Happy New Year everyone! Well, 2021 has landed with a pretty hefty thump hasn’t it?
It has been such a delight to meet up with our friends in the forest again and even though a break is always appreciated, it is just so lovely to be back in amongst these happy faces.
We have adventure walked to explore the walled garden and look at all the changes we can see in the plants and trees and tested our balance and bravery at the adventure playground. There was the most beautiful, vivid rainbow one morning and the children lay down on the sunny grass to be able to better marvel at its colours. This led to a peaceful spell of children making observations and sharing knowledge of the other things they could see, pointing out features to each other and just enjoying the moment.
There has been plenty of bug searches this week with some children finding big, chubby worms in the soft mud under our logs. They worked together to make a worm hotel with flowers and other gathered natural pieces to form the structure and decorate it too.
On Thursday we had a very great excitement at the end of the afternoon when an emergency rescue helicopter descended from the sky to land in the walled garden next to us! Many of the children had stopped what they were doing to watch and listen as it got closer and we gathered everyone together so that we could go inside for a closer look. This dramatic event sparked a flurry of excited conversation and the children rushed to point out details they could notice; the colours, noises, movements, and people they could see and ask lots of questions.
We watched as two men jumped out carrying large bags of emergency equipment and ran off to the rescue of whoever needed their help. We chose to return to camp where some of the most interested children stayed near the gateway to watch and talk about it some more. They wanted to know why they were here and what might have happened with one or two becoming concerned that a person might be very hurt so we had a conversation about emergency services and how they work so that as soon as someone needs help, rescuers can come and take them to a hospital. We all agreed that it made us feel very safe to think that there were people in the world who are ready and waiting to rush and help and get us to where we needed to be so that we could feel better. With this level of drama and excitement, it was inevitable that the play would follow suit and in no time, we had police and rescue helicopters using winches to lift trucks stuck in mud, and Transformers and Lightning MacQeen zooming to the rescue with water blasters to put out fires.
Our week has been a rollercoaster with a mad scramble for resources we could take home on Monday night when we heard Boris was making his announcement in case we needed to figure out some online provision only to bring it all back on Tuesday morning! My team has risen to the challenge yet again in adapting to new logistics at the last minute, allowing us to move to entirely outdoor operation so smoothly and I really appreciate their adaptability. It has been lovely to hear your appreciation coming in for the efforts being made to keep us all safe and hopefully these changes will keep us operating longer and, fingers crossed, not having to close bubbles.
Can’t wait to see what next week brings and to see if any of that beautiful snow in Scotland is going to make it down this far! Have wonderful weekends all!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham