Our Week in the Forest...
With another diverse week under our belt in the forest, the children have continued to show their capacity to create their own delightful worlds that they wish to play in. In giving our children the freedom to take ownership of their play we see them employing an undeniable independence, a penchant for overcoming challenges, and a self-driven curiosity to learn. As Ken Robinson expressed so succinctly, “Curiosity is the engine of achievement.”.
The first challenge the children set themselves this week was to scale the lofty Treetop Walkway at Kew gardens. Some children were initially wary due to the height and scale of the walkway. However, after a team rally each child began to climb the staircase until they were high above the ground. Once at the summit, it seemed that any fear or preconception was left on the ground level. The children gazed gleefully across the top of the forest canopy, pointing out structures and landmarks that caught their eyes. The children also noticed plaques dotted around the walkway and expressed an interest in learning of what they had written on them. Watching the children process facts such as the ratio of a tree’s roots being twice its height was fascinating. It was also inspiring to see the look of awe on the children’s faces when we caught the glass front elevator back to the ground level. It allowed the children to feel that much closer to understanding the risk they had taken by ascending high into the air. Needless to say, the children relish any opportunity to face their fears and take risks in their play.
Back at Chiswick House and Gardens, the children have shown their independence through tool work, making their own toys and resources. After building cars and trains, the children drew roads and train tracks in the muddy forest floor. Before long there was a microworld right under our noses with individual narratives interacting and expanding in harmony. Following this, we wanted to further challenge the children in seeing how they would react to a day without any resources.
We decided to spend a day at Chiswick House with nothing more than our food box and a handful of story books. The results were fascinating, to say the least. We started the day by reading the new Supertato book in which the veggies take part in track and field competitions to get healthy. In a natural progression, the children wanted to ready up and race each other across the lawns. We saw running, crawling and jumping races with each child competing with a smile on their face and pride in their hearts. It was wonderful to see the children congratulate their friends, praising each other for their hard work and technique. The children also immersed themselves in the world of Supertato, lifting details from the book to drive their superhero roleplay. Whether it be jumping and soaring from tree stumps, darting around at lightspeed or protecting the teachers from the evil pea, the level of energy and elation was monumental. The children use their unique abilities in collaboration to change the world for the greater good; they truly are our heroes!
New Little Forest Folk settings
As you will have seen in our communications last week, we are delighted that Little Forest Folk Wandsworth will be opening this summer- it's been a long time in the making!
We'll be launching with sessional days only whilst we prepare for our full day offering which we hope to offer a little later in the year.
Our Little Forest Folk Wandsworth children will spend their days at two wonderful forest sites:
On Mondays and Fridays at Paradise Co-op Urban Farm.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays in the wilds of Wimbledon Common.
For more details visit the Wandsworth web page here
We're so excited that Little Forest Folk Barnes is also coming soon! We'll be in touch next week to share more information with you.
Food in the forest:
Our full May menu can be found on our website HERE
We're enjoying these new Cheese and Linseed Pinwheels, our morning snack on Wednesdays.
Puff pastry, covered in lashings of mature cheddar cheese and linseeds.
Rolled, chopped into pinwheels and baked in a hot oven... until the cheese is golden and bubbling. YUM!
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick
