Our Week in the Forest...
This week the children have explored the wonderful world of water! There were also lots of opportunities to adventure into new areas of the forest, experiencing new and exciting flora and fauna as well as finding new natural resources with which to play and get creative!
The week started with some torrential downpours and the children ventured out with hoods up into the wonderful water world! They went down to the river to watch the raindrops make ripples on the surface and found numerous puddles on their walk back to base camp to jump in. It was wonderful to see the confidence and freedom with which the children explored through the heavy downpours!
At base camp the children set about collecting water in various containers. Some tried to collect water straight from the sky but they soon realised that our tarps provided an even better source for collection. Water poured off the edge and into their pots and pans. Once collected, the water was then used for a variety of purposes. Potions were created along with soups and stews and some even used the water to clean off special treasures and models they had found or made earlier!
The children were very excited to go to our new site on Putney Heath. With different species of trees and a pond nearby they went off in search of new experiences. They climbed a fallen oak tree and dug for dinosaur bones in the sandy mud amongst the roots of the fallen oak tree. They commented on the different type of soil and rocks they came across and marvelled at the weight of what they had collected in their treasure bags!
At the pond, the children spotted a large carp splashing about catching flies and they noticed that when the rain drops landed in the pond, they made ripples just like in the river. The difference this time was that bubbles also formed on the surface! This is something we are all keen to investigate further!
We have all recently noticed that our potato plants have been flourishing and have grown very tall. Remembering how to collect the potatoes from last year the children wanted to see if they were ready for harvesting. With Mar, they carefully dug down to the roots and found lots of wonderful fresh potatoes. After comparing the sizes and counting them all, they were finally cooked up and tasted by all! The process of growing, harvesting and eating encouraged those sometimes reluctant to eat to have a go and taste our own produce!
Throughout this week the children have been fascinated with Morwenna's leaf printing activity and everyone wanted to give it a try! They carefully painted leaves and then pressed them onto fabric bags and T-shirts! When they lifted the leaves up the children were amazed by the patterns left behind as the fine details of the leaf veins were imprinted in colour!
Next week we are looking forward to lots of creative fun and going on adventures around new areas of Putney Heath! We will also start to plant out some more exciting vegetables and fruits in our garden and cook over the fire at Rocks Lane!
Little Forest Folk
Barnes