This week has been such a mixture with the children swapping between hot sunny days and absolute downpours to fill up all the puddles and soften the mud in our kitchens.
The Green group have been painting or drawing together on a large collaborative sheet and spending time, enjoying little conversations to compare and compliment each other’s work. After the rain, one of the children noticed some colours had blended and splash patterns had been made by the drops. They used a stick to develop and experiment with this new effect, standing back to admire their work.
We tied some ropes onto the tree to create a basic frame for den building and a group took charge with gusto! The den even included a tv that required batteries and wires that they were able to tell us were used for electricity. Inevitably the tv broke and engineers were called in with tools in hand to try and fix it.
A group of children have been researching javelin throws which prompted us to make our own javelin Olympic Games! We used the measuring tape to measure the distance and even had a traffic controller telling us when it was safe to throw.
The Red group went on an adventure walk to the adventure playground and collected large dried leaves & pine cones which they brought back to play with in camp. They used them to paint and draw and some were even made into treasure maps! It is lovely to see our younger ones choose to take some quiet time to look at books independently as well as enjoy the excitement of listening to favourite stories being read by their teachers. They point at the pictures and like having small discussions about what is going on, sometimes linking themes to events in their own lives.
Both sides have continued to enjoy playing hide and seek and the garden echoed with squeals if excitement as friends were found!
At one point two of our green group were taking advantage of the rain and mud to scoop up and transport spoonfuls to fix the pothole at the edge of the path “We’re helping the gardeners!” they shouted, “That’s very kind!” commented some of the red team who had gathered to watch “they’re helping”.
It’s fantastic to see the children take these dramatic weather changes in their stride, squealing with excitement when we push rainwater off the tarps in spectacular waterfalls and and take running jumps into huge puddles. They help each other pull hoods up and carry on playing; just as it should be.
Little Forest Folk
Fulham