Our Week in the Forest...
Another lovely week has gone past with our little forest explorers and we started off with a non-resource day at Chiswick House and Gardens. We set up close to our famous Grandpa tree. For those who have not heard about Grandpa tree before, he is very old tree that we visit from time to time. Once there, each child gives him a big hug and whispers him some secret wishes and if we are lucky, maybe one day the wishes may come true! The children really enjoyed engaging in the magic of Grandpa tree and it sparked their imaginations for the rest of the day. Our Little Forest Folk-ers love to use natural resources in their play as props or building materials and did not appear to miss the regular resources of the forest. It also lead into plenty of group games which is great way for them to form closer relationships with each other.
After a successful day, we decided to continue with a low resource theme throughout the rest of the week and although we did provide certain activities and resources like pans and pots in the mud kitchen and books in the story corner, it was the nature based experience that the children engaged in and enjoyed most. For example for our arts and crafts station, we did leaf printing, creating and painting with natural paintbrushes made from branches and pine needles found on our site.
Also following on from halloween last week, some of the children got inspired to use the natural resources around them to create their own broomsticks! With some educator support the children explored how string can be made and also further developed on their fine motor skills by learning how to tie knots.
This week we also have taken advantage of the dry, sunny weather and escaped our shaded base camp to go on some exciting adventure walks! We visited one of children's favourite spots- which are called "the rolling hills!" Lots of fun and smiling faces have been observed while the children had fun running up the hills and rolling down on them. There we also had the opportunity to explore the little lily pad pond and took a closer look at it. We discovered and explored how it has changed over the last few weeks. The children observed that the lily pads were turning brown and that their flowers had been lost. This was a great opportunity to talk and learn about the different seasons and how the environment changes with time.
We are already looking forward to next week and are excited about the adventures and discoveries that are awaiting us. Have a lovely weekend, from the Chiswick Team!
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick