Our Week in the Forest...
This week in the forest we have seen the children who have started with us throughout September really come out of their shells. Confidence has grown and the children are playing more freely and with less adult support.
We have had a very busy kitchen as always with many cooking together. Watching the collaboration and cooperation has been wonderful. One of our children recently had a birthday in the forest and the children got together to make special birthday cakes. They took turns to add ingredients and mix everything up with spoons. The children then all pretended to taste each cake and had a mini picnic of their own! As well as cakes, we have also been baking apple pies. On one of our adventures, the children came across an apple tree and decided to collect them to bring back to camp. On their return, the children decided they wanted to cut the apples using the spades. With support from the practitioners, the children cut up their apples into small pieces to bake into a pie!
The children’s creativity has also been seen through the beautiful dream catchers and conker necklaces we have been making. Each activity was initiated through a small adventure where the children gathered a variety of natural resources. The children then returned and would be able to either play with their collections or turn them into beautiful objects and art work. When working on the dream catchers, the children were provided with card with double sided sticky tape attached to it, and then were challenged to decorate their piece of card. It was interesting to see the individual choices being made, some children choosing a particular colour, others focusing on a variety of textures and then some just wanting to completely cover their card. As each child finished their dream catcher we attached them, using string, to the trees and had a forest art exhibition. When making the conker necklaces, there was some fantastic fine motor skills being displayed when the children were threading each piece onto their strings. The children then wore their necklaces with pride for the remainder of the day.
The imaginative play has had a recurring theme of tigers and monsters this week. This has been extended through their many requests of red, blue, black and white tiger and monster face paintings. The children have been playing together, hiding, chasing and roaring through the forest as they take it in turns to play a variety of roles. Their collaborative play and ideas have been fascinating to watch and join in with, however the practitioners tend to be the main targets for chasing, so we’ve had to be quick on our feet!
It has been another exciting week full of activities and new friendships being made. We look forward to the seasonal changes ahead as our forest classroom evolves and provides new experiences and opportunities for us!
Have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Barnes