Children are given bug collecting boxes and magnifying glasses and shown how to collect the bugs carefully. They then enjoy showing their friends what they have caught and try to identify them using charts, magazines and books.

We have a range of tarps, drapes and shower curtains for the children to make dens and shelters. We also encourage use of sticks, cartons and plastics to make bug hotels and use these alongside the brick and slab bug hotels to create good habitats.

This is, by far, the favourite with all the children. They use the skills and opportunities they have been given in a free way with the only instruction to ‘keep safe’. They are very skilled at self-regulating these sessions and we observe them developing their conversation and PSHE skills with little or no intervention.

We have planted a number of different plants including bulbs and free trees and hedging from ‘The Woodland Trust’. We discuss the different kinds of plants and how and where they grow. We are able to monitor their growth and life cycle throughout the year through regular visits to the forest site. Some 200 trees and hedging plants were planted on site by the children earlier this year.

We always have clipboards and a range of papers and drawing materials available for children to use as they please.

On wet days we dress for the weather and have fun in the puddles, as well as experimenting with changing our art work in the rain.

At Christmas we sang Christmas songs and decorated a tree to be a Christmas tree. We then sang to it. We removed the decorations in the New Year and chopped the school Christmas tree to use in our forest school activities.

Due to health and safety, we are not allowed in the forest when it is windy. On these days we take out our wind tubes and look at, smell, taste, touch, listen to and pretend to be the wind.

Every session includes a snack time where children are offered hot chocolate, a biscuit and a piece of fruit. This is often quoted as the children’s favourite part of the session!