What a gorgeous week it’s been! The sunshine brought much warmth to our days in the forest, along with energy and positivity! The children have replaced their winter waterproofs and wellies with lighter clothes and short sleeves, summer hats and super speedy shoes. We can definitively say that spring has finally arrived!
The mud kitchen was vibrant as ever. The children enjoyed using our new measuring tubes and pipettes to pour water into different sized containers. They experimented with how much they needed to squeeze and release to grab the water and that took a few trials, but their perseverance and problem solving skills allowed them to find out for themselves. We had amazing cupcakes, soups, pizzas and pasta bake - all prepared by our favourite chefs!
The children have been learning some phonics this week, so don’t be surprised if they come home singing “a - a - ants on my arm”.. Some sounds can be a bit tricky to utter, but the children have been using our tree cookies with their names to practise in the forest. They are becoming experts in identifying letters and numbers! Some of the children can spell their names and help their peers find their names in the tree cookies!
Free play is always encouraged by our educators as it allows our children to expand their imagination and creativity. The narrative used in their role play can be as familiar as ‘super spiderman batman’ chases ‘black panther’, or it can be a fantastic tale about mermaids and peacocks baking for a birthday party in the mud kitchen!
We have been going on adventure walks to the walled garden and having snacks on the soft green grass. The children absolutely love to run around freely and roll on the grass! Their laughter is incredibly contagious and everybody feels happy and relaxed, it makes us educators want to be children again!
Our wild cooking this week was prepared by Hannah and boy did the children have fun making zucchini noodles! The strings of zucchini were endless and our children loved lifting their little arms in the air to see how long the strings were. Chopping peppers and slicing carrots as professional masterchefs, the children finished the dish with a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Tasting the ingredients along the way and shaking the container to mix it all together. Bon appetit little ones!
Our helping hands initiative lasted the whole week and the children had such a lovely time decorating the forest with flags, handprints, hearts and some face paint to raise awareness and money to help the children from Ukraine . Your generosity was overwhelming and we are ever so grateful for your kindness. The children talked about kindness every day, and we are incredibly proud that they are growing with gentle and kind hearts.
This week, we said goodbye to our beloved Florence, and it is with great sadness that we will be saying goodbye to our amazing Pippa at the end of the month! We will miss them both so much, but we know that they will be going on exciting adventures!
We are super excited to see you all at parents evening this week and talk about your little ones’ development in the forest!
Have a fantastic weekend everybody!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham