussing types of rock types, others using them for currency. Some even drew connections between the civilisation and tool themes of recent weeks and exclaimed their realisations about how stone use and stone tools affected human civilisations.

All the other wonderful forest school opportunities were as always a part of our class; with a weaving sit spot (which Maeve so proudly displays) and art with dandelions and other spring foliage (using hammers to leave an imprint and the petals to imbue colour), to wood carving and "blacksmith" work with metal, and shelter and fort building, along with energetic and strategic games about predators/preys and the food chain, and storytelling and reflective self-expression and facilitated interpersonal social skill development and lots of rich dynamic play!