Our week in the forest

This week we have looked at various types of different vegetables. On Monday we took pumpkins into the forest and looked at the different sizes to compare them. The children mentioned which pumpkins were big and which ones were small. Some children were able to name which pumpkins were of a medium size too.

After looking at the pumpkins, our children had the chance to take them and choose what they wished to do with them. Our children took the biggest pumpkin and decided to smash it to pieces on logs. Some of the children took little bowled pieces of the pumpkin and used it in the mud kitchen to scoop up muddy water and tip it into bowls for cooking.

We used hand drills to drill into the pumpkins. Using real hand tools has the potential to build confidence in children as they are being given responsibility and they take pride in what they achieve when using them. Using tools encompasses so many areas of learning and development in children and we wish to do much more tool work in our setting.

On Tuesday we looked at sweetcorn. We had lots of fun peeling the skin off and used tweezers to pick out bits of corn one by one. This was a very therapeutic activity which had the children engaged for a really long time. Some of our children picked pieces of corn and put them in their pockets to take home.

We had our weekly visit to our garden plot on Wednesday. The children had the opportunity to explore the different types of vegetation growing in the kitchen garden. We came across a butternut squash and coincidently had butternut squash risotto for dinner. This gave us a good chance to talk about where food comes from, what it looks like raw and then how it looks once it’s been cooked!

We’ve started digging out the weeds from our plot but we have much more weeding to do before we start growing anything. Weeding will be our project for the next couple of weeks.

We are lucky to have two talented members of our team who play the guitar. Mar politely brought her guitar in on Friday. The children sat and listened to nursery rhymes as well as joining in and slapping their knees to the rhythm. The children explored different sounds and pitches as they were given the chance to play with the guitar.

Next week in the forest

Next week is our Halloween week. We have lots of books about Halloween and many spooky activities planned. We will be using tools more frequently and we’ll also have the guitar in again next week as our children have shown great interest in using these items.

Reminders
Parents evening starts next week. If you need a reminder as to what time your appointments are, please send me an email.

Friday 28th October will be a Halloween dress up day for our children only. Monday 31st October will be our Halloween party which parents are also invited to. We look forward to having you on site with us. This also gives you a chance to get to know the other parents.

Halloween Spook-tacular Party
Date: Monday 31st October
Time: 11:00am – 12:00pm
Place: Onsite in the forest
Dress code: Not too scary please :-)
All parents and children are welcome. Please take responsibility of your children if they are not booked in for a session.

A guide as to what children should wear:

One pair of comfortable trousers
One long sleeve shirt
One jumper/fleece
One pair of thermal socks
Wellies
Waterproofs

Please make sure your children have fleeces in their bags as the weather gets unpredictably cold.

Upcoming Calendar Events

Half Term: 24th-28th October
Halloween Spook-tacular Party: Monday 31st October
Parent’s Evening: W/C 24th October (please see emails)
Nafisa A/L: 8th – 16th November
Christmas Party: Monday 19th December in Wimbledon

Thank you for your ongoing cooperation.