Kings Castle Lodge

The long dry summer continues but brings plenty of learning opportunities for us when out and about. Dry sticks and fur cones for nature building and great discussions over cracks in the ground, the river is as ever, very inviting for tiny toes to paddle in during these hot days and our veggie garden has soaked up the sun and delivered a wonderful harvest.
Back at the lodge yoga has been relaxing and building continues to be a favourite.

We are having a wonderful summer with lots of sunny dry days to get out and about and explore our environment.

We love August as it is perfect timing for harvesting our summer vegetables and collecting blackberries on the reserve. We had a huge collection this year so plenty to eat and then we could make blackberry juice, blackberries paint and blackberry playdough !

We have also enjoyed getting out on walks , spending time down by the river and making our own rivers in the sand and we even squeezed in a trip to the outdoor cinema which is held at tuckton tea gardens.

We have lots of fun at the Lodge too with our art, cooking, messy play and construction and have created some masterpieces this week!

We have been keeping cool this week with more water play , ice play and smoothie making. We have also spent time out of the sun doing some very creative building with our construction blocks.

The outdoor learning children celebrated Wimbledon by watching some tennis and eating strawberries and cream and some even had the opportunity to have a go themselves ! Thank-you to Southbourne tennis club for looking after us so well.

Going out in the heat wave last week was very limited but we made the best of it with water play and ice play galore but this week we have been able to get out and about in the cooler sun and have really made the most of it with sports, walks, and sandcastles !

Lots of fun had indoors and out this week with water play being a favourite. Our runner beans have grown really tall and we were able to pick some strawberries too.
A little walk turned into a BMX skills showcase when we were lucky to come across a practice session in full swing and the children also enjoyed making cards for Father’s Day this week.

It has been a mixed week weather wise this week with glorious sunshine and heavy rain, but for us that means we get to do all our favourite things like a walk to tuckton tea gardens but the best being puddle splashing ! The variable weather is also a treat for our lovely environment, with flowers flourishing all around us, we have had some beautiful walks.
We had a real treat this week too when Truffle and George the alpacas came to visit us ! The children got to learn about alpacas , feed them stroke them and even give the a little cuddle!

This week we have been creative by making crowns and creating a dinosaur playdough universe, we have enjoyed the outdoors in the sun and splashed in the puddles from the rain. And we even had the opportunity to listen to the birds sing a chorus to us on one of our walks.

It has been hot hot hot at the Lodge this week so we have been finding ways of keeping cool whilst still having lots of fun.
Earlier walks , swings in the shade of the trees and lots of water play.

Our vegetable garden is doing very well , the children helped to tidy everything up and get all the weeds out so our vegetables can grow strong and tasty.

And we were lucky enough to find a stag beetle, the children enjoyed seeing this amazing insect up close.

It has been an exciting week at the Lodge.

The outdoor learners were busy this week as our vegetable garden was ready to deliver us some delicious goods which we had at snack time and we learnt a lot about bees for National Bee day.
To help the bees make their honey we planted some flowers for them to collect some pollen. We created Bee hotels so the bees can rest when they get tired during their long trips to and from their hive and we even made our own bees to take home too !
We also had time this week to make our very own nature crowns !

Elsewhere at the lodge there has been lots of play dough fun , and time spent in the garden as well as lots of helping to prepare our snacks and picnics out in the sun.

It’s looking like a sunny weekend , we hope you have some of your own adventures too!

More adventures for the children of the Lodge this week. Being outside is our favourite place to be and this time of year offers us lots of opportunities to take our learning outdoors.

Our extended outdoor learning sessions offer that little bit extra for the older children at the Lodge, run by experienced and qualified Forest school leaders these sessions are more structured with a higher staff to child ratio and allow the children time and opportunity to embrace their environment and explore freely whilst learning new skills and evaluating their own risks.

Everyday is a day to get outside at the Lodge with regular walks in the local nature reserve and surrounding areas, a door to the garden which is always open to allow free flow play and a thriving vegetable patch to take care of.

This week our outdoor learners enjoyed a beautiful picnic by the river and back at the lodge lots of fun was had in the garden with water and sand play.