Our Week in the Forest...
This week has thrown us into those cooler temperatures and thoroughly ensured that we all dug out our thermals, hats and scarves from the back of our wardrobes! We had our first hard frost with all the fallen leaves being etched in silvery white and crunching under our winter wellies, and all the children enjoyed wrapping their hands around a lovely warm cup of soup or beans at lunchtime.
With all the beautiful trees in Fulham Palace still putting on their best display of colour, the fallen leaves have been providing an endless resource for the children and educators to collect. Crowns, foxtails, volcanoes and campfires have all been created with these rich, warm colours and many of the children wanted to collect leaves to take home.
Continuing our Inspiring Spaces theme, we have made a long construction using pallets, planks and logs that was left to be reimagined by the children each day in the forest. The general consensus was that it was a train but different children brought their own ideas with them and at times there might be several individuals or groups imagining a variety of uses alongside each other!
The train theme was expanded upon by a core group of children with more joining in as and when their interest was captured. We were all amazed, as always, by the children’s ability to manifest such rich detail and depth to their play and the high levels of cooperation as friends contributed ideas. Tickets were made from ripped paper and handed out, with one child even hiding at the back of the train in case the ticket collector came aboard! Planks were used to form sliding doors with incredibly accurate train announcements letting us know to “Stand clear of the doors!” and “mind the gap!”. There was some debate as to whether the train was South Western, Southern or the Hogwarts Express but soon negotiations were made and it was decided that all stops could be accommodated!
The book corner has seen a high demand as always with the added contribution of cosy blankets so that those children wanting to find some quiet time could do so at their leisure, uninhibited by cooler temperatures.
Our little swing has been back inside the nest and this has been a wonderful opportunity for our younger Little Forest Folk-ers to adapt to the idea of sharing an activity amongst their friends. The children were given the opportunity to regulate their turn taking by deciding how many more swings they will have and they all count together, shouting out the numbers as a group. The impulse to ‘do it now’ can be quite a struggle for our younger friends to resist but with support from their educators and some wonderful examples in their older peers they have grown used to sitting on the “waiting log” for their turn to come around.
Lastly, with all the added layers of clothing being brought in and out of the forest, it would be a great help if parents could help us by clearly labelling items of clothing and gloves to make the inevitable mix ups easier to rectify!
We hope you all have had a wonderful week too, and we hope you all have a fantastic weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham