Our Week in the Forest...
‘Unless we are willing to encourage our children to reconnect with and appreciate the natural world, we can't expect them to help protect and care for it’ David Suzuki
This week we have experienced two major changes in the forest, firstly the arrival of the delightful Spring weather and secondly the relocation of our forest base camp.
One of the beautiful aspects of having a classroom without walls is that we have the freedom to move to a new and exciting setting that comes complete with its own unique natural décor, fresh resources and play features, and we have been amazed at how quickly our Little Forest Folk have settled into their new surroundings.
It was actually quite astonishing to observe how smoothly the children adapted to the completely new surroundings and arrangements in our basecamp. As the children appeared through the trees there was a definite sense of excitement when they saw the new basecamp, but what was quite remarkable was how they immediately negotiated the space, locating where they needed to hang their backpacks and proceeded to sit down in the log circle as if they had been adventuring there for months!!!
Adaptability and resilience are definitely two of the key ingredients of our Little Forest Folk..
This has also been the perfect opportunity to discuss with the children the reasons for having to occasionally relocate. As you can imagine having all these little feet constantly moving around the forest, particularly during the Winter period, can have a significant environmental impact, so to minimise this we give the trees, the grass and wildlife some peace and quiet. It was delightful to hear our children express such awareness and empathy whilst discussing this; ‘the animals can sleep now’, ‘all the grass can come again’.
So this week has been packed full of exploration and curiosity, our new environment is full of endless wonders, many of which we have yet to discover. Additionally, we now have access to an open meadow so throughout the coming weeks we will be utilising the skills of our resident PE teacher Conor to incorporate some fun sports activities and games to make the best use of this new feature.
Food in the forest:
Our new Spring menu will be starting next week!
The full menu can be found on our website HERE
This is one of our new yummy lunch dishes;
Slow cooked haricot beans in homemade tomato sauce with cheddar cheese, served with bread rolls.
The sauce is given acidity with cider vinegar and a little depth and sweetness with dark muscovado sugar.
Enjoy that warm Spring sunshine!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham
