This week has seen the return of forest school.

Some old faces have returned along with a number of new recruits, and we are all excited to spend another year getting to know each other – as well as the forest of course!

This week we decided to go on a walk into the woods. We each found a suitable stick to help us on our way as we were a bit out of practice after the long summer holiday!

We also used our pruning saws to cut some small discs that we are going to use in next week’s activity…

Mr Hilton and Beth

 

 

The forest school groups joined forces recently for an adventurous trip to Go Ape in Battersea Park.

We completed the Treetop Challenge, a high ropes course that tested our physical abilities as well as our nerve…

We worked really well as a team to encourage and help each other through the course – and thankfully we all made it back down to ground level at the end of the day!

Mr Hilton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At forest school this week we have been making stinging nettle soup!

Stinging nettles are a real nuisance if you accidentally brush up against them with your skin, but when washed and cooked they provide several health benefits: they reduce inflammation, they are rich in antioxidants (which help to prevent disease), they help balance blood sugar and they help maintain healthy cholesterol.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, we put on some protective gloves and went foraging for nettle leaves. We had to be careful not to get stung, as well as to make sure we only picked nettle leaves – as other leaves can make us very unwell when eaten.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then made a hearty vegetable soup out of onion, leek, carrot, potato, and a litre of vegetable stock, adding in our nettles at the end for just a couple of minutes to allow them to wilt (a bit like cooking spinach).

Next, we blended our mixture, before adding a little butter, salt and pepper to taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then ate it with some fresh bread and butter.

Some of us were a bit nervous about eating stinging nettles, but we all agreed it was actually very delicious!

Last week at forest school we made a delicious apple crumble.

First, we peeled, cored and chopped our apples, and heated them over the campfire in our Dutch oven with a little sugar.

While they were softening, we made our crumble mix out of butter, flour and a little sugar.

We used our fingertips to rub the butter in until the mixture looked like breadcrumbs.

 

 

Then, we sprinkled our crumble mix over the top of our softened apples, and put the lid on top of the Dutch oven.

Next, we removed the fire from under our oven and transferred it onto the top of the lid so that we could bake our crumble from the top down – this is important to make sure we get a crunchy top to our crumble!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After 20 minutes our crumble was beautifully golden on top, and the apple was bubbling at the sides.

We served our apple crumble with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream – YUM!

Despite the cold, wet weather we’ve had lots of fun at forest school this month.

When it’s so cold we like to do lots of cooking – both to keep us warm around the fire, as well as so that we have something delicious to look forward to at the end of the session.

Two weeks ago we made a glorious spaghetti bolognaise, and last week we made some chocolate covered popcorn!

We didn’t want the birds to feel left out though, so we made them a tasty treat too, out of apples and sunflower seeds.

This week we’re making a hearty vegetable soup so look out for photos of that in the next update.

Mr Hilton and the forest school team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest school returned last week and it really felt like winter had arrived in the forest…

We decided to go for a walk in the woods to look for signs of winter… and found plenty!

We saw frost and ice, berries and even some friendly robins – who kindly posed for photos!

When we got back to camp we made some nice winter cards – using wood for the moon, evergreen leaves for trees, and sawdust for the ground. We finished them off by painting a few ‘stars’ with white paint.

Maybe if you’re lucky someone will send you one!

 

Mr Hilton and the forest school team

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week the forest school groups made some beautiful natural mobiles out of autumn leaves.

We went for a fun walk in the woods on a mission: to find clean, dry leaves of different colours and different shapes that had fallen onto the ground.

We found leaves that were yellow, brown, orange and even red!

When we got back to camp we threaded our leaves onto sections of string, and then attached our strings to sticks so that we could hang them up when we got back to school.

We think they look really beautiful – do you?

 

 

Earlier this term we made jam at forest school.

We had wanted to make blackberry jam from blackberries in the woods, but unfortunately they had all dried up over the summer holidays so we popped to the shops and bought some strawberries instead!

First, we carefully removed the stalks, and cut the strawberries in half. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we added some lemon juice (lemons contain a special ingredient called pectin which helps jam to set!).

We then heated the strawberries and lemon juice over a medium heat until they had broken down into a bright red mush! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we added sugar and a touch of salt, and turned up the heat...

After 10-15 minutes of boiling, the mixture had started to thicken nicely, so we removed it from the heat and allowed it to cool.

Finally, we poured the jam carefully into sterilised jars, and added our own Lansdowne Forest School labels!

At the end of the session we tried a bit of our delicious jam with some fresh bread and butter - yum!

 

 

It’s been a while since our last update so we thought we’d share a few photos of a range of activities we’ve enjoyed over recent weeks… including our trip to Beckenham Place Park.

Mr Hilton.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Forest School Spaghetti Bolognese!

 

 

 

We decided to warm ourselves up recently with a delicious vegetarian spag bol!

 

First we chopped up an onion, garlic and several carrots, and fried them in a little oil.

 

 

 

 

We then added a little water to help the carrots cook, before adding some tomato passata, meat-free mince and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

 

 

 

 

 

While this was cooking, we boiled some water and cooked our spaghetti. We also grated some Cheddar cheese.

When both the spaghetti and bolognaise had cooked we mixed them together and served up – before adding some grated cheese on top.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                We all agreed it was delicious!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week at forest school we made chocolate brownies on the campfire!

First we melted some butter over the fire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then we added our dry ingredients: flour, cocoa, sugar and a pinch of salt.

Next, we added our eggs one at a time – mixing vigorously in between each until the mixture was smooth and silky.

 

 

 

 

 

We then poured our mixture into our Dutch oven, and cooked it over a low heat.

We also added some hot coals to the top of the Dutch oven so that the brownie mix cooked thoroughly all the way through.

After about 30 minutes we removed the pot from the campfire and allowed it to cool for a few minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, we cut the brownie into slices and enjoyed eating them together! What a treat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last week at forest school we made some delicious veggie burgers!

First we weighed out our ingredients into a bowl. These included: chick peas, sweet corn, flour, paprika, cumin, parsley, salt, pepper, fresh coriander and a splash of water.

Being out in the forest we didn’t have a mixer, so we had to cut and mash our mixture with a knife!

 

When it was all nicely mushed up we formed burgers – using a little extra flour to stop them from sticking.

Then we heated a little oil in a pan and cooked them until they developed a lovely golden and crunchy exterior.

 

 

 

 

We took them off the heat, and while they were cooling a little we added tomato ketchup to bread buns. We then put our burgers inside and gobbled them down! Delicious!