Muddy Mountains Forest School

🌱🌻Session 9, Term 4 - 17-19/06/26🌱 🌻 

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 spent their session at the Braidburn Valley Park since they have been asking to go there for ages. They had so much playing at the river, building damms and looking for pottery and seaglass. They also managed to make elderflower cordial and bows and arrows.

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 enjoyed their sports day! They had such much fun playing tug of war, hockey races, rolling log race, football, 10 passes game and finally a couple of huge relay races. The children were amazing competing but showing an amazing fair play

- The Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 & the Tree Titans 🌳💪 joined their forces with the idea of doing their sports day but unfortunately due to the heavy rain we decided to postpone it for next week. However, they managed to make their own teams in a fair and level way and also prepared their own items for their teams such as brazalets, head bandanas or armbands. 

🌱🌻Session 6, Term 4 - 27-29/05/26🌱 🌻

We all had such a nice time in the forest enjoying the good weather, discovering lots of chicks in their nests and finding amazing animals like newts!

This is what the groups have been up to:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 continued working on tool, this time using different kinds of woods and other items like elastic bands, nuts, string, pipe cleaners and rubber amongst others to create their own people and animals. It was so nice to see their incredible imagination at creating their models.

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 had such an amazing day doing their first gorge walking! The whole group was in the water going from the middle of the Hermitage of Braid until the bridge that is after the Scout bridge. Although the water wasn't very warm, after being inside for a wee while, our legs and feet got used to it!

- The Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 dedicated the session to one of our favourite trees: elder. We collected some elderflower heads (they just opened) to make our own elderflower cordial. Each child took some home to taste it with some fizzy water or just water. Also, we used some elder branches to make some very cool elder spud shooters!

- The Tree Titans 🌳💪 used all the now dried plants and leaves that they collected a couple of weeks ago, to make their own tea bags. The process was simple but very entertaining, crushing all the leaves using the pestle & mortar and introducing them into the wee bags.

🌱🌻Session 5, Term 4 - 20-22/05/26🌱🌻

In this first week of sunny and warm weather (next week looks even better), all our groups enjoyed being outdoors and using the elements to play, learn and have so much fun!

This is what the groups have been up to:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 had a very musical session creating their own instruments. They used their amazing tool skills making elder whistles, rattles using Y-shape sticks and some metallic items like bottle caps,nuts and washers and finally some hazel-grass whistles. At the end of the session, each child had at least one instrument and we all played in the "Muddy Mountain's band".

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 brought their personal rocks/minerals/fossils collections from home to share with the group. Then we went to the river to look for some different precious stones and we finished the day at the Agassiz rock where some children were challenged to create the highest Cairns whilst others were showing their amazing climbing skills at the boulders.

- The Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 finally did what they have been asking during the whole year: they went gorge walking! This time they were so brave going through the tunnels using their torches and discovering secret paths. After this tiring activity, they had a more relaxing afternoon playing with ropes making their own swings and continued making the giant pestle & mortar that they started a few weeks ago.

- The Tree Titans 🌳💪 also had a session that they were asking for ages: they made their own weapons/guns. One of them was a peg gun using clothes pegs, an elastic band and a piece of wood and the other one was an elder spud shooter that required a small branch of elder and pieces of potatoes. They really enjoyed shooting at the pots and pans which were in the shooting area.

🌱🌻Session 4, Term 4 - 13-15/05/26🌱 🌻 

We continued using different natural resources from the woods to make/create very useful items. Also, we kept learning about foraging and their wide variety of uses.

This is what the groups have been doing:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 have been asking for ages to make weapons so in this session we showed them how to make 2 different kinds of friendly guns: the elder spud gun which required some tools skills to make it and the peg gun, very easy to make and very fun to play with. The whole group really enjoyed shooting them at the target and getting lots of points.

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 collected some resin from a few pine trees to make their own pine pitch glue. They melted in the fire and mixed with some charcoal powder and beeswax. Once the mixture was ready, they used the candy floss technique to add it to some sticks to use it in the future. They also used some dried nettles to make their own tea bags!

- The Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 showed once again how incredible their whittling skills are by creating different animals creatures, some spares and swords using hazel wood. They also had so much fun climbing bus boulders and playing at the river.

-  The Tree Titans 🌳💪 went for a long walk along the Hermitage with the intention of foraging different plants to make their own teas. They made some bundles with the ones that they collected to take home and let them dry for the following sessions and put them in tea bags. And also, they managed to make tea using nettles, lemon balm, minta and fennel!

🌱🌻Session 3, Term 4 - 06-08/05/26🌱 🌻 

We had another lovely week where we continued noticing how every week our forests are more and more green as most of the leaves are already fully grown.

This is what the groups have been doing:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 after spending a few weeks creating and playing their own 'Royal buffet' using different kinds of leaves and flowers, this time we went foraging collecting lots of different leaves/flowers and plants to make our own sushi and cleavers juice. It was a very good opportunity to learn about different ways to recognise and identify types of plants in the woods.

