It’s been such a glorious week in the forest with the children having a great time exploring their senses, the environment and being creative!
We started off with a very special wild cooking day this week. Our children made pizza! They had so much fun chopping mushrooms, spreading tomato sauce, sprinkling sweet corn and herbs, while smelling and tasting as they went on. Needless to say, that the afternoon snack that day was extra special and tasty!
Our reading area has been particularly popular this week. The children absolutely loved storytelling, flipping pages of books, looking at the images and coming up with next steps, so our lovely educators prepared an activity for the children to create their own story. They cut small images of their favourite characters - paw patrol, Disney protagonists and superheroes and came up with the most interesting, incredible stories and drawing some amazing pictures! It is fascinating how children’s imagination can take you places you never thought existed! Or maybe we just forgot as we grew up. Truly magical!
Our mud kitchen is back to its full glory as the warm weather slowly fills our days. Our explorers have been mixing, rolling, whisking, pouring, and measuring all day long using water, mud, natural resources, and a pinch of fairy dust! We had birthday cakes, pizzas, pancakes, cookies, and other delicious slimy concoctions.
We had some special visits in the forest this week. Our children saw a family of ducks crossing our site in the light rain one day, and they also saw the Canadian geese that have been around the gardens lately. They even saw two beautiful male green woodpeckers, which is quite rare in the forest. Finally, they named a millipede that they found outside the walled garden Peter.
The children have been practising different rhythms with our amazing musical cards. They used two sticks to clap together and copy a sequence of different rhythms. We also had lots of singing in the forest this week, it is starting to feel like spring!
We celebrated St Patrick’s Day with the children decorating Leprechauns using a hole punch, knitting wool, and completed with knotted beards and green hats! As a special treat in honour of St Patrick’s Day, the children had a huge tub of green slime! Some children found the texture less appealing to the touch, but were mesmerised looking at their friends, nonetheless. A green curtain shining through their fingers would slide right off their hands as they raised their arms up in the air. Their arms were covered in goop as they plunged them up to their elbows. They had so much fun playing with it, as well as some of our educators!
As always, kindness and friendship have been the main topics at circle time. Our children show so much empathy and care when it comes to their friends and families. Our Little Forest Folk-ers are always happy to help a friend when they are upset, offer a cuddle or a hug to make them feel better. It never seizes to amaze us just how wonderful our children are and how grateful we are to work with them every day!
Have a fantastic weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham