Our Week in the Forest...
This week we said hello to some new faces in the forest as children started their settling in. Some of the children about to start their exciting journey at Little forest folk have been settling in with their families this week; getting to know the educators, making new friends and navigating their way through our basecamp to find out where everything is. Our expert Little Forest Folk-ers were excited to share everything they knew about their forest and show the new little ones around as well as teach them the forest school rules.
As educators, it has been lovely to watch all the children settle in so well, exploring our setting and seeing what we get up to. Some children have been getting creative with the paints and using clay to make lollipops, trains and even penguins! The mud kitchen has been a hive of activity too, with yummy hot chocolate being made and poured into cups and soups being stirred around until they are just right! We also brought the speaker and instruments down to the forest this week, which has given us all a spring in our step, singing and dancing our way around, over tree stumps and planks.
With so many hellos, come a few goodbyes too. With school starting next week we have been singing our goodbye song with our best singing voices for the last time, wishing all of the children that have left us the best of luck on their next adventure - at school and beyond!
Every day before lunch this week, we have gone on an adventure walk. The children decided to vote between themselves, deciding where to go. The first few times, they voted to head in the direction of the sprinklers in the walled garden, cooling down from the sun and stopping to smell the various herbs and flowers. On Thursday they decided to head to the climbing tree and demonstrated how incredible their co-ordination, agility and balance is.
Back at basecamp there have been some wonderful dens built with oak tree branches. The most popular being a large living room, fitted with a sofa, television and table made from tree stumps and found objects. Those involved in its construction came up with a plan for how to transport the heavy tree branches and worked together as a team to move all the pieces and fit them together, communicating their ideas throughout. They designed a separate doorway for heavy vehicles so not to break the entrance which was for the children, this entrance was operated by one of the them lifting up a lever to let the vehicles in.
Next week we are looking forward to the start of a new term and welcoming more new faces to the forest!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham