Our Week in the Forest...
What a truly wonderful start to the new year we have had with our first full week back!
We have loved hearing all our Little Forest Folk-ers wishing us and their friends a “Happy New Year!” and chatting with each other about all the things they got up to on their holidays. We have prompted and supported conversations between the children to help them compare their own fun family experiences and traditions over the holidays; places and people they might have visited and presents they received. This is a fun way to build their understanding of the similarities and differences between their own lives and those of the people around them and gives them an opportunity to celebrate their own fun filled experiences again.
The team have been excited heading into a fresh year and a fresh decade bringing fresh ideas! Our inset day was used to build on knot work skills, brainstorming ideas within each nursery setting for ways we can push ourselves onwards and upwards to the betterment of what we do as well as talks and presentations on changes to the EYFS and the importance of our own self-care. We used our first team meeting to hone these ideas and come up with strategies for moving forward and how we can inspire our children and each other every day in the forest.
Our children this week have enjoyed exploring a range of musical instruments and art materials, using them to play and explore on their own or to join up and play in pairs or groups. The younger children watched and copied the efforts of their older peers and one of the older children, in particular, took on a teacher role in helping their two year-old friends find a seat, collect some tools and then bring them clay after digging it out of the huge lump in the bag. The focus in one session was the introduction of natural materials with Katie demonstrating how they can be pressed and rolled into the surface of the clay to create different patterns and textures. The children were then given free rein and their artistic creations were exciting to look at and as varied as their own personalities. This in itself is so inspiring to witness, knowing that our children are taking away an experience that celebrates artistic expression and individuality rather than teaching them how to make a particular item, identical to all their friend’s.
One of the fantastic characteristics that we see in or children is their ability to negotiate and use words to overcome and de-escalate any difficulties they encounter. This week we have heard them use their words to negotiate sharing items that both are very keen on having for themselves and using their emotional vocabulary to voice their feelings in the moment rather than resort to a push or a grab. Sometimes, as a teacher supports younger children to work on a negotiation, an older friend will step forward with suggestions and solutions of their own, making use of their tone of voice and body language as well as words to encourage an outcome everyone is happy with. We witness apologies for accidental bumps or hurt feelings with children moving to gain the eye contact of the friend they are talking to ensuring they are understood and listened to. This demonstrates a beautiful self confidence in their own abilities to problem solve their way around social situations and an awareness of the community around them and the importance of the impact they can have within it.
Our lovely new manager Myfanwy has hit the ground running and merged into the team with barely a ripple which is quite an achievement considering our last manager had been with us for three years! We have all had inspiring conversations with her about what we do and are excited about how the nursery is going to continue moving forward with her at the helm.
Have a great weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham