This week Mother Nature wowed us with her whimsical sense of weather and offered us an abundance of learning opportunities as we crossed the border from September, where we could still feel the living pulse of nature – to cool, rainy and mysterious October.
The environments our Little Forest Folk-ers are exposed to every day are quite diverse which brings plenty of opportunities, nothing passes by unnoticed to their vigilant eyes, to connect and become aware of life around them! It was magical to see the wonder on their faces when we spotted again our hairy Mr Wolf Spider living on the lamp pole whilst we were walking into the forest. Another wonderful moment happened this week over the period of three days, all during lunch time! The children kept observing a black and white mischievous feathered friend, surveying us from above until one day, the huge velvety moth came close enough for us to observe it where we discussed its wings and antennas. The moth sat with the children for a good ten minutes and was a highlight of the week.
During our regular adventure walk, the children have observed a coot family, where their chick (cootie) has now grown to be almost as big as its parents! It was a lovely moment – mummy and baby coot on the shore, whilst daddy coot paddled quickly to join them – everyone was speechless, we sat and watched in a peaceful silence for some time.
Some of these amazing creatures will still be our companions during the cold season, some will retreat into their “homes’ and come back next year for us to observe. For our little ones though, these encounters represent great moments of understanding life cycles in nature.
On site, we are appreciating the beauty and abundance of the ever more and more colourful leaves that are falling to the ground. The leaves inspire us to make natural art - picturing flowers, envisioning tree’s leaves as actual trees and also observing the different shapes and sizes mother nature shaped/gave them is fascinating. Some of the two years olds were completely absorbed by the sweet chestnut’s interesting leaf pattern!
In the rich and open environment that the forest gives us are dinosaurs, kings, queens, princesses, wolves and bears roaming all over our site and taking refuge in huge dens we have been building them! Child led play is so important, as they start to make sense of the world and where wonderful connections and friendships are made.
Talking about friends, our Jaybirds this week were getting acquainted with our new Little Forest Folk-ers and familiarising themselves with names of new teachers too. Therefore, name writing and letter sounding, and recognition was integrative to the process, which also interested some of our other children who happily joined in.
We wish you a marvellous and imaginative weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick