Ahoy from the woods! We had a very special visit this week and we couldn’t believe what the guest has left for us in the forest! At the very beginning of our adventure walk, one of the children spotted something laying on the floor. We quickly rushed to find out what it was and discovered that it was a letter left by Pirate Sally Frank whom we knew about from the book we have read earlier this week. She decided to send us a letter and lead us to her hidden treasure. She left us a map where she pointed to all the spots where she hid all the clues and quests that she prepared for us.
Pirate Frank wanted us to become pirates just like her so we had to perform various tasks whilst looking for the treasure. We had to learn how to navigate with a map, roll down the hill and survive the feeling of dizziness like pirates do on the open sea, how to stay fit and agile and how to use spades to dig out the treasure. After all the quests have been completed, we arrived at the very last spot where she left us an X mark on the ground. We dug out the chest with our friends and found out that the treasure was a miniature garden for the fairies! We thought that Pirate Frank is a good person in her heart and wanted to help the little fairies to feel comfortable in the woods.
We were very proud of the children who collaborated so well and used their map-reading skills so confidently. It was lovely to see so many children having a go at all the things that Pirate Frank had for them. We believe they could be real pirates and definitely deserved the treasure hidden in the woods.
Treasure hunting wasn’t the only exciting thing in these last few days. At the beginning of this week a gardener told us that she found a hedgehog that was sleeping in the bushes. Very quietly and gently we approached the little creature and observed how it poked its nose, sniffing us from the distance. It was lovely to be able to see a hedgehog in real life and admire its funny spikes.
We have been very creative this week. Some of our friends have engaged in building little ‘villages’ using natural materials found on the forest floor. There were castles, sheds, spaceships, birdhouses, ice-cream shops and all other sorts of building carefully and patiently created by the children. We had a creative corner where children expressed their artistic side in various ways. We had some mask-making, using leaves as stencils, house designing and building structures using recycled cardboard and tape.
We hope your week has been equally exciting and wish you a sun-filled weekend full of more adventures!
We hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick