Our Week in the Forest...
It has been another absolutely delightful holiday camp during which we been making the most of the varied weather throughout the week. It has been lovely to welcome some new faces to the forest, to catch up with those who are now attending their new schools and, of course, to see some of our regular Little Forest Folk-ers.
We have made the most of the wonderful autumnal mornings by going together on adventure walks through the Palace gardens each day, and discovering some amazing sights along the way. The weather conditions have been exceptionally good for some types of fungi this year, which has displayed itself in some spectacular ways among the wooded areas and even on the trees. The children have been fascinated by their shapes and observing them alongside the educators. It has been a great opportunity to have some discussions with our Little Forest Folk-ers about how dangerous some fungi are and reinforce why we don’t touch them. We have also been able to identify what some of them are called, they particularly like the imaginative names given to mushrooms such as Chicken of the woods, Hedgehog mushroom and Shaggy parasol.
Loose parts have been an integral part of the children’s activities this week with them using a whole variety of objects in ever more creative ways in the forest. They have been turned into muddy slides, wobbly bridges that span the crocodile river, puppet theatres, catapults and the most unusual places to read books! The loose fabrics were also combined with the busy mud kitchen, transforming the usual concoctions into superheroes potions that enhanced their superpowers, even ones that keep their capes clean!
The forest itself played a major part in the experimentation with art media this week with children using the chalks and paint to explore textures and patterns in the natural world around them. This ranged from chalking on leaves to reveal their intricate designs to painting pieces of fallen bark and observing how it changed colour. As the colours slowly appeared across the forest, more and more mark making and games were initiated turning our logs into beautifully patterned seats, and the loose parts into objects that give clues to where the secret treasure had been hidden.
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you next week!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham