Our outdoor classroom this week was certainly very busy. The rainy days seem to be over and we are now fully enjoying this splendid sunshine. Our base camp is so wonderfully shaded by a thick canopy of trees that the strong, midday sun never gets us. Instead, we are able to enjoy a lovely breeze and some shade amongst the thick forest.
The hot weather did not stop us from exploring the gardens. Following the path covered by shade of the trees we set off to find a tiger that according to the children, lives in the depths of the garden. We crept and tip toed as to not wake the beast and discovered some bat houses along the way. Walking silently in the forest gave us an opportunity to listen and notice many different plants and birds around us. We stumbled upon a stag beetle and sat in silence watching it slowly move on the log. We were not so lucky in finding a tiger, as he probably sniffed us from the distance and hid, but we’ve found his den and imagined how lovely it must be for a tiger to take his afternoon nap in his shaded lair.
This week we have been busy being creative. Our red camp has been occupied with fixing and improving the rocket we’ve been using to fly to the moon. Some of our friends have been fixing it, whilst others painted it to disguise it in the forest. It looked rather amazing and very soon we launched it to the moon again where we found friendly aliens and dinosaurs.
Our friends in the green camp decided that it was too much of a good weather and built an ice cream stand for everyone to come and buy some cold, refreshing ice-cream. There was a sense of teamwork, participation and collaboration. We are very proud of how the ice-cream shop had turned out and are ready to share the lovely, cold treats we have for our friends.
Even with a hot weather we continued to play running games, climbed logs and trees we found on our adventure walks and enjoyed the swings and climbing obstacles that have been set up at our camps. The Educators are often left amazed at how great the children are at calculating risks and how confidently they tackle new challenges.
We wish you a lovely, restful weekend and are hoping that you can also enjoy this wonderful weather!
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick