Our Week in the Forest...
Well here we are and we’ve managed to make it through this windy week without being blown over the hedges of Fulham Palace Gardens! The tarps have been blowing high, billowing up like full sails before being pushed down low by a big gust from another direction. The children found it hilarious as they watched their taller teachers ducking and weaving as they waited for lunch to be served and they all shouted and cheered as another gust whooshed the tarp up high above them.
There have been lots of conversations about the weather this week and we have been asking the children to feel the air and look around them to describe what they think the weather will do. There was a discussion about only seeing small, fluffy clouds in the sky that wouldn’t be holding any water in them but then one child had been told it would rain in the afternoon so they decided they would need to look for big clouds later and maybe listen for thunder!
As the year is starting to wind down the excitement of Christmas is starting to be felt in the forest. Our children have been singing Christmas songs and carols with either careful focus or exuberant abandon, depending on their character and we have loved joining in and clapping along. It is lovely to see the smaller children light up as they join in with their friends and feel the sense of belonging that comes from singing with others and our older children love being able to showcase just how many songs they can sing. Some children have started telling us about decorating Christmas trees or about holidays and visitors over the festive period and it is a great opportunity for the children to discover similarities and differences between their own home lives and that of their friend’s.
Continuing the Christmas theme, we have been tool and craft-tastic this week! The children have had opportunities to drill through tree cookies before printing snowflakes on to them with stencils and paint rollers. String is then threaded through the hole they made and tied in a loop to make a decoration they can take home.
Claudia wowed us with her pipe cleaner skills as she showed us how to twist, bend and loop these fluffy wires into Christmas designs of angels, stars and trees and how to add a jingling bell to make a festive sounding decoration for a tree.
It is always inspiring to see just how patient and attentive our children can be during these activities, especially when they have to wait their turn for one to one support. They listen to their teacher’s explanations, help each other understand or cooperate with boundaries and show us just what they are capable of when they are allowed to engage with activities according to their own interest.
Our parent’s evening was a lovely chance to connect and celebrate the ongoing journeys of our little forest folk-ers (as well as nibble on some mince pies) and we all look forward to the next one when it comes along.
Little Forest Folk
Fulham