It’s that wonderful time again where we get to invite some new friends into camp, welcoming in some brand-new faces and some more familiar. Our Little Forest Folk-ers loved meeting all of our newbies as well as friends they had been missing since our last camp! As usual, our OG-explorers helped our campers settle straight in, expressing the rules loudly and coherently so they could pass on our forest teachings. Some great friendships have been rekindled and as usual, we have seen demonstrations of kindness, consideration and respect from our forest community.
Home Corner 🏡
This week we’ve had plenty of role play on camp. Thinking back to a very successful day of fun and learning, we wanted to recreate a complex set-up we had all enjoyed previously. We transformed the camp into role-play heaven by splitting the space into lots of rooms (made with crates and palettes of course). There was a TV room, including a flat screen TV (with Bluey showing, of course!), a couch and a small table with a remote control. We had a washing line where children practiced hanging up clothes using pegs. There was a bedroom with an alarm clock, bedding and cuddly toys. A pizza party at the dinner table, with cups plates and serving appliances. A fully equipped kitchen with a hob/fire, pots and pans and a Chefs apron/hat. Our little explorers loved acting out these familiar scenarios and flicking through the channels on the TV (cardboard).
Number Toss 🧮
On a large wooden board, we created a dartboard-style numbered target. Using bean bags with corresponding numbers, children were tasked to throw the bean bag at the correct number. We upped the challenge throughout the day and made the starting/standing point further and further away from the board. Soon the play developed into a game of ‘catch the bean bags’, where our little adventurers threw bean bags from a height whilst another used great hand eye coordination to manoeuvre a bucket to catch the falling bag.
“15 Children Counted… 15”🔢
What better way to practice counting, than counting…. ourselves! Our educators are sure to count the children aloud every 2 minutes and communicate to the wider team on our walkie-talkies. This week, following child-led interest, our Little Forest Folk-ers decided to jump on and help us with the counting, which of course was very exciting as it meant having a go with a real walkie talkie! This was the perfect activity as it gave us a chance to practice not just numeracy, but real-life role play!
Food Truck 🛻
Our mud kitchen is always a huge hit! But this week we pushed the boat out, or should I say pushed the truck out, because our mud kitchen transformed into a mud food truck. This created the perfect opportunity for not only cooking role play but also customer service role play! It wasn’t a festival, but it was certainly festive!
Clay Worms 🪱
We love all bugs and creatures in our forest. However, there is perhaps no more loved creature, in the forest than… the humble earth worm. The children love searching for worms, and this week we applied this passion to making them! We used clay, of course! Why have an earth worm when you can have a clay worm! This was the perfect opportunity to combine arts and crafts, with animal passion, and for once the animal was a simple one to craft!
What a fab week, we hope everyone has a great weekend, and we can’t wait to welcome our sessional children back to the forest next week!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham