Hazelwood Forest School

🌿 That’s another week done at Hazelwood! 🌿

We’ve had a really lovely week, with lots of time spent outside playing, exploring and getting stuck into whatever the children fancied doing.

The river has definitely been a favourite, with plenty of splashing about, sitting in the waterfalls, digging, making boats and cooling off.

We’ve also been picking blackberries 🍇, building, crafting, cooking campfire crumble, making music 🎸, playing group games and putting on plenty of shows.

We even had two very grumpy grannies around camp on Monday! 😂

There’s been lots of imagination, creativity and completely child-led play throughout the week, with the children making their own games, coming up with ideas together and disappearing off to explore 🌳

A lovely week of sunshine, muddy hands, wet feet, blackberries and lots of fun. ❤️🌞

👣 well we have that covered 🙌🏼

🐞🪲🪱🌼🌸🐁🍀 🔎

🌿 A little Hazelwood catch up! 🌿

We’ve had another really lovely week in the woods. The children have been busy doing what they do best — making their own fun, getting stuck into projects and coming up with ideas we probably wouldn’t have thought of ourselves!

We had lots of creativity this week, including some lovely sunflower printing. The children used the actual sunflower heads to paint with which made some brilliant prints 🌻

Monday started with a bit of a surprise when we had two very grumpy grannies around camp! The children had a great time dressing up, getting into character and putting on their own little shows. 😂

There’s been lots of experimenting and problem solving. The frozen animal rescue was a big hit! The children tried different ways to free the animals from the ice and discovered that the sparkly salt water worked particularly well. 🧊

We also had a lovely visit from Clare (from Lancashire's eyfs and childcare support team) and the children were so excited to show her around the camp and tell her all about their favourite places and things to do here. It was lovely seeing how proud they were of their little corner of the woods. ❤️

We’ve all been out blackberry foraging now the berries are starting to ripen, picking the ones we could find and enjoying a good explore along the way. 🫐

As always, there has been plenty of den building, exploring, whittling, swinging, crafting, games, running around and just generally enjoying being outside together.

It’s been another busy one, but lots of lovely moments and lots of happy, muddy children! 🌳💚

Hazel and Laura x

Wow… it's been a busy few weeks here at Hazelwood! 🌿

We thought it was about time we stopped for a moment and shared a little catch-up with you all ❤️

The summer holidays are in full swing and we have all been extremely busy...

Over the last couple of weeks we've seen so much imaginative, child-led play. Our stage has been in constant use, leading to puppet making, puppet shows, painting castles, masks and crowns, and some wonderfully creative storytelling. It's been lovely watching the children's ideas develop and grow from one week to the next.

The mud kitchen has, as always, been a favourite, with plenty of mud, shaving foam, chalk, herbs, flowers, and imaginative café creations (and lots of laughter along the way! 😆).

We've also enjoyed clay pottery, crafting, cardboard creations, painting, whittling, needle felting, hammering, digging for treasures and then carefully cleaning off exciting finds from the woodland floor 🏺

Our fire-lighting skills continue to improve, with the children becoming more confident and working brilliantly as a team. One of our highlights was harvesting our home-grown potatoes, washing and preparing them together before cooking them over the fire and then adding some fresh chives 😋

We've also made the most of our beautiful woodland surroundings with regular trips down to the river. Whether it's paddling, exploring, searching for wildlife or simply enjoying the peaceful surroundings, these moments are always a firm favourite. And, every now and then, we've treated ourselves to a little trip to the tuck shop for a well-earned ice cream or ice lolly—always a big hit after a hot and busy day of adventures! 🍦

There have been plenty of adventures too! Treasure hunts, dens hidden in the bushes, group games, wizards and kings, rugby, climbing, bug hunting, digging, swinging and even an unexpected car wash one lunchtime! 😂

One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how naturally the children settle into their own play. Within minutes of arriving they're completely immersed in their own worlds—creating games, solving problems, negotiating with friends and using their imaginations in ways that simply couldn't be planned by adults. It's such a lovely reminder of why we believe so strongly in child-led learning.

Thank you, as always, for following our adventures and supporting Hazelwood. We hope you're all having a wonderful summer, and we can't wait to see what the rest of the holidays have in store! 💚🌿

A slow pace, Unstructured time and Child-led play ❤️☺️

For anyone interested in a good podcast here is the link:

Podcast Home | Join the Movement - Embrace Outdoors — 1000 Hours Outside https://share.google/lzpY7pNZvErLTZ4cJ

Hello everyone! We’ve had a fabulous Friday in the woods today. 🌿☀️

We started the day with our opening circle, chatting through our group boundaries and what was on offer before everyone enthusiastically headed off to play.

As you’ll see from the photos, the paint was a huge hit! 😆 There was lots of colour mixing, experimenting with different textures and plenty of paint ending up on hands and arms...

Half the group headed off on a treasure hunt, searching for hidden coins and gold bottle tops before carefully washing and admiring their discoveries.

The climbing bush was another favourite today, with children climbing, chatting and creating their own little spaces amongst the branches. Group games included dog training and something called zombie caterpillars (which explains the green paint! 😂).

Some of the children enjoyed making bows and arrows, while others practised their woodworking skills with hammers and nails.

We also had planting, butterfly feeders, painting butterflies and bug hunting available today... but there were no takers! 😅 That's one of the things I love about child-led play – sometimes the activities you think will be popular are completely ignored, while something unexpected captures everyone's imagination instead.

We did, however, make a bee drinking station for camp to help our busy pollinators during the hot weather. 🐝💛

Have a lovely weekend everyone! 😊

This snack was a big hit yesterday 🍓 lots of funny faces made and many of the children came back for seconds 😋

I would love some ideas, what are your child's favourite go to snacks?