Our week in the forest

We channelled Isaac Newton this week, learning that what goes up, must come down.

Our pulley system has been extremely popular, and through transporting leaves, stones and other natural resources up and down, we have begun to learn about science concepts such as gravity and weight.

We used the parachute for the first time this week, and the science experiments continued when we piled leaves in the middle and threw them up in the air, watching as they fell down around all us.

These two activities combined made for some interesting discussions about understanding our world, including how planes fly (this stumped some of our educators!) and why leaves fall.

The swing has been popular with our children, and the turn-taking which we have seen among our little ones has been wonderful. They have even been helping each other swing higher, gently pushing the swing and enjoying the shared moment.

We were fortunate to have another visit to the vicarage garden, where we saw a beehive and discussed bees and honey. The children are becoming very curious about the world around them, in particular the animals which share our forest space. We had a very friendly squirrel join us for our walk in this week, circling the children and running right up to them! The children have been practising their kindness to the animals, and it has been lovely to see an empathetic, gentle curiosity developing within the group.

With a rain free but breezy week weather-wise, we decided to take advantage of the wind and make our own kites from sticks, wool and some giant leaves we found. This was a great opportunity for the children to learn new skills (knots, threading) as well as exercise their creativity, and have a great resource at the end!

Picnicking was also on the agenda in the fine weather, and we enjoyed snack time on the green. The children are thoroughly enjoying the freedom and nomadic style of Little Forest Folk, and as ever, adventure walks were very popular.

Next week we plan to explore storytelling with the children, following on from their amazing efforts in our puppet theatre and their love of literacy.

News

Christmas Forest Party:
Monday 19th December
Remember to RSVP by Monday 21st November!

Stir It Up Fundraising for Crisis:
Support us by buying a jar or two of our Little Festive Folk mincemeat stirred by teeny tiny hands. To donate and find out more click here Justgiving. They will make wonderful Christmas presents for Grandparents.

Daily Reports:
We're sorry to say that we are experiencing some technical issues with the tablet we use in the forest. Our IT system was tailor made for us and sometimes it's not until we try something new that we discover a problem. We're working hard to fix it and we'll keep you posted on our progress.

Reminders

As we are rapidly approaching the end of the year, please note that the first day back for the Spring term will be Tuesday 3rd January.

There is an inset day scheduled for Friday 6th January, nurseries will be closed on this day for essential staff training and planning.

Parents of sessional children can now collect between 3.30pm and 3.45, here is the communication that went out to parents in case you missed it.

What to wear

Next week is forecast to be rather chilly again and although we'll keep the children moving around lots, please do dress your little one warmly.

Check out our recommended winter kit list.

Enjoy your weekend!

Little Forest Folk

Fulham