Our Week in the Forest...
This week the Little Forest Folk-ers have been exploring the world around us on Putney Heath, paying attention to each detail. It is now almost a ritual on our way into the forest to check how the sycamore saplings on the cricket pitch are doing and how much they have grown. The children also were on the lookout for different animal footprints. The most common ones are the ones of all the friendly dogs we see on our way in or out of the forest. Frequently, children also manage to spot some horse footprints from the rangers who often ride through the heath on horses. But one day this week, our Little Forest Folk-ers discovered a foot print that wasn’t either belonging to a dog nor to a horse. It was simply too big. The children put on their detective hats on and discussed together what animal could have left such a big footprint in our forest. They quickly all agreed it could only be an elephant.
Our little detectives know well that the best way to find to our camp site is to follow the tracks left in the mud by our trolleys. This week, the children of the first group walking in started to leave some signs on the path to direct the second group to the campsite. Later in the week, when a new song was introduced, a Little Forest Folk-er had the idea that we should sing the song as long as the second group was still walking in until they would find the way because of our singing.
Tuesday marked World Wildlife Day and the children used their investigative skills to read some new footprint cards to figure out which animals mark the ground with such footprints. They paid close attention to details as some of those footprints were quite similar - wolf, fox, cat… But they quickly noticed the differences and what made each footprint unique. Investigative spirit was also requested when our Little Forest Folk-ers got to make animal poos with clay. Once they decided what animal poo they would make, they had to think about what could be inside that animal’s poo. Maybe some bones (made out of crushed pasta)? Or some grass? Would that animal have eaten some worms (made with pink yarn)? Some children decided to create realistic poos while other decided to approach it more creatively by pretending that their animal actually had eaten many things that they shouldn’t.
All these activities and talking about the wildlife inspired the children in their pretend play. One day we had a forest filled with a lot of aquatic animals, another day we had some Pikas and Ibexes running around. Our Little Forest Folk-ers want to learn so much about all these animals, where do they live, what do they eat and how do they sound. And as soon as they have accumulated all this knowledge, they dived into their pretend play even including the sounds of each animal.
Given the current situation, we discussed the importance of washing hands during circle times and it is great to see how quickly the children memorised all the steps and started applying them every time the needed or wanted to wash their hands.
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath