Elder Beads

By Mel Evans

Elder is a funny sort of tree. Sometimes it stands tall and alone in a field, but more usually it likes to hide among the hedgerows and its hard to tell where the tree starts and the hedge ends. If you have one in your garden or near to you house you will probably have noticed it already,

Its a very sensory tree. Its leaves smell pungent and unpleasant if you crush them. In late Spring it blooms with fragrant white flowers that can be made into cordial and in the Autumn in bears deep purple berries rich in vitamin C and favoured for Winter tonics. The bark of the tree itself is cracked and the branches have wart like nobbles on them.

The Elder tree is the subject of much folklore. Burning Elder is frowned upon as its thought to upset Mother Elder or worse still summon the Devil. However, an Elder tree close to your house is believed to keep bad spirits away and it can often be found in graveyards.

Elder is the Lady’s tree, burn it not or cursed be ye!

Elder often hides in hedgerows and may only be starting to appear if the hedge was cut last Autumn

If you know of an Elder tree nearby, you can cut a small branch. Superstition suggests you should ask for the tree’s permission first. This can then be turned into beads. You can cut bead sized pieces from the branch and push the soft pith out using the flat end of a wooden skewer or a tent peg. You will be a left with a hollow bead and you can choose if you want to remove the bark or not.

Once you have made a collection of beads you can thread them to make lots of different things. There are a few example of things children have made at our Forest School sessions below to inspire you! We would love to see what you make!

Elder Bracelet

Elder Necklace using a wooden disk for a medallion

This Elder Man was made by threading beads onto pipe cleaners.

Kev came up with this idea for Elder Rattle Snakes and a used a wooden disk for a head and metal washers for the ‘rattle’

Fire Lighting with Char Cloth

By Mel Evans and Kevin Fuller

If you have been to any of our Forest School sessions you will most likely have helped us light the fire using a Fire Striker and cotton wool as tinder. Sometimes, we use char cloth as an alternative tinder. The char cloth is slow burning and has a very low ignition temperature. By hitting it with a spark from a Fire Striker or traditional Flint and Steel you can create a glowing ember that can be added to a tinder bundle. When oxygen is introduce to this (by gentle blowing) the tinder bundle ignites.

You can make Char Cloth by taking some squares of cotton and putting them through pyrolysis. Put simply pyrolysis is when something burns in an environment free of oxygen, giving an outcome of charring,

In the videos below Kev demonstrates how to do this on a Kelly Kettle pot stand.

Cress Egg Heads

By Mel Evans

This isn’t an activity we have ever done at Forest School, but its something I love to do at home with my own children in the Spring.

One of the reasons this activity appeals to me is that it offers many of the things we value at Forest School. For example the activity is open ended and although we are offering an idea it is up to the child where they take it; there is lots of creativity involved; getting the egg to balance requires some engineering; and there is a bit of mud play as soil and seeds are spooned into the egg. It also encourages us to watch over the week as the seeds grow, much as we watch nature as the woods unfold throughout the seasons.

Add to the list that the activity involves Lego and what is not to love!

Last years Egg Heads after the cress seeds had grown.

Start by collecting the materials and laying them out on the table as an invitation to create. Below is the list of materials I set out, and we later found some feathers. You can use what ever crafty bits you have at home though.

Washed and dried discarded egg shells, pva glue, googly eyes pens and Lego.

The children got stuck in and by the end of the morning we had a family of (quite different) Egg Heads! We carefully took the eggs outside and found a bag of compost before spooning soil into the eggs with a tea spoon. Holding the delicate eggs while getting the soil in the right place was a good test of fine motor skills and required a bit of concentration.

Once the soil was in the eggs we sowed some seeds. We didn’t have any cress seeds at home this year so we decided to experiment. We have added Wild Flower seeds to two of the eggs and Pea seeds to the other two. We put the eggs in a warm place so the seeds will germinate. We will water them daily and watch to see how they develop. Do show us your Egg Heads if you try this activity!

Stinging Nettle and Wild Garlic Fritters

By Mel Evans

Today I am going to share with you a simple Spring recipe using foraged ingredients. We love making Stinging Nettle and Wild Garlic Fritters in the woods at this time of year and below are some of the comments we have had from children about them;-

They look disgusting, but they actually taste really nice

They look a lot like a squashed frog, but they taste really yummy,

Great reviews indeed! In all seriousness, every time we make these parents are amazed at the children’s’ willingness to try them. Even the most conservative eaters can’t resist them. As I have mentioned previously, involving children in the whole process seems to be the key in getting them to try new things. That and the irresistible draw of campfire cooking.

The first job is to locate the Wild Garlic and the Stinging Nettles. Stinging Nettles should be really easy to come by and you should be able to find some close to home. Once picked they should be blanched in a pan of boiling water, roughly chopped and added to a bowl. More information about foraging for Nettles can be found in our previous post about Egg Blowing and Nettle Omelettes.

Like Stinging Nettles, Wild Garic is easily recognisable and hard to mistake. It has soft slender leaves that grow up to 7cm wide and 25cm long, and an unmistakable garlic/onion smell.  It is very common in damp woods and country lanes and later in the season it blooms with delicate white flowers. If your lucky you might know of a patch close to home that can be collected on a walk. If not, how about foraging around the kitchen to find something else to add to the nettles? Onions, leeks, curry powder, cumin seeds are all credible options. 

Once you have mixed your blanched and chopped Nettles with chopped Wild Garlic (or store cupboard ingredients), You can start adding flour along with a pinch of salt. Add a small amount of flour at a time and mix in. The dampness of the nettles should help create a sort of batter, but you can add a splash of water if needed.

Add just enough flour to hold the other ingredients together. Too much and you will create a bread dough.

Add a spoonful of the mixture to a hot frying pan with a little oil in and brown on both sides. You can squash them down with a spatula as they cook to make the patty shapes.

We love to cook these on an open fire close to where we have harvested the Nettles and Wild Garlic. The recipe works just as well in a kitchen though.

If you give this a go at home, make sure to send us your ‘reviews’.

Birch Tapping

By Mel Evans and Kevin Fuller

We love a Birch tree! The bark is fantastic for starting fires on a rainy day due to its oily content, the twigs make the best kindling and are also useful for crafting. They can be woven into birds nests in the Spring or turned into Witches brooms in the Autumn. The white bark of a Silver Birch is so striking and the small leaves create a beautiful dappling shade. Its no wonder these trees are often the subject of artists.

Birch tapping usually marks the beginning of Spring at Forest School. Children love to harvest the sap and have a taste. Below Kev demonstrates how this is done.

Introduction to Birch Tapping.

Process of Birch Tapping.

Tasting the Birch Sap

Here’s the science bit -

Tree sap contains Xylem and Phloem. Xylem transports water, minerals and hormones, while Phloem transports the sugars created by photosynthesis. In the Autumn sap flows slower and eventually the leaves die and fall off. The tree slows down and its sap and any remaining sugar is stored in its roots. At this point the Xylem tubes, which transport the sap, die off and new ones are formed. You know how you can tell how old a tree in by counting those rings? Those rings are the old Xylem tubes! When Spring comes and the temperatures rise so does the sap. When it reaches the branches leaf buds start to form and then the tree gains leaves. At this point you can tap the sap.

You will probably have to wait until next Spring to join us for some Birch tapping in the woods, but in the meantime see how many Birch trees you can see around your house, Keep and eye on them and when you see the leaves start to form you know the sap has reached the top. Fresh young leaves can be steeped in water to make a delicious Birch leaf tea,

Bug Sculptures

By Mel Evans

Yesterday we talked about how much fun you can have hunting for Mini-Beasts. Hopefully you found some and had a really good look at them.

One way we help children reflect on this experience is by trying to recreate some of the creatures we find using clay and natural materials.

We give children a ball of natural air dry clay to make the body of the bug and suggest they search the woods for natural materials to add to it. A pine cone makes a great snail shell, sticks are good for legs, leaves become wings and seeds eyes.

This Dragonflies wings are made from Eucalyptus bark.

If you have some clay and a garden you can try this activity, but if you haven’t we have come up with a great alternative using salt dough. Salt dough is simple to make you just mix 2 parts flour with 1 part salt and add water until you get a smooth dough. You don’t have a make very much dough if ingredients are short and we achieved great results with a small ball of dough. We split this in three and made a caterpillar and two ladybirds. We painted them straight away without waiting for the dough to dry and added googly eyes.

We arranged our finished creatures with some flowers and candles to make a table centre piece,

Bug Hunting

By Mel Evans

We absolutely love searching for creepy crawlies at our Forest School sessions. There is nothing like heading off into the woods armed with magnifying glasses, bug pots and spotter sheets. A big adventure in search of mini-beasts never seen before!

Its no surprise that children are enthralled by the creatures we find. Centipedes with too many legs to count capable of eating a whole worm; Wolf Spiders chasing and devouring Wood Lice; Click Beetles jumping 25 times their body length; Singing Crickets and Caterpillars of every colour never fail to delight.

If you have a garden now is a great time to head out and discover who is living there. You don’t need any specialist equipment. A jam jar or old ice cream tub will do. Once you have captured your mini-beast have a really good look before releasing them into the same spot you found them. Buglife have a great online directory to help you identify your finds - www.buglife.org.uk/bugs/bug-directory

No garden? No problem. How about a Mini-Beast Safari INSIDE the house. Why not go and get better acquainted with that Spider that lives down the plug hole? If that idea really doesn’t appeal to you then maybe you could see how many Creepy Crawlies you can find on the bookshelf. Some of our favourite books featuring bugs include Superworm, What the Ladybird Heard, The Snail and the Whale and Spiderella.

How many books can you find featuring bugs?

Who are you sharing your home with? This Emerald Moth lived in our bathroom last Summer.

Once you have identified some creatures inside, outside or in books make a note of what you find or better still send us a picture. Tomorrows’ activity will be all about making bug sculptures of your favourites!

Hapa Zome

By Mel Evans

Hapa Zome has been a popular Spring/Summer Forest School Activity for the last few years. The name translates from Japanese as ‘Leaf Dye’ and is often mistakenly described as a traditional Japanese art. The technique was in fact invented by Australian Fabric Artist India Flint on a trip to Japan.

‘Flint describes her experiments in the book ‘Eco Colour’

To try this at home all you need is a hammer or mallet, a flat surface to bash on, a piece of fabric and some flowers or leaves. Densely woven cotton works best and old muslin squares or bed sheets are ideal. You could even try this out on a white t-shirt.

Flowers or leaves are arranged on one side of the fabric and then the fabric is folded over.

Once the flowers and leaves are in place the bashing can begin.

After everything has been bashed you can open up the fabric and pick off all the squashed flowers and leaves to reveal the colour left behind.

The first leaves of Spring are nice and juicy and give great results as these Sycamore leaves shows.

This corn flower left a vibrant blue impression.

Finished fabric can be turned into flags, bunting and bandannas. We would love to see what you do with yours!

Snail Racing

If you and your family are in need of a laugh right now, snail racing is the activity for you. This is such a fun thing to do as long as you are respectful to the snails and remember to put them back where you found them afterwards. Snails hibernate in Winter so the Spring and Summer is the best time of year for this activity.

You should be able to find some snails around the outside of your house without going very far at all. Try checking around the plant pots in your porch and up the sides of wheelie bins. The underside of external window sills and loose paving slabs might also home a few snails. Maybe there are some in the bottom of that watering can if it has not been used for a while.

Snails can be collected and kept for a short time in a container with some leaves. Make sure they can breath by using some net as a lid.

Once you have collected a few contenders you can set about creating a racetrack. We have found a stripy tea tray is perfect as the stripes become ‘lanes’. You could mark out lanes on any smooth surface, but don’t feel you have to stop there. How about a finish line, some tiny bunting or a cheering crowd of Lego mini-figures? Snails really like to be wet and love rainy days so a spray bottle of water is helpful to keep the track and the snails damp. You can encourage the snails to head for the finish line with some leaves or pieces of cucumber.

On your marks, get set, go!

You could give the snails names and each family member can choose a snail to cheer on. Why not make it ‘interesting’ by wagering household chores!

Snail Facts

Snails usually stay in their hiding places until dark and then they creep out to eat

Snail slime helps snails glide around

Snails have rough tongue and they rub their tongues over leaves to eat them

Snails feelers are very important. They feel their way around with them, have eyes on the end of them and can even smell with them.

Snails don’t just live in the garden. There are sea snails and pond snails too.

The biggest snail in the word is the African Land Snail and can grown up to 38 cm long.

Snails are very interesting creatures.

Wild Painting

By Mel Evans

We love using paint at our Forest School sessions.  There is nothing nicer than stringing an old towel up in the trees or making a giant canvas by stretching an old bed sheet over a pallet.  We lay out a few paints and invite the children to experiment.  There is no pressure to create anything specific and lots of time and space to enjoy the process.

Sometimes we ‘forget’ to pack the paint brushes and the children forage for their own instead. Natural materials can be attached to sticks with string or elastic bands to make paint brushes. Pegs also make great handles.

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If you have a garden you could forage for your own paint brushes and experiment in the sunshine.  If you don’t have access to a safe space outside how about foraging for things you can make prints with around the house, before laying some paper out on the table? 

Loo roll tubes make a great firework pattern.

Celery slices make beautiful rose prints.

It doesn’t really matter if you do this activity inside or outside as long as you remember that the joy is in the process!

Campfire Pizza

By Mel Evans

Today I have been asked to share one of our absolute favourite campfire recipes, Flat Bread Pizza.  Not only is the process of cooking this pizza lots of fun, but the end product is delicious too.  Best yet the pizza base only requires a few ingredients.  100g of plain flour, 1 teaspoon of oil and a pinch of salt makes enough dough for an individual pizza base.  Just add water by eye until you have a soft dough.  If you add too much water, just add a little more flour until you are happy with the consistency.

We like to allow every child to make their own portion and experience every part of the process.

Once everyone has a portion of dough these can be rolled out with a rolling pin and put into a hot frying pan greased with a little oil.

This recipe works just as well in the kitchen if you can’t get outside.

When one side is browned you turn the base over and add tomato sauce, cheese and pizza toppings.  You then drape a piece of foil over the top of the pizza to create enough heat to melt the cheese.  Once the base has browned on the other side, the pizza should be ready.   If the cheese hasn’t melted enough for your liking you can remove the pizza from the pan, but leave it wrapped in the foil and the residual heat should finish the job.

These pizzas are cooking on a pizza stone on a campfire, but a frying pan will do the job too.

There is nothing better than making pizza with a group of children in the middle of the woods, but this recipe is versatile.  You could cook it on a fire pit in the back garden or inside in your kitchen.  If the tomato sauce isn’t available how about making some Wild Garlic pesto instead?  Maybe you could try a sweet pizza topped with Nutella and marshmallows?

We don’t have any tomato sauce at the moment so we made breakfast pizza with baby chard and fried eggs.

If you decide to try this we would love to see what you make!

Wild Flower Bingo! (March)

By Mel Evans

How about a Mothers Day walk in the sunshine somewhere nice and quiet. Let us know how many of the Wild Flowers on our list you can spot.

“Take only Photos and Leave only Footprints.”

Primroses (Primroses love the rain so they are out in force at the moment)

Dog Violets

Wood Anemones

Celendines

Red Dead Nettles

Purple Orchids (It might be too early for these, but see if you can spot the foliage. The long glossy leaves have purple spots)

Cuckoo Flower (also known as Ladies Smock)

Egg Blowing and Wild Omelettes

By Mel Evans

Although we are still three weeks away from Easter, with eggs a little harder to come by at the moment, it might be prudent to start saving their shells for Easter crafting right now.  What we absolutely love about this activity is that it uses part of the egg that would usually be composted and doesn’t call for plastic or polystyrene eggs.

Chickens make the best pets!

Blowing an egg is super easy.  You just make a hole either end with a sharp pin.  One of the holes needs to be slightly bigger so you need to chip away at it with the pin.  I will be sharing ways to use your blown eggs, but if you intend to hang them make sure the bigger hole is at the top of the egg (although which is the top and which is the bottom of an egg is a subject open to debate!)

Once the holes are made you can blow the egg out of its shell.  Blow through the small hole and the egg will start to drip out of the bottom.  It would also be sensible if family members stuck to blowing their own eggs and once the removed egg is cooked any germs will be destroyed. 

The egg shells can then be washed out, dried and stored ready for decorating.   

This is a very satisfying process and lots of fun, although it does take a lot of puff!

The removed egg can be cooked however you like, but one of our favourite recipes to accompany this activity is the Stinging Nettle omelette. 

The expression ‘to grasp the nettle’ comes from nettle harvesting If you pick nettles firmly they will not sting you. If in doubt, wear gloves!

Nettles are a great thing to forage in the Spring with children as they are so distinctive and recognisable, as well as rich in iron and vitamin K.  Once blanched for a couple of minutes in boiling water their sting is removed and they can be added to an omelette.  We often find the most veggie shy children will willingly try a cooked nettle.  It’s a mystery why that is.  Maybe it’s the magic of cooking on an open fire, maybe its because we involve them in the entire process of sourcing and cooking their food or maybe its just plain curiosity!

Spring Tonic with Cleavers

By Mel Evans.

One of our favourite Forest School activities to welcome the Spring is to make a ‘Spring Tonic’ from Cleavers.  This herb is abundant right now and very recognisable.  You might know it by the name of Goose Grass, Sticky Weed or even Sticky Willy.  Whatever you like to call it, its easy to find and hard to mistake. 

The plant should be used before the hard round seeds appear and is perfect at this time of year.

If you take your family on a stroll around the garden, up a quiet lane or into the woods you are bound to find some.  This can be gathered and taken home to make a refreshing cold drink.

Before we talk about the Spring Tonic itself I need to share with you some advice about gathering your Cleavers.  You see this activity, and all our favourite Forest School activities, is all about the process.  You could choose to pick some Cleavers, put them in a basket and carry them home and that would be fine.  Better though if you have a game of trying to stick pieces to each others clothes.  The person with the least Sticky Weed on them at the end of the walk wins!  If that doesn’t appeal how about making everyone a Cleaver crown? 

We made this beauty this morning using Cleavers from the hedgerow outside our cottage and decorated it with Dead Nettles and Narcissus.

Hopefully by the time you get inside you should have had some fresh air, some exercise and some laughs and you can get to work on your ‘Spring Tonic.’

All you have to do is put the Cleavers in a jug of cold water and mash them up with a wooden spoon, pestle, potato masher or whatever you can find in your kitchen.  Once the water has turned a delightful green colour the Cleavers can be strained out and its ready to drink.  If you don’t have a sieve to hand you can make one using a bundle of Cleavers.

In the woods the children might make their own ‘pounder’, by sawing a fresh log and removing the bark with a knife.

The finished ‘Spring Tonic’ has been used historical to improve the immune system after a long Winter.   It does this by helping the body remove toxins and improving lymphatic flow.  Sounds like just the tonic at the moment!

Coming Soon! Daily Nature Activities for Families

We are working really hard to put together some of our favorite nature activities. We will aim to keep these simple using basic resources you might already have at home and things that can be gathered on a walk.