Finding a place for a fire

Today it was too wet to fire up the Kelly Kettle so we thought about where a good place for having a fire would be in the school grounds. Mrs Miller agreed that we could have a corner of the front playground. The playground group are focussing on the back playground so we can go ahead with our plans.

What kind of fire area should we have? What materials do we need? Do we need help to make it?

Do we need some more materials to build shelter aroung the fire pit? Pallettes? Fencing stabs? Could we reuse Christmas trees in the structure?

What have we got? What do we need?

This week we made some lists of equipment we have for outdoor learning. We split up into two groups and made lists of what we could find and some suggestions for what we might need. We also asked Mr Scott to bring one of the big guide tents to our space so that we would remember it (there are two tents but they are quite big so one in our space is enough).

We definitely need more Paracord - our rope is great but heavy and difficult to work with.
We could make up our own fire making kits if we get some tins and some fire steels and metal colanders.

It would be good to have a special place to use the Kelly Kettle and practice bushcraft in the front playground.

We wondered about having an 'Open Tent Day' when the weather gets better. We could put the tent up in the front playground in the  morning and invite every class could be to visit the tent through the day.

Some of the things we would like to have are wheeled carts to carry our equipment up to Muddisdale and across to the Peedie Sea.

Next week we will use the Kelly Kettle and think about the best place for doing that in the school grounds.

Muddisdale

Today the Mission Explore Group went to Muddisdale to have a think about activities all classesd at Glaitness could do there. Three of us had never been there before. 

There has been a lot of rain recently and some of the path is washed away. It has been eroded  by all the rain water draining off Wideford Hill. The ditch was very full of muddy, fast running water.

We had a good look in some of the areas off the path too to think of things we could do in different places.

It was a long walk for some of us. 

We worked out it was about 1.5 miles all the way round and to and from school.

Its important to always have wellies for our trips. 

It makes puddles fun rather than something we have to avoid.

Back at school we just had enough time to write some of our ideas down. They will be laminated and put on the activity tree for everyone to browse and think about.

The ideas for activities at the Peedie Sea are blue and the ideas for activities at Muddisdale are green.

Here is our list. If you think you can add more please write them in the comments below. 

bird watching

tree identification

den building

path repair

stick shelter making

stick sculptures

measuring

hide and seek

stick arrow trails 

minibeast hunt

leaf matching

picnic

hot chocolate and kelly kettle

dough twists

exercise circuits

treasure hunt - aniumal cards

troll hunt

guided talks

tenting

insect traps

photography

drawing and painting

bridge building

racing model boats/ rafts

relaxation/meditation

Pick Up Three Pieces

storytelling