Next week, our group will be visiting Chevin Forest Park in Otley. This is the first time we will have been off-site for Forest School and the children are very excited. On Friday, the children researched Otley Chevin on the internet. They looked at some of the geographical features. Chevin Forest is a site of significant historical interest and as a range of trails aimed at guiding walkers through the geology and heritage of the site.
SS was pleased to find out that there is a pond and stated that she would like to do some pond dipping. SL wanted to find out if there would be any good climbing trees and JA and NK wanted to know what plants and animals we might see in the woodland.
We found out that there are roe deer, owls, lizards, rabbits and stoats living in the woodland. We talked about what evidence we could look out that these animals were present in the woodland. The children said that we might see nests, burrows or animal droppings.
We also found out that this is the perfect time of year to see bluebells in Chevin Forest Park.
We put together some spotting and tracking backpacks to take with us to the woodland inside we put:
- A small clipboard and pencil
- Binoculars
- Bug jar and pooter
- Gloves
- Nature Detectives woodland log http://www.naturedetectives.org.uk/download/booklet_woodlandlog.htm
- Camera
- Chevin Forest trees and animals spotters guide http://chevinforest.co.uk/explore/self-guided-walks/
Congratulations on your fantastic programme. I was overjoyed to find your blog, it makes me feel hopeful that at least a sliver of an emerging generation has the opportunity to interact and engage with a natural environment before they disappear into technoblivion. More power to you keep it up.
ReplyDeleteThank you. It is an absolute joy and honour to be introducing children to new experiences that I just took for granted as a child. Hopefully the programme will sow the seed of a lifelong love and repect for the natural world
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