Trees

Trees are the amazing giants that surround us.

They existed on this plant before the times of the dinosaurs and have merged into human folklore and mysticism over time.

Science now tells us that trees are sociable, live in families and have ways to communicate and protect each other.

They can be ancient living for over a thousand years. They change with the seasons, provide food, are homes for many creatures and are one of our most valuable industrial resources.

They are critical to the planet, they take carbon dioxide and give out oxygen keeping the planet healthy.

The Forest School and wider grounds have many trees connecting us with past uses of the site. The oldest trees are about 200 years old and remind us of the time they stood in the grounds of Gilbertstone House which stretched all the way down to where Birmingham International Airport currently can be found. Others tell of when the school was opened or the school eco days and more recently planting of saplings from the Woodland Trust.

So why not begin to find out about the history of the trees in your garden or local street or park.
To find out how old a tree is you can count the rings but this has the problem of having to cut the tree down.

There is an easier way fortunately. All you need is a long piece of string and a tape measure or if you have one a flexible tape measure.

Measure around the tree trunk about 1.4m above the ground. Next decide where your tree is. If in a wooded area divide your number by 1.25. If it is in open space divide by 2.5. the answer gives you an approximate age for the tree.

So if you find a tree in open space and the measurement round the trunk is 350 cm 350÷2.5=140 years old.

See here for help sheet

Why not make a timeline for your tree can you find key historical events that have happened during the life of your tree. Was it in your garden when your house was built? Did it see the first person walk on the moon? Was it alive in the time of Queen Victoria?

If you want help to identify what type of tree you are looking at see this sheet or this poster.

Please note this activity is for deciduous trees - those that lose their leaves in winter.


Acknowledgements: The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben, Tree from seed to mighty forest David Burnie, Photos from Walking in Paradise Photography.

WildTime

Spending time outdoors is fun. We all appreciate a little bit of sunshine, a warm breeze, hearing birdsong or a refreshing summer rain. But learning a little about nature also helps to connect us to our surroundings and to feel a part of our wider world.

Research is also revealing to us the health benefits of being out in nature through things like a simple walk, forest bathing or quiet moments of mindfulness.

Whatever your motivation for spending time outdoors there are plenty of places to find encouragement and ideas.

Here is the first organisation and links to their materials to help you along your way.

The Wild Network website has many ideas including a weekly set of challenges which can be done either in or outdoors. I particularly like their animal clothes challenge. What animal can you make your clothes into? Here's an idea:-

Click here to see some more.

They also have walking bingo cards, a different one each week and a free film which introduces how the wild network was started.

The challenge I've taken is to build an obstacle course for a wild animal.

Over time quite a few creatures have visited our garden, i'll share them in future posts, but a the moment we have a couple of squirrels that come each morning.

Now these squirrels aren't very bright. To stop them taking the bird food I put up a nut feeder just for them with a lid. 

What did they do? They ate it! Don't believe me? Here's the evidence or what's left of it.

So without any high hopes I decided to build a squirrel run. The plan was for them to run along the top of the fence, along a rope to the first tray of nuts. Then along the rope and onto the arch to a basket with more nuts suspended from the arch.

Needless to say it didn't work out like this so the run was adapted and here is a short video to show you how it all went.

An adaptation of the run is under construction. The magpie ate all the nuts in the tray and then the squirrel discovered running up the stick. 

If you feel inspired it would be great to hear how you got on. Have fun😃

Gymnastics

Here is some inspiration to get you thinking about gymnastics.

The poem is called Gymnastics by Michael Rosen and can be found in his book 

Quick, Let's Get Out Of Here.

In Forest School we do a gymnastics based activity with Year 3 called Theseus and the Minotaur linked to their Greek project. 

In small groups the children make a gymnastic type obstacle to either go over, under or to balance upon. We also focus on Health and Safety to ensure these are safe to use. Each obstacle is then added together to make a labryinth for the children to escape the Minotaur. 

Here are some example pictures of the work they completed earlier in the year.

So your challenge is simple. Can you make a gymnastics course either indoors or outdoors?

You could use things like popup tunnels or large cardboard boxes if you have them. Why not balance on a brick? Put down two sticks to represent the banks of a stream and see if you can jump across. I'm sure you have lots of ideas and we'd love to see your photos.

Remember to stay safe and get things checked out by an adult.

By the way Gnorman has gone missing again. Can you find him in the pictures above. He appears four times. Remember to click on the photo to see a larger image.

Have fun.

Making Chairs with Year 6

The challenge is to make a chair that you can sit on. You will need to use your knotting skills, design skills and creativity. Of course you can only use materials that you find on the site. So what will you come up with?

This activity was aimed at using and applying skills gained over a series of Forest School lessons.

The lesson had quite a tight time constraint on it and given that the children worked remarkably well.

Some children wanted to stabilize their chairs by pushing their chair legs into the ground. All the recent rain made this a fairly easy task. But making the structure stable was still quite a challenge and while some opted for the easier solution of using logs when all else failed many persisted to achieve a stable structure.

One clever design used the Tepee design made when in Year 4 and added three seats to it.

Here are some of their designs:-