EYFS – Hello Yellow Day!

Today we have enjoyed a slightly different Forest Schools session as it coincided with the school observing World Mental Health Day by enjoying a ‘Hello Yellow!” day. It was lovely to see so many children dressed in bright clothes as we headed out on a bright but chilly morning. The children were very interested in helping with a special mission to make our own natural dye to colour a T-shirt from white to yellow (just in case anyone needed any more yellow clothes). To do this, the children assisted in breaking up a lot of turmeric roots in a big pan before finding some water to add. Everyone watched closely as Mr Verdi got the fire going (it doesn’t matter how long it took him – he got there eventually!) and the children were very helpful in bringing and adding wood to the fire until it was roaring enough to boil up our turmeric dye. With the pan over the fire, children took turns to stir the pot as it all heated up and produced a rich colour in the water. Once it has been cooking for some time, we took the pan from the heat and added a clean white polo-shirt into the dye and left it to soak until home-time.  

Whilst all this was going on we also enjoyed lots of exploring in the garden and playing on the apparatus. Some children took the challenge of finding yellow leaves to create patterns and transient artworks outdoors after we looked together at the work of British artist Anthony Goldsworthy for some inspiration. 

In the afternoon, we spent some time as a class discussion what mental health is and how we can look after our own and that of others. The children had lots of lovely ideas and are able to talk about how they can make themselves feel better if they are sad, anxious or angry. We asked all the children to draw a picture of something that makes them happy for a whole-school display and invited all the children to paint a yellow picture using our own natural dye that we made from the turmeric root in the morning. Lastly, all the children spent time crafting a yellow friendship bracelet to bring home to remind them of how valued they are by each other in Reception class. 

All in all, we had a lovely day with lots of smiles and laughter and some fabulous creations to bring home.