Events for June

EVERY MONDAY* -  Appleton Forest School 10am at Lumb Brook Valley. Sessions are at least an hour but often stretch on to midday if we get into things (which we usually do). This is an ongoing series of child led sessions. Recently we've done some tool use with under 5s, explored, identified trees, stream walked, made hazel hurdles, bean poles and more. Its very organic and often involves participants influencing what happens at future sessions.

PRICE £5 a child with sibling discounts, etc. NB – 1st and 15th June session are not running as we’re away on training courses, etc.

SATURDAY 6th June – BEAR HUNT at New Moss Wood – Join us at our Woodland Trust Wood on the Manchester Mosses. After porridge we’ll be searching for the 3 bears, Paddlington, Sir Bearmund Hillary and other colourful characters before building them dens. Once settled we’ll start a fire and have a campfire Teddy Bears Picnic.

PRICE £10 a child with sibling discounts, etc.

SATURDAY 13rd June – Wet n Wild at Lumb Brook Valley. A nature walk down the stream and you will get wet. “Canyoning for Beginners”

PRICE £5 each. Only 6 places for each walk!

SATURDAY 20th June  - 10am Midsummer Forest School- at Gorse Covert Mounds - Join us for the penultimate longest day. Exploring, Dens, fire cooking, story telling and more.

PRICE 10 a child with sibling discounts, etc.

SATURDAY 26th/SUNDAY 27th June. Birthday parties. We’re hosting Birthday parties at Appleton and Gorse Covert Mounds. Get in touch for your big day. We make it extra special!

Appleton Forest School

UPDATE - Now moved to Friday!

Every Monday 10am Lumb Brook Valley

£5 per child

We've been running forest school sessions for our 'regulars' since February 2015 and its been a lot of fun!

EXPLORE!

Looking back of our sessions my first thought  is one of pride. I've seen Forest School build our pupils' confidence grow in leaps and bounds. Ranging from 2 to 14 year olds at first there was trepidation with going off path and into the Brook but soon this became normal so every session begins with a dip in the stream to have a look. This is led by the children - there's always this desire to explore and investigate.

Cooking with Fire  safely

Another regular is fire building. Fear of fire has grown into respect. Pupils can now safely identify and collect appropriate firewood - deadwood, tinder, kindling and logs, build a fire and light it with a flint and steel. We've made char cloth and cooked on the fire. We've developed and agreed safety rules which we all follow. This is something we can only do with the express permission of the land owner - so thank you Woodland Trust - and is carried out in a 'leave no trace' way.

            Hazel identified  and ripe for coppicing

Most sessions we use tools to make something. We've learnt to identify plants and in particular hazel.

A hazel hurdle/habitat pile made by 2 - 14 year olds and parents.

Lumb Brook Valley has an abundance of hazel and with the permission of the Woodland Trust we've been coppicing hazel (cutting it back). Coppicing makes hazel live for longer and develops an understory - leave hazel too long and it turns into quite a large tree. This reduces the burden of maintenance by the trust so hopefully we're saving them money to spend on other things. By cutting it back every 12 years or so you prevent it turning into a tree  and help the herb layer get more light. At Lumb Brook that means more bluebells!

Using a bow saw, loppers, bill hook and knife we've used hazel for:

• Den Building
• Raising a fire pan off the ground
• Building our fire safety tripod
• Making handles for toasting popcorn and for our pond dipping sieves
• Making walking sticks
• Habitat piles for hedgehogs
• Protecting the stream bank
• Making a hurdle habitat fence

Our greatest achievement is that we've got children using tools safely, recognising dangers (such as a sharp blade) and taking appropriate precautions. The only injury we've had is Rawdon's pride when he fell over in the mud on a bear hunt.

What's next?

Sessions are child led so we'll see where we go but due to our passion, commitment to and love of nature we've now got another land owner on board to use even more woods in Lumb Brook Valley. We'll update you when all the paperwork is in place but this will give our pupils the  chance to develop their own site for forest school - so more exploring, more tool use, more learning and more fun.

Why not contact us to book onto a session? Have a look at our Appleton Forest School Facebook Page where we post site specific updates or alternatively our Fairy Forest School page for upcoming events.

Come to the FAIRY TALE WOOD

Once upon a time . . .

Wakey wakey! The blue bells have rung. Spring time is here! Time to wake up!

Spring has sprung and the fairies are waking up

On the run up to Midsummer Eve we're guiding the young and young at heart into the fairy woods.

We need your help to return our fairy tales back to their own land before its too late.

Will you:

Try the 3 bears porridge?

Retrieve 3 blind mice and a flower fairy?

Reunite the Big Bad Wolf with his Granny?

 Find the 3 not so little pigs and build them a stick house?

Climb a hill with Jack and Jill?

Blow a frog a kiss and turn him into a prince?

Courtesy and bow for the King and Queen?

Meet a fire breathing dragon?

Join us exploring the woods for a 2 hour magical hunt with stories and games. Discover the magic of the natural world before settling down for some treats and hot dogs (sorry 3 little pigs) cooked on the campfire.

Price £10 per child - Discounts for siblings, Woodland Trust Members, etc.

9:45am meet up for porridge

10:00 set off

12 noon campfire lunch

SATURDAY 16th May - New Moss Woods nr Glazebrook

SUNDAY 17th May - Lumb Brook Valley, Appleton

SATURDAY 30th May - Gorse Covert Mounds, Birchwood