Our Week in the Forest...
It’s been a challenge this week with the soaring temperatures to keep everyone staying cool and fresh in the forest so we decided to turn our setting into a ‘rainforest’, literally!!
We filled the forest with ice blocks filled with frozen natural elements, colourful spray bottles of cold water, and with the help of the Fulham Palace gardeners installed one of their sprinkler systems in the middle of our setting…
The children particularly loved experimenting with all the ice blocks, using them to build structures, observing them change shape and testing out where they would melt the fastest. They were also fascinated by how all the pine cones, leaves and flowers ended up inside the ice so we discussed how the ice was made, what was inside and examined them in detail. The children made some really high towers with the blocks, realising that ice also sticks together, and when holding one for too long, they would shout, “Bbbbbrrrr, it’s cold!” Some of the ice remained much longer than we expected allowing the children to develop ideas about where it was coolest in the forest and why some trees provided more shade than others.
The sprinkler and water sprays were also a popular addition, not only for cooling down everyone during their races through the shower of water or covering each other with a misty spray, but for observing the rainbows that came and went in the umbrella of water from the sprinkler as the bright sun was shining through.
Alongside all the ice and water we also installed extra canopies around the forest to provide some additional shade for our activity areas. It has been interesting to observe how the children have developed an awareness of regulating their own play in the heat by spending more time in the cosy reading area, painting with their friends, or just having a little snooze in the soft long grass under the shade of a tree, what a life!!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham