Looking at Forest Schools

This morning I met with the Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin FEI (Forest Education Initiative) Forest School Cluster group for a 'Forest School Practitioners Day'. What a mouthful! Teachers or Forest School Practitioners and Trainers came together for networking and a few outdoor practical workshops. I went along to see if it might be up my street.

Some of you who know me, may have some idea of just how many practical arts and crafts skills I've racked up over the years..I can hardly keep track of them myself. Put together with my love of outdoors, woodlands, fire, conservation, greenwood working, rural crafts, and a willingness to work with other people, it's all coming together in a melting pot of creative outdoor craftiness - ripe for the picking.

I had teachers telling me they didn't have any ideas for activities for their second and third term projects, and trainers telling me they needed more practical workshops to share with other workshop leaders. In the middle is me thinking, I can do that, I've got too many ideas, and I can show you how to do that too..

Somehow I feel strangely needed all of a sudden ;-))

The pictures on the left are of the simple peg loom weaving with sheep wool and needle felting workshop with Sara of Shropshire Wildlife Trust.

Then a workshop on Woodworking ideas for Foundation Level (that's age 4+) with Laura Harvey of Secret Hills Discovery Centre, making tiny tables and stick insects. Glue is used for sticking leaves and sticks together to make things like snowmen. 
For this workshop they generally use a half size bow saw, a hand drill, potato peelers for whittling sticks and tenons, a billhook and mallet for splitting - sharing the tasks and all under close adult supervision.

Also a nice book called 'Stick Man' - I've got some bedtime reading to do here.