Our Week in the Forest...
Tanka Tanka Skunk!
With the departure of one of our regular children last week, the nursery was gifted a lovely book called 'Tanka Tanka Skunk' as a leaving present. The children have absolutely loved this addition to our library and it has had a noticeable influence in regard to our play this week. For those who have not read it, the book has a lovely rhythm to it and uses words that create a drum-like beat, playing with the syllables in each word. The children have enjoyed reading along with the book but also tapping out the sounds. This has been influential in their play as well as influencing our floating play worker Freddy, who was in the forest and began drumming with two sticks on a log. As he was drumming away, with children playing closely around him, slowly one by one the children began to join in, finding their own sticks to drum on the same log and then matching his beat! Eventually we had a small orchestra of eight children drumming along to different beats, including an impressive cover of Queen's 'We Will Rock You'! It was a lovely moment as the children all explored the variety of beats Freddy was tapping out and we even had some children making up their own songs to match up with the drumming.
As well as music in the forest this week, we have also been getting muddy with some wet weather and cornstarch slime for the children to play with. It is great to see the children exploring a variety of materials and textures and not being afraid to get stuck in and messy! This has matched up nicely with the Jaybirds who having been conducting experiments, one of which they shared with their friends on Friday, which involved using a red cabbage to identify if a substance is an acid or alkaline! This was new knowledge for both the children and some of the educators, you learn something new every day in the forest!
Alongside all this musical and mucky play, we have also had some lovely activities around den/house building and also the return of our forest hammock, which the children enjoyed taking turns to lie and swing side to side in! It has been a lovely week and the rain has been a welcomed sight both for the muddy puddles and to hydrate our allotment!
We hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick