With autumn truly upon us, thoughts this week were of hibernation – the big sleep!
The children talked about what it means to hibernate, five animals that hibernate and how they prepare for hibernation. Reception already knew a lot about hibernating animals as it forms part of their class topic this term. They were keen to share their knowledge around the fire circle.
All the children were asked to find something on the woodland floor that reminded them of an animal that hibernates in the UK. They then took it in turns to say what they had found, which animal it reminded them of and why. The children have great imaginations and often saw things that others didn’t, and were also able to describe them beautifully. The soft, grey inside of a sweet chestnut casing reminded one child of a dormouse curled up sleeping. A pinecone put another in mind of a spikey backed hedgehog.
Nursery and Kindy found a huge pile of cut grass and leaves which would have been perfect for a hedgehog to hibernate in, but the children decided they weren’t sleepy and that they should have a hedgehog party in the pile instead! Everyone went home with bits of nature in their hair and hoods that day!
The children in KS1 were keen to discuss the different ways animals prepare to hibernate and there’s certainly lots of planning involved. One of the things animals need to do is to slow everything down, so they don’t use up too much energy. The children were encouraged to run around, increasing their heart rates and then asked if they thought they could sleep. Of course not, they were all giddy and out of breath from running around! Then the group were asked to lie down and look up into the branches and leaves, focusing on simply breathing in and out. It was very relaxing and peaceful and the children recalled a sense of calm and ability to sleep… until the snoring started!
In the second Forest School lesson of the week for our Reception class, they listened to a wonderful story called ‘Don’t Hog the Hedge!’. Hattie the hedgehog prepared well for her big sleep, but found that others hadn’t made the necessary preparations.
Of course, with all the rain and resulting puddles, the children (and Mrs Wilson) had to have a good old session of splashing in the puddles. It would have been rude not to!
