This weekend marks the Summer Solstice and the official start of Summer. This is the day when the sun is the highest in the sky giving us the longest day of the year.

Of course we can’t actually guarantee we will be able to see the sun and sometimes the solstice falls on a cloudy or even rainy day.

In case this happens we like to make our own sunshine! The symbolism of this is fantastic and really is at the heart of Forest School. We don’t base our well being on things we can’t control and instead change how we respond to our environment. If it is cold we light a fire, if it is wet we build a shelter and if there is no sun on the Solstice we make one!

This sun weaving is simple and effective and so calming and satisfying to make. You need three straight sticks, a pipe cleaner and a collection of appropriately coloured wool or ribbons. Dragonflies will find everything they need, apart from the sticks, in their pack when they receive it.

The sticks are crossed over each other and then secured with the pipe cleaner. Wool or ribbon can then we tied to one of the sticks and woven around. To make a nice neat sun you should wrap the wool all the way around each stick in turn. Saying that younger children might want to weave the wool and ribbons in a less uniform way and that makes a nice sun too. You can continue attaching wool or ribbons until the sticks are full and then tie off the last piece of wool.