Our Week in the Forest...
This week stories and construction have taken a prominent role in the forest. Every cloud has a silver lining and with the removal of some of the trees from our forest, we have gained a plethora of new building material. The children have loved arriving in the forest to the constructions the practitioners had built, and enjoyed even more when knocking them over! They would then set about building their own castles, spaceships, pirate ships, bakeries and whatever else their imaginations led them to create. It was fascinating to see how the children would work both independently and together.
At times discussions became heated when trying to decide which direction the build should take. However, by choosing not to intervene but instead let the children come to their own conclusions they were able to develop many skills that they will need later in life; negotiating, compromise, listening, understanding. These are all things that are best learnt when faced with practical challenges.
Literacy has always been popular in the forest, from mark making to storytelling, it’s something the children love to get involved with. This week, along with the children listening to some of their usual favourites (somehow Supertato is still a popular choice) they have begun to tell more of their own stories. By using story dice, the children can excitedly roll the dice to see what picture they get, before then adding that character, object or location into the story. Some of the stories can end up truly whacky, but by modelling first and then letting the children take the lead, they develop their understanding of how stories are formed and how locations and characters play an important role.
Your little forest folk are also becoming expert, astute climbers. To see how much confidence they have gained when it comes to climbing is a joy and now when new children join us in the forest, our regulars can often be overheard instructing them on how to safely climb up or down. Another activity that had the children captivated was when Lydia (a new big forest person) brought in her guitar. The children loved being able to strum the strings and sing along with the songs. It’s safe to say our ‘hello song’ has never sounded so good!
We hope you have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham