Our Week in the Forest...
'Rain, rain come again, make us puddles for our play'
Water play has been a big part of our week in the forest. An adventure walk at the end of last week took us down to the river where large puddles had formed next to the water’s edge. As always, this became a popular place to play and splash. A rainy afternoon and a well-constructed tarpaulin that channelled the collected water to one end, created hours of entertainment and interest. The children watched with awe as the water flowed continuously into the plastic tub placed at the bottom and took great delight in washing their hands in the cold flowing water. They took it in turns to carry the tub to the puddle to help form their own ‘child-made’ lake. This became a popular place for muddy splashing and for the chefs to collect the necessary ingredient ‘muddy water’ for all the soups and stews.
The face paint and tattoo parlour has been operational most days due to popular demand. Picture cards of different designs helped children make their choice as they waited in an ever growing queue. It is amazing how much patience our 2-5 year olds have when it comes to waiting for face painting and tattoos. The children requested to take a turn using the face paints and Eddie’s hands became the most colourful features in the forest that day, as what started as a heart design quickly became a multi-coloured hand featuring every colour in the rainbow.
Our physical skills have taken leaps and bounds this week through a variety of swings, climbing frames, balance beams and upper body apparatuses. The tyre swing and log swings are always popular and the children organised themselves into queues, taking turns on the swing and pushing each other as high as they could go. The children took great delight in flying high through the trees, either up and down, side to side or round and round depending on their preferences. As one of the children exclaimed ‘if it goes round and round it’s more funner’. The most popular swing this week was without a doubt the log swing that could fit two children side by side. Throughout the day it was never left empty while the children played and the laughter and joy that came from sharing a swing with a friend filled the forest from morning till afternoon.
The slack line has been a new experience for some of our holiday campers, while our forest children have particularly enjoyed climbing up and down the ropes weaved between the trees this week. Filled with confidence after months of balancing on the slack line and climbing trees, they have enjoyed hanging from the ropes and viewing the world from new perspectives. With faces painted as different animals and superhero masks they are definitely a sight to see!
This week the children have been playing more team games and circle games. The Hokey Cokey has been a popular choice, and the children have enjoyed following the actions and naming the body parts to put in and out of the circle. Ama and Arturo taught the children a Spanish game which we have called ‘catch the flag’. This game involved listening carefully for our allocated number and running to grab the ‘flag’ before our partner. The children quickly picked up on the rules and cheered each other on to get the flag first or to chase after their peer if their peer got to the flag first.
See you next week for more forest fun!
Little Forest Folk Chiswick