What an exciting week we have had, the children have been so busy! Our new starters are becoming more and more confident with the space and it’s lovely to see them start to charge around and dip into our different activities with gusto.
We have had great interest in our painting area where sticks, leaves, pinecones and feathers have been painted as the children looked to elevate the natural treasures they have found during their day.
We also introduced clay where stones and twigs were pressed into or wrapped around shapes to make representations of animals or objects from the children’s experience, or beautiful abstract artistic creations. Sometimes the activity for the child is simply all about the process itself and the children investigate the medium with their fingers and hands, or by playing with rollers and tools. They have no interest in their finished product but have learned all they needed to from simple, invaluable play and it is our role as educators to support their own agenda rather than require them to complete a task that we have defined.
We often are asked by those not quite used to the idea of Forest School how we support literacy outside in the muck and the mud and all the weathers that our UK climate loves to throw at us. The answer is always the same; in every way we can! Our children LOVE stories and we love to tell them. Every day we bring a selection of books to the setting with a range of topics and styles to suit all the ages of our Little Forest Folk-ers; from cardboard Touch and Feel type books for our youngest ones to interact with independently to much more involved stories to be read out loud.
We always try to inspire our children with our set up in camp and I love to see the new and interesting ways that the team come up with for displaying the books. Sometimes they are arranged from low hanging branches, display structures made from pallets and branches to draw attention and sometimes constructing a cosy space with tarps and blankets where the children can climb inside to relax with a book.
As Educators we realise the importance of storytelling and have found that verbally told stories of fantasy adventures and grand achievements are just as valued by the children as the simple stories of our own experiences that the children can identify with.
Our chunky chalks are always available for the children to experiment with and we encourage any expression of mark making that they show interest in. Logs, pallets and benches are used to practice control and creativity, and we are always on hand to support their experimentation with letter forming.
One of my favourite things to see is when an older child takes on the Educator role and settles down with a book to read it to their peers. They gather round, leaning in to get a good view of the pictures and listen as their friend tells the story from their interpretation of the illustrations and their memory of the story. The beautiful thing in these moments is to also hear the conversations that spark between the children as they tell others of their own similar experiences or make observations from the pictures on the page.
We are looking forward so much to see what next week brings and to learn even more about these wonderful kids in our care!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham