Our Week in the Forest...
As the educators walked into Fulham Palace early on Tuesday morning we were greeted by the roar of one of the children excited to have returned to our forest after the Easter break. What a heart-warming greeting it was and this continued as the others arrived carefully walking through the Forget-me-nots and Daffodils calling out to their friends and teachers.
The children have arrived back full of energy and there is a real sense of excitement as we all catch up and hear about what travels and activities the children have been up to. It was amazing to see the children return with proud confidence and to witness the positive interactions happening during circle time as the children shared their holiday experiences. We had children telling us tales about their travels to America, Africa and Norway just to name a few destinations. We also had stories about their Easter Festivities and spending time with siblings on holiday from school.
With the influence of the Holiday Camp we have added some new activities and challenges to our base camp. Our observant children were quick to notice these changes and this week have explored and rediscovered their forest with fresh eyes. As we mentioned last week, one addition to the site is our rope ladder. This activity is great for the children’s physical development, problem solving skills, coordination, as well as their communication and understanding. The older children showed determination and confidence when tackling the challenge, in doing so helped model to the other children how to climb the ladder. When the children first approached the activity the children were supported by an educator to ensure the ladder was steady and instructed on how it could be climbed. However, within a short space of time the children started to independently negotiate the swinging ladder and creatively found solutions to anchor the ladder to make their climbing easier. We are planning to develop these ideas further through the construction of some rope bridges and more challenging structures that we will build together with the children as their knot tying skills are amazing!!
Although it has been a shorter week, it has been a fabulous one for our Little Forest Folk children and we look forward to the rising temperatures and flourish of minibeasts in the weeks ahead.
Food in the forest:
Our full April menu can be found on our website HERE
Recipe for our Cheese and Chia seed biscuits so you can make them at home:
Ingredients:
- 180g wholemeal flour
- 100g unsalted butter
- 120g grated extra mature cheddar cheese
- 50g grated parmesan/grana padano cheese
- 2tbsp Chia seeds
- 2/3 tbsp cold water to bring the dough together
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C fan/190C normal. Line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Weigh the flour into a bowl and add the butter, cut up into little pieces. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the grated cheese and chia seeds and mix it all together with a spoon. Add the water gradually until the mixture starts to form a dough. Work the dough until it feels like it is ready to roll out. You need to do this for a couple of minutes otherwise it will be too crumbly.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface until it is 5mm thick. Choose a cookie cutter you like and get cutting! The dough re-rolls really well so you can use up all the spare pieces.
Put the biscuits onto the baking sheet and bake for 15 mins or until golden brown.
Have wonderful weekend adventures!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham
