What another gorgeous week!
A gigantic obstacle course took shape from one end of camp to the other. The children went with Katie to the storage area to select the best logs, branches and planks for the job and worked together to haul them back to site. A hospital sprang up too with some very high-end care being provided to the patients suffering various ailments. We had sore hands, itchy skin, broken bones and cuts to deal with and our doctor directed her staff and made sure to reassure waiting patients that she would see them soon and they should try to rest! At one point, one of the patients was having the skin on her hands and face treated and our doctor used long pieces of grass to gently stroke away the soreness, saying soothing words and applying special cream which another doctor was repeatedly rushing off to the shops to replenish when stocks became low. This play was so peaceful and delicate and full of such care that the friend playing the patient started dozing off while reclined on her log/hospital bed. In terms of trust building exercises, that was some top-notch work!
World Book Day visited us this week as well and even though every day is really book day, it was fun to bring down armfuls of books to site and create a library on the stage under one of our large tarps. The children dipped in and out all through the day and some even had a try at using paper and string to bind their own books to take home with them. We talked about our favourite stories and read together in groups and looked at books independently if we fancied some quiet time.
Our younger friends are growing in confidence with their tree climbing and we can now see them tackling the challenge with determination and confidence, sure in their abilities that they have practiced so far and happy to push themselves a little more each time.
We have incorporated a lot of counting this week with many of the children growing confident in reaching 20 and two of the children, through their own agreement, took turns on the swing by helping each other count to 20 before swapping over to let the other have a turn.
As always, we have plenty of paper and coloured pens readily available for creative urges and it is lovely to see the children help each other by sharing colours when they are finished, passing pens that are out of reach or complimenting another’s work. We have been helping some of our friends write out names, family member’s names or ingredients for recipes in the mud kitchen as well as practicing sounding out the words as we write. Doing these activities in mixed groups is a wonderful way for our younger friends to tune in and start to absorb the learning that their older friends are actively taking part in.
Matt the gardener has approached us this week to ask if we would like to help out with planting some of the vegetables in the walled garden this spring which we are very excited about! We are looking forward to taking a different group each week to plant a new row for him so that we will create a lovely ongoing crop all the way through the growing season that we can visit.
Spring is finally starting to happen!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham