Our Week in the Forest
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions”
Our Little Forest Folk were once again joined by more delightful children during the Holiday Camp, and what an amazing week it has become, the forest has been alive with amazing encounters and imaginative storytelling, truly a place of magical realism. As we all sat together for the first time enjoying our morning snack we heard a sound in the distance, clippety-clop, clippety clop… It was the sound of a horse, but this was no ordinary horse, this was the sound of a shave-horse…The shave-horse had legs of sweet-chestnut, a body of ash and stirrups of cherry and what a story it had to tell!! It was a story of Mikael Johansen who lived in the forest among the trees, trees that whispered to him their secrets, and animals that told him magical tales, but all this had changed with the arrival of a wolf, a wolf so big and mean that the forest could be transformed forever… This is when the trees had conjured up the ‘shave-horse’ from their finest limbs as a way of defeating the wolf, but could Mikael unlock its secret before it was too late…a story only your children can tell!!
Inspired by all our storytelling the children have been engaged throughout the week in creating their very own magical forest full of animals, hidden dens and amazing adventures that have taken them to some incredible places. The sounds and activity of our Little Forest Folk have been a delight to behold, from creating a swarm of pinecone bees to scaling the highest mountains where sleeping giants relaxed among the clouds.
We have been amazed at the children’s ability in using our hand tools to transform some old tree branches into a forest animal, ready to take then on a wild adventure. They have experienced the shave-horse first hand using the drawknife to shape the wood, carefully shaving away a piece at a time; they have been using the bowsaw to cut the wood into the sections they need; they have twisting the auger to drill the holes into the wood and finally swinging the mallet to hammer the wood into place, and before we knew it off they went to wherever their imagination would take them…
Our tepee also took pride of place in the forest, created from branches, logs and ropes that the children tied together using their best knot tying skills, some of which they need to teach us!! This became the centre of storytelling where our children relaxed and listened to one another’s incredible tales, at least until the next time they heard something stomping around the tent, and before we knew it everyone was up again and running away from the troll that mysteriously appeared from the forest…
The children have also been fascinated by all the bees that have been visiting us in the forest, from the big fluffy bumble bees to the busy honey bees that having been hopping from flower to flower. To welcome them all the children have been incredibly creative in designing their own bees from pine cones and foraged leaves to use for their wings, and from the number of visiting bees I think that they definitely approved of the children’s spectacular creations.
It has been an absolutely beautiful week together in forest and we hope to see all of the children again at our next holiday camp in the summer.
Reminders
Dressing for the weather
With the warmer weather please ensure children have sun screen applied before being dropped at nursery and children wear a sun hat or have one in their backpack, clearly labelled. We also need all children to be dropped off wearing trousers or leggings with full waterproofs in their bags. View our Spring kit list HERE.
Dates for the diary
You can see a reminder our term dates here
Have a wonderful weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham
