Leaf Families

Our children continue to learn about trees this month. Tree identification can be tricky, so we encourage them to become nature detectives and inspire them by setting activities that create links to their known worlds.

The children were asked to think about their families and what the word family means to them. For their activity they were asked to gather leaves to represent the different members of their family. This task, as with most Forest School activities, is very open to interpretation. It is really just a starting point to give a relatable focus that gets the children to hone in on the variety of leaf shapes and textures. Some children chose all their leaves from the same type of tree, using different sizes to represent different people. Others said that all people are different so chose leaves that they thought were more representative of personalities. Some families included pets, do you need a different types of tree for cats and dogs? Should a gold fish be represented in the same way as your Grandad for instance? All important questions.

It was interesting to see how they added themselves into their family. One reception child, despite being the youngest of 3 in a family of 5 insisted he should be the biggest leaf as he was the most important. The children had access to tree identification sheets so could look up their trees and label their pictures if they wanted, others labelled their family members too. Activities like this get added to the children’s repertoire so they can enjoy them any time and share with others too. Our year 6 Outdoor Workers supported the younger children and enjoyed it so much that they ran a similar activity with their Year 6 friends.

The Community Principle: Forest School uses a range of learner-centred processes to create a community for development and learning.

Article 13: We all have the right to share what we learn, think and feel with others.