Our Week in the Forest...
This week in the forest the children have really enjoyed the return of spring and the wealth of new opportunities that it has brought to the forest and meadows.
The children have found many different minibeasts as cow parsley, nettles and other new habitats have sprung up all over the place. They have used identification charts, magnifying glasses, microscopes and their forest 'know how' to search out and find all sorts of wonderful creatures. They have found and closely studied ladybirds, butterflies, caterpillars, moths, spiders, earwigs, slugs, snails, worms, beetles and grass hoppers! We talked about the different habitats with the children and the different environments that each creature likes and dislikes. They have then taken this information and shared it in creative ways with their friends. One child said, “slugs like the rain because they have baths all the time!”.
The wildlife on the common is really starting to blossom with a wonderful range of birds flocking to the trees and shrubs to find a good place to nest. The children have noticed this and have been trying to spot different colours on the birds. The children decided to make bird houses, so with the help of some educators, they set about making awesome platforms for the birds to sit on and make their nests. They weaved string in and out of sticks to build a raft like structure that was flat.
We talked with the children about what birds like to eat as they wanted to take the bird project further. We set about making our very own bird feeders using special bird feed, pine cones, sticks and string. The children loved this messy activity and they are really looking forward to hanging them up close to the centre so that we can watch the birds feeding from our window!
This week has also seen an explosion of number fun in the forest. The children have been inspired by the recent abundance of spring flowers that are shooting up all over the meadow. As they wandered through the long grass they have been super keen to try and find as many dandelions as possible. “A dande – lion hunt”, they all screamed and set off. Some children were content counting the flowers and reporting back to their friends or educators how many they had found. Others started to compare, to see how many they had found compared to their friends. Some even decided to compare how many flowers were open with how many were closed and then worked out the total!
We hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Barnes