We can forget or just not realise how important outdoor play is in childhood (and beyond). This page from the Forest Fridays book is here to remind us. The full book is available on https://www.dspns.ie/scaip/.

This week, as always, the children had lots of ideas of how to spend their time and it is so powerful to be able to say yes in such a rich environment.

The journey to base camp always provides opportunities to notice change and continuity and forage for some resources. This week it was bees and the larch tree.

Our focus was on bees today and we had learned lots about them. There are 100 native bee species in Ireland: the honeybee, 21 species of bumblebee, and 78 species of solitary bee.

Amy’s group

Jenny’s group

Sit spot

I noticed how the trees all have different colours like greens and purples.

I noticed a tree had a face on it and it looked like it was drunk.

I noticed that the birds were singing really loudly and you could listen to lots of different bird calls.

The tree I was standing at had a hole but it was filled with pine needles and when I stood on them they sunk down.

I noticed all the birds were quite loud.

My face was covered – the only thing I could see was rocks and gorse.

I could feel my heart beating through my body.

I felt the texture of the tree I was sitting at.

Gratitude

In the words of the children – I’m grateful for:

nature and having a sit spot.

making the bees because it was really fun.

I like the way that it’s free and we get to do fun stuff.

the forest still being here.

whittling

enjoying myself

for Forest School in general – it’s a really nice atmosphere

clay!

I really liked bees and the clay and the whittling. Forest School is very relaxing.

I’m grateful that we actually got to do Forest School this year. It’s free and it’s really big and you don’t have to be stuck in a tiny classroom all day!