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 spent the whole session pretended to be cave people divided in two tribes: 'the northern fire' and 'saber tooth tigers'. We talked about how people used to live in that age and some of the most important events that changed their way of living. Then one group chose a point to hide around Blackford Hill leaving in their way some tracks (not very obvious) for the other group which needed to find them following these trails. Later on, the groups swapped roles. It was so much fun!

- The Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 the session was all about ropes and knots as this group has been showing a huge interest on this for the last months. We spent the morning climbing our favourite place, muddy mountains, letting the old children lead it and tying the ropes at the top of the hill. In the afternoon, we learnt and practiced some important knots like the one used to make a rope bridge and the one that some parents will be very grateful for: the shoe laces knot! We also had very fun with the zip line and the slack line.

-  The Tree Titans 🌳💪 dedicated the session to geology learning about rocks, stones and gems. Some children brought their precious collections from home to show the group. They were so beautiful! Then each child chose one of them and next week will bring some information about it to share with the rest. They also enjoyed learning and building cairns and breaking rocks with chisels and hammers looking for smaller gems.

&knots

🌱🌻Session 2, Term 4 - 29-30/04/26 & 01/05/26 🌻🌱 

In this lovely and sunny week, all our groups became master chefs making different foods. The forests are now full of edible plants, leaves and flowers to forage which give us lots of opportunities to eat and drink delicious bites and sips.

This is what the groups have been doing:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 learnt how to make a delicious vegan honey out of dandelions. Since it was very sunny, the meadows was covered in them so we collected lots of them (around 20 each, we made sure we left plenty for the pollinators). We removed the petals from the heads and added them to a pot with lemon slices and hot water. After a while, we added just the liquid to another pot which was taken to the boil and added sugar leaving simmering for an hour. The honey was ready and each child took some home to taste it with their breakfast!

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝, Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 & Tree Titans 🌳💪 spent their morning foraging different edible plants, leaves and flowers to make their own sushi. We used beech and lime leaves as the Nori, then we filled them with some sushi rice and each child added whatever they wanted: advocato, cucumber, wild garlic, garlic mustard, sorrel, mint, lemon balm, elm seeds, ground ivy, stitchwort, red campion, cuckooflowers and dandelions were some of the ones we found and finally added some soy sauce, wasabi or rice vinegar. They were delicious!!
We also managed to collect lots of clovers (sticky willow) to make our own juice to drink together with the sushi. We had such a feast!!

🌱🌻Session 1, Term 4 - 22-24/04/26🌻🌱

In this glorious first week back after the Easter break, we had such nice weather with plenty of sunshine and lovely temperatures. We were amazed to see all the changes in the forest, all covered in colours with flowers and leaves everywhere, so pretty!

This is what our groups have been up to:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 celebrated the Earth Day doing an artistic session making lots of different pictures using the elements. We made some beautiful designs using cyanotypes with the sun, learnt about the technique Hapa Zome hammering the leaves and flowers chlorophyll into pieces of calico and making some paint with clay and mud. So much art!!

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 dedicated the session to the animals. We played a few games about them including the famous 'Who am I?'. Each child guest one animal which later they made a figure of, using different resources like clay, leaves, and wood. The results were amazing, lots of creativity and imagination!

- The Red Eyed Crickets 🔴👁️🦗 spent the day leaning about geology. Some children brought their rocks/stones/minerals/fossils collections from home to share with the group. They used chisels, hammers, pickaxes and safety glasses looking for different precious stones. Then we went to the river looking for different kinds of rocks which we identified and learnt some facts about them using an App in our phones. Finally we learnt about 'Cairns', their history, meaning and uses before we made our own ones together with other impressive models. It was so fun to take photos of them playing with the perspective!

- The Tree Titans 🌳💪 made their own boats using some natural resources like long dry grass, willow and string. They put lots of effort on them adding details like sails and even keels! The best part of the day was going to the river to test them and enjoy the sun!

🌱🌻Session 12, Term 3 - 01-02/04/26 🌻🌱 

We had the last sessions of the term before the Easter break. We can't believe that we are about to start the last term of the year, time really flies!

As expected, both groups had their sessions with Easter as the main theme:

- The Woodland Explorers 🌳🔎🍄 had a very challenging day in which they needed to look after their egg during the whole session. We did some challenges during the day like go for a long walk with their egg in their hands, build a nest to keep it safe from some predators and even do the egg drop challenge! At the end of the day just one egg survived but since all the children really looked after their tiny egg-friends, they all got a chocolate egg as a reward.

- The Tree Crafty Elves 🌳✏️🧝 became MasterChefs for the day to make their own pesto pasta from scratch! They all collected some wild garlic leaves which together with other ingredients made a yummy pesto. At the same time, some children worked on the pasta dough, flattened it using firstly a roller pin and then a very cool pasta machine which later  made tagliatelle. Once it was ready, we boiled it and then mixed it with the pesto. The lunch was sorted for everyone!!
They also took part in the 'look after the egg challenge ' and sadly put the tree house down. They have been working and putting lots of effort on it for the last few weeks but it was time to say goodbye to it. We will make something else very soon!

The Muddy Mountains team wishes you all a lovely Easter break! 🐰🐣🥚