Wildhearts Forest School

HAVE AN AMAZING SUMMER GUYS!!

We are kicking off the holidays on Monday with a huge teddy bears picnic. Bring along your favorite teddy for fun in the woods, we'll be making banana and honey sandwiches, foraging for berries and making dens. Of course, there'll also be our usual environmental crafts, wildlife spotting, tree climbing and more!
No need to book. £1 per child, as always.
Please note that we are in our final days of our Crowdfunding campaign. There will be donation pots scattered around, if you would like to support the build of our Eco Garden Room, enabling us to deliver even more low cost activities, Forest School sessions, school visits and workshops.

Hi folks, well that’s a wrap for this academic year! Have a wonderful summer, and we’ll see you again in September.

Over the holidays, we have the following sessions:

Grow, cook and play family sessions, 11-2, Mondays 31/7, 7/8, 14/8 and 21/8 £1 entry, or free if registered through the HAF programme

Holiday Special Survival Skill Days, 9.30-1.30, Thursday 3/8 Robin Hood Hideout
Thursday 10/8 Minecraft Survival
£25 per child, 8 years and older

Rainbow Stripes Toddler music and dance, 1.30-2.15, £1 per child
Friday 11/8 and 18/8

Babs, Jo, Adele and Kirsty x

Summer Survival Camp — Urban Bushcraft — Nottingham Outdoor Bushcraft Activities and Learning At Summer Survival Camp, we believe that the great outdoors is the best playground for kids to explore, learn, and have fun. Our dedicated team is committed to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for every child, creating a relaxed and friendly atmosphere where they can grow, play and thrive.

In keeping with Bulwell Art Week. the Wildhearts got all creative and made stuff. Big thanks to Jane from the Toy Library who came to show us how to make very strong string from brambles.. We also did some hapa zome printing, which is a Japanese technique of bashing flowers and leaves onto fabric.
There was also some sampling of BFG's produce including strawberries, raspberries, red and black currants, red gooseberries,, rhubarb and nasturtium flowers.
Plus the usual tree climbing, tug of war, and generally running wild in the woods!

What a busy Wildhearts' session!
We created nature landscapes in trays, and collected lots of big pine cones which we used to create some fantastical creatures. We also hollowed out elder to make blow pipes and beads, and even had time for some den building and tree climbing.
After all of that, we were hungry, so we harvested and sampled strawberries, raspberries and red currants from the garden.
We also said a sad goodbye to Josh and Callum who have been brilliant members of the Wildhearts' gang! We'll miss you both.
Sorry not many photos as I had no official photographer tonight!

More than a little Midsummer Madness at tonight's Wildhearts' session.
I'd like to say it was all about eating strawberries, weaving willow nature crowns and adorning them with flowers, and creating beautiful tree mobiles out of natural materials.
That did happen, but it was mainly about MUD, MUD, glorious MUD! It was like a wet Glastonbury all over again!

Such a lovely relaxed session under the blessed shade of our big trees tonight. Lots of good observational work looking at and identifying minibeasts and wild flowers. We recorded our findings through photos and paintings. Followed by a picnic and a sensory game of Find My Tree. Tristanraine and Tom were tonight's very enthusiastic wildlife photographers.

✨ Wildhearts Got Talent ✨

Last week we decided to showcase our talent by setting up an outdoor stage and letting our little stars shine 💫

We had initially set this up as ”wildhearts band” but in the spirit of forest school and allowing their imaginations to run wild, it quickly turned into a Britains Got Talent spin off.

We had drummers, singers and hilarious comedy acts, one of which featuring the notorious piney and cone-cone 🌲

With 6 “yeses” from our judges, MANY gold buzzers ✅ and a LOT of help from our stage hands… They all made it through to the second round and did a fantastic job pulling it all together.

Well done team ! Looking forward to more Wildheart fun with this bunch later 👋

Hello you lovely lot. Couple of things...

Please make sure the kids have water bottles and sun cream tomorrow

Also (bit of nepotism, but...!) my son Jack has made these T-shirt’s and is giving half the proceeds to the community garden - they are £5 each, and he still has sizes of age 8-14. If anyone’s interested, I can bring them along tomorrow... xx

What a cracking start to the Wildlife Trusts' 30 Days Wild which the Wildhearts will be involved in throughout June.
Some excellent nature detective work. took place We observed some very hungry Mullein Moth caterpillars, watched the new arrivals entering our Air Bee N Bee, smelled the herbs in the Medicinal Garden, and glimpsed a baby great tit hiding in the woods waiting for mum to come back with a snack. Callum was our wildlife photographer, recording our findings (the nature pics are his shots).
There was also a wild music talent show, an epic tug of war, and even some foraging for strawberries and rhubarb.
I salute you, Wildhearts!
For any parents wanting to get involved with 30 Days Wild outside our sessions, you can download a very lovely free pack here wildlifetrusts.org/30DaysWild

Meet Brody... Brody says he can’t light fires... Brody says he’s too scared... err Brody, guess what...??
Incredibly proud of the journey this one has been on at Wildhearts, his confidence, resilience and understanding of our green space has grown beyond measure recently.
Be like Brody... give it a go!!! 😉
To quote Eleanor Roosevelt - “do something that scares you every day”.

Just a few to add from yesterday's forest school session.

Pond dipping seems to be a real hit. We found all sorts of weird and wonderful pondlife and the wildhearts had a fab time!

Well these two were AMAZING last night! Spent the full session absorbed in splitting wood and starting the fire, then went on to take responsibility for the safety of the wildhearts around the fire, when toasting marshmallows. Fantastic example of good communication, resilience and respect for one another. 💚

A slightly muddy start to forest school this evening.

What started out as a worm experiment, quickly turned into a full on mud bath!
Safe to say, the wildhearts had an absolute blast!

A lovely start back after the easter break.

We’ve had a lovely Easter break but we’re missing our Wildhearts 💚

Last term we explored, we climbed, we ate campfire treats, we built dens, mixed potions, made friends and even survived a zombie apocalypse 🧟‍♀️

We’re looking forward to another jam pack term of learning, discovery and good old outdoor FUN

See you next week Wildhearts ! 🌸 🪵 🔥

We all had a fabulous time at forest school this evening.

The wildhearts got creative, cutting up discs from fallen tree branches and decorating them.

A big well done to Oliver, Sebastian and Tom for building our campfire and warming up Rice pudding and fruit.

Lots of team building going on tonight to!

We didn't let the cold and wet dampen our spirits tonight. We got busy to keep warm - dividing and replanting the woodland snowdrops for next year, building a woodland dead hedge, as well as some clay crafts, den building, and finally the digging of some massive holes to Australia. Some great team work and determination on show!

WHEN YOU'RE GETTING EXCITED AT ORDERING A BOOK CALLED "POOS AND CLUES", YOU KNOW IT'S NEARLY TIME FOR FOREST SCHOOL TO START BACK UP!!! 22 FEB FOLKS....!!

We had such a lovely forest school session this evening.

Today was all about helping each other out and making time for yourself.

We practiced our fire lighting skills, jumped in plenty of muddy puddles (sorry mums and dad's) but we had so much fun!

We are nearing the end of our 6 week block and will soon have a few leavers who have been with us since the beginning. So lots of fun is planned for the last few sessions.

We were far to busy having fun to take many photos of this evenings session.

We did however manage to get one for Tom's birthday.

A big change for the forest schoolers this evening, with the dark nights drawing in. But they had a blast as always, we had head torches at the ready for lots of fun and games.

WILDHEARTS is back!! Please remember head torches, layers of clothes as it’s getting colder, and £1 subs. Wahoo!! 🍁🍂🍄🕷🐌🍁🍂🍄🕷🐌🍁🍂

Who knew you could have so much fun with conkers! From jewellery to soap making, and much more besides. The Wildhearts all showed so much creativity on Weds.

Remember guys - CONKERS!!

If you’re out for a walk over the weekend, keep your eyes peeled and collect some for the next session.

🍁 🍂 🍄🍁🍂🍄🍁🍂🍄🍁🍂🍄🍁🍂🍄🍁🍂

We had a fab forest school session this evening.

Learning how to care for each other and about the "Boggarts that live in the woodland.

We made a boggart village of dens, decorating them with dream catches, and even had time for hot chocolate, gingerbread cake and bananas!

Really fun Wildhearts' session tonight! Our nature observation resulted in some fantastic nature inspired art work. We also did some tree identification, bulb planting and worm hunting. And there was still time to make mud pies, climb trees, chill in the hammocks, and help out with the soup. Sorry I didn't get photos of everyone.

We had a fab forest school session this evening.

We picked Apples, raspberries and rhubarb from the garden to make a delicious crumble, a huge thank you to Louie, Fran, Tom and Jack for helping chop and wash up afterwards.

We made bugs using clay along with games and den building.

WILDHEARTS IS BACK!!!! We start back on Wednesday 7 September, and have lots of ideas to explore our woodlands, wildlife and creativity. We're looking forward to seeing you....

And it's a wrap......

Our last forest school session, before we have a break for the holidays and boy we had a blast.

We were extremely sad to say goodbye to 2 of our forest schoolers, who have been with us since the beginning.

It's been such a privilege to watch them grow. Forest school won't quite be the same without them, but we know they will come and visit us!

We hope you all have a fabulous holiday and we will be back in September!

Really enjoyed my guest slot with the Wildhearts tonight. We made magic potions and magic sticks, cooked pancakes over the fire, and even had a go at using some tools to make a mallet. And there was still a bit of time left over for climbing trees, practising cartwheels, and picking posies to take home for mum.

Today we welcomed new member Callum, the wildhearts soon made him feel welcome.

We had a very chilled out session today, finishing off our boats ready for the big boat race. We asked the wildhearts to draw or paint what they saw or heard around the community garden, so lot of creativity and connecting with nature was going on.

Some of the kids wanted to build a tree house, we worked on knot tying and respecting our woodland setting, we made pasta around the campfire and shared story's about our day.

Oh and not forgetting the wildhearts vegetable growing bed, we harvested the last of the potatoes and sown carrots for next time!

Here's a little bit of what the wild hearts got up to yesterday.

We made boats ready for the Bulwell arts festival boat race, looking at the different ways of tying the masts on. We even tested them out on the pond to see if they would float. We also had a go at making mosaics, roasted marshmallows on the fire and had time for a few quick woodland games.

We’ll be exploring the best floating materials and making boats next week at Forest School ready for this brilliant event that kicks off Bulwell Art Festival 2022...

Come and join us on 2nd July 10-4pm . Shout out to the wonderful Artist Heather Morgana Rice for our amazing poster design!

Another fab session this evening.

We made popcorn, tried out the assault course, played games including "Adopt a tree".

We had lots of fun whilst also taking time out to appreciate our surroundings.

Oooooh yoga is back!!!
New time - Mondays 4.10pm. Starting THIS Monday.
If you fancy coming along, please let us know below ⬇️ , so we have an idea of numbers 🙏

We were far to busy having fun to take many photos yesterday.

A huge shout out to Thomas and Aviya for attempting the tree rope climb.

Brooklyn, Edwin and Joshua were in charge of food, Tom, Skyla, Sebastian, Louie and Fran were busy making boats.

We even had time for a game of rounders and the wildhearts favourite hide and seek!

Oooh we’re excited!

What a treat we have .
Join Artist Anna Wheelhouse as she shows you how to make Inner Tube Jewellery. This is a FREE Event and tickets are limited. Grab a ticket while you can. If you do book on and are unable to attend please let us know so we can offer it out to other people . Many thanks and see you there.

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inner-tube-jewellery-workshop-with-anna-wheelhouse-tickets-359722398377

We gave Tom the role of camera man for the talent show. Here's a few clips of what he took.

It was lovely to look back and see him giving a big thumbs up of encouragement to Skyla, we had Edwin telling jokes and Brooklyn and Thomas recreate a star wars scene.

So a big thankyou to Tom for these.