The children have been in explorer and investigator mode this week with plenty of adventure walking to spark their curiosity. The wet weather has meant lots of slippy mud and squashy puddles as we poked around under trees and bushes to see what we could find. One of our magpies crated a handheld device out of a piece of old roofing tile that she found, and she took charge of directing us on our walk, it felt very Star Trek! Continuing the theme from last week with looking closely at imprints in the mud, from time-to-time children could be seen crouching down together to study a patch before lifting their own feet to see if the patterns matched and then testing the footprints to make comparisons.
A great many balancing beams and steppingstones were made with team efforts to move heavy pieces and confident requests for help to create their vision. As more of these activities are repeated, we can see a development in the problem-solving skills of our Little Forest Folk-ers through the testing they are carrying out and adjustments being made. The creative, social and mathematical learning that goes on in these projects is so important and develops completely naturally with educators only stepping in to support communication, safety and to stimulate ideas if they look like a particular problem is becoming tricky to solve. We have so many loose parts available and, in the same manner as Lego, the children are drawn again, and again, every week to build and create and construct. They practice through play and apply concepts learned from the last time to cement the learning; space, measurement, weight, balance and creativity as well as teamworking and project management.
On both sides the groups have been playing with balance, either with their own bodies on narrow beams or with seesaws created over logs. They challenge themselves by finding the tipping point to walk over a seesaw and we encourage them with positive language to progress forward from needing to hold a finger or hand, to being confident to try on their own. Some of them then extended the play to balance logs, rocks and branches on each side like a set of scales until the plank sat perfectly even. The focus and attention to detail was quite amazing.
The robins have been developing their role playing games with more play being centred around social situations and the negotiation of characters each will play. This is becoming more apparent all the time as they grow increasingly interested in each other and adept in their communication and it is great to see the younger ones following along with their older friends to join the fun.
Friendships are blossoming beautifully and we have noticed some of the children pairing up in new ways as their development and interests start to naturally draw different individuals together. We see ages and genders mixing very naturally and we are so pleased to see that these things do not matter to our groups; all are equal, and we love to see leadership skills on show from all of our children no matter who they are.
We hope you all have wonderful weekends and will see you next week for lots of fun!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham