A Day in the Life at Forest School
An Imaginary, but Accurate, Day in the Life at Forest and Nature School
We have a craft or open ended art activity (like Magic Draw) for everyone to do as they arrive at Forest School, as well as books to read.
Once everyone has arrived, we have our opening circle!
We sing a Forest School song or play a short circle game, and learn our Word of the Day in sign language and Nehiyawewin (Cree) or Anishnaabemowin. Sometimes the Word of the Day is a plant or animal, and we learn a bit about the plant or animal, and act out animal forms.
Today, let’s imagine our word is “Mino Pimatisiwin,” which means “Good Life.” We all learn to sign these words, and everyone is invited to share what a good life means for each of us.
Then, we talk about what we want to do today. What would feel joyful and inspiring? On this day, the kids express excitement about building forts, exploring, and making puppets. We decide together where we will go to do these things, and what we will need to bring our ideas to life:
For the fort, we want a book with fort designs, rope, tarps, and hand saws for cutting branches to size, as well as gloves for safety. We pack these.
For the puppets, we bring sewing stuff, whittling knives, hand drills, markers to draw on the wood with, wool and felting needles, fabric, scissors, and string.
This all goes into the wagon, which the kids help to pull along.
We all carry our own backpacks with our lunch, water bottle and extra warm clothing inside.
As we walk, we pause to notice what is happening around us. The kids will often engage with the trees and plants and insects along the way, saying hello, investigating.
We notice that the Sun is changing, the quality of light becoming more yellow as the summer wears on and the blue sky of Fall peeks more and more through the leaves as they fall and whirl. Maybe we will pause for a leaf dance! Or make faces and patterns with the leaves. How many different kinds of leaves can you collect?
The Sun is lower in the sky. We notice that it is different than last month at this time of day, and we use a measuring stick to see the degree of change.
We are warm in the Sun, cool in the shade. We consult our compasses to find out which direction the wind is blowing from-North. Our ears could have told you that! We put on our hats, and feel toasty warm.
We see a bird in the distance, and use our binoculars to get a better view. What kind of bird is that? Does someone know? Let’s look at the bird book to find out?
While we pause for a snack, some kids note their observations of wind and Sun in their nature journals. Others draw the bird. Some weave crowns of goldenrod, and others play a quick active game, throwing a ball, keeping warm.
Then it is time to keep moving! We sing a song while we walk. Some kids race each other.
We arrive at our puppet theatre and fort building location, and pretty soon, the tarps are up (after a few consultations of the knot book and some discussion of how it will be structured and angled against the wind).
The teachers share techniques for wool felting and attaching pieces of wood together, then model puppet making and leave space for kids to create their own worlds.
When we use whittling tools or other tools, it is always at a 1:1 ratio with a teacher, in a designated tool use area. We always wear gloves and make sure we are aware of how to use the tools safely.
Soon, wool felted birds, whales and butterflies dangle from strings attached to sticks, telling the story of their migrations, and wood cookie marionettes dance along the paths! One kid has made a giant jellyfish out of branches and strips of fabric! Two kids are painting each other’s faces with mud and paint brushes.
The fort is a handy spot to shelter when a few pelts of rain interrupt the puppet shows and general fun.
Some of the kids are disappointed by the rain, worried it will ruin their plans. One of our friends needs to take some time alone in the hammock under the tarp to feel more regulated, because they are quite sad. We give them space, letting them know we are here for them when they are ready.
They look around at their friends, who have put on their rain jackets and are running around in the puddles quacking like ducks, and pretty soon they are laughing and playing too!
At lunch time, we work together to build the fire and cook bannock. One of the teachers shares a beautiful storybook as we eat. The kids sit on pads on the ground, on log benches we have made together, and on milk crates which double later as building blocks or puppet show theatres.
We spend long minutes dreaming, staring into the flames, and cooking up our next good idea to share with the group. We write down ideas that might need more time or materials, so that we can do them next week! If there is a book or piece of equipment we want, we write it on the request sheet, or ask the teacher.
One of our friends wants to learn about the solar system, after observing the changes in the angle of the Sun, so we talk about how we could get some books about that, and maybe make some needle felted planet mobiles, or carve planets out of wood in their relative sizes and paint them!
The teacher hatches a plan to show the relative distance of the planets from each other by spreading out across a field, for next week.
After lunch, some of the kids are inspired to read, and others want to play a nature trivia card game, so we get out the game, and spread out blankets and a book library.
One learner works on a basket they began weaving last week, another whittles a tent peg. At the end of each month, or any time we are inspired, we can trade our creations on the trading blanket, or gift them freely to each other in a circle of reciprocity. We aren’t forced to share, we share because we have so much creativity, and we can always create more!
One group of children plays the whole afternoon away, a game they have played before, inspired by a birds nest they found in the spring. Maybe they are foxes, or cats, or birds. Today let’s imagine they are birds.
“I’m the mama bird! Who wants to be the baby birds?”
“Let’s make a nest for the babies!!!”
“Go get a branch! Here is some long grass. So comfy! Ahh!”
“Now let’s teach them to fly!! You can do it!”
“It’s time to migrate! Where will we sleep for the night?”
“Here’s a good spot!”
In the morning, the birds wake up and blink sleepily. They nestle their heads back into their wing feathers for a few more minutes, and then take off into the morning Sun.
How far is the Sun from the Earth? Find out next week, because it is time to go home!
We pack up all our materials and equipment into the wagon and backpacks. We say bye to the trees and the water, we will be back again soon!
We form our closing circle, sing our song, sign our word of the day again, and reflect.
What was challenging for us today, and what did we learn from that? We talk about what we loved doing, and what we want to do next time. We say thank you to the land.
Then we return to the meeting place to greet our parents!