Our Week in the Forest...
Kindness towards others has been a talking (and actioning!) point this week, starting with a visit from our forest's resident robin red-breast early in the week. The children gently reminded each other to talk in quiet voices, so as to not scare the robin as he hopped around our base camp. As the week went on, the robin, affectionately named Mr Robin, continued to return to our circle for meal times, perching on a branch of a holly tree nearby. What a Christmas-y sight indeed.The children’s kindness extended out to all creatures great and small - rehoming lost mini beasts, helping peers to navigate climbing a tricky tree, reminding each other how to stay safe in the forest and of course, looking after their teachers!
Our trips to Kew gardens were full of wonder. We learned about bees going into hibernation for Winter, earthworms regenerating and the nocturnal habits of a badger.
The children saw Lucy the lizard in the conservatory, lazing in the middle of the walkway. We spoke about different reptiles and what makes them unique. The children knew some amazing animal facts! The teachers read out the signs for some of the interesting looking plants in the conservatory and we discussed the country where they came from. We even found a plant from Ama’s home – the Canary Islands, and Kellie and Lil’s home – Australia!
The children's physical skills are developing at a rate of knots with their den building reaching impressive new heights, literally, and the children's climbing ability being challenged by rope ‘spider webs’ strung up between trees, obstacle courses, and a new climbing tree. As educators, we support the children with our words, rather than our hands when they are climbing, which helps the children to challenge themselves and learn new skills at their own pace, but knowing they can seek help if needed.
Later in the week, when digging for buried treasure after finding a mysterious ‘X’ marks the spot, we discovered something unusual right under our noses (err, feet!) When we dug below the dark brown forest floor, the earth changed colour to a yellowy/light brown. The children were curious about this, and discussed theories when feeling the texture of both types of earth.‘This one is soft and feels like sand. The other one is lumpy and dirty!’, ‘I wonder if there is sand underground everywhere?’. The curiosity of our children is inspiring, and they are constantly enquiring, discussing, analysing, formulating and creating ideas and opinions about the world around them, which we are certainly lucky to be a part of.
Have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk Chiswick