To celebrate Christmas, there are some fun and creative activities you can do within a Forest School environment.
A lit candle at Christmas time represents the Star of Bethlehem and how the star guided the three kings to baby Jesus.
In this Forest School activity, the children will learn about the representation of the candle and the story behind Christmas. This will develop their fine motor skills as they will be tying knots and sticking leaves together. It will also develop their navigation and exploration skills to find the perfect natural materials for this activity and this will support their literacy, mathematics and imaginative skills.
What do you need?
- String
- Scissors
- 1 bendy stick
- 1 straight stick
- PVA / strong glue / wet mud
- 1 brown leaf
- 1 yellow leaf
- Red / green ribbon (optional)
What do you need to do?
- To begin, you will need to find a bendy stick that can be made into a circle. Hazel is the best time to use this. To spot a hazel tree, you need to look out for key components such as the stick being flexible / bendy, it is smooth and will tend to have green leaves on it. They are super strong and very hard to break.
- Once you have found this, you will need to mould it into a circle, using the string to tie together at the top, making sure you have enough string to create a loop at the top so you can hang this in the tree or at home. To make it even more festive, you can use the red / green ribbon to make a bow.
- Once you have created and secured the circle, you will need to find your straight stick. This should go in the middle of your circle creation. Tie this onto the bottom of your circle.
- Next you will need to locate your leaves – 1 brown and 1 yellow, the brown leaf should be bigger than the yellow leaf. Once you have found the perfect ones, use the glue (or wet mud) to stick them together. Using the glue (or wet mud) again, stick the leaves onto the straight stick.
- Finally, hang up your candle to show off!
