Our Week in the Forest...
The introduction of our new fleece lined waterproofs is as good as a sign as any that the weather is changing. Despite that, the children have been as enthusiastic and energetic as ever.
This week varying types of constructions have appeared in our forest — the most notable of these being the enormous house/tepee/castle that the children helped Silvia constructed. Now tepees are a regular thing in the forest but Silvia’s past architectural degree was put to good use in the design of this one. It became a place for stories, role play or just for relaxing.
Children also enjoyed taking part in what can best be described as ‘the hangy thingumajig activity’. The children were given vague instructions, such as ‘find something heavy, find something orange, find something soft, find something you think looks cool, etc., etc.’ After each instruction, they would bring back whatever they found, and would help to tie it to their piece of string, hanging from a branch.
To be able to understand the instruction, remain focused and engaged enough to find the item, then to bring it back and help tie it to the string required a number of different skills. It was lovely to observe children developing in areas such as art and design, communication and language, physical development and more through one simple activity. Such a large part of the Little Forest Folk ethos is to fill children with confidence and self-esteem, and to be able to tell a child they found the coolest stick you have ever seen, the prettiest flower in the whole forest or the most amazing feather is one of the best parts of our job — and this activity was perfect for that!
Our walks to base camp have had some added excitement this week with a visit to the pumpkin stall. The gardening team at Fulham Palace have been hard at work and have created a magical looking display with all varieties of pumpkins and the children have enjoyed stopping to inspect it. It’s yet another real life, visual, tangible example of how the seasons impact the environment around us and such a great tool for helping the children develop. With more leaves, seeds and twigs now falling off the trees we’re able to make faces on the ground, spell out our names and create lots more things. The walk into the forest is such a special time where children get to explore and with such an expanse of stimuli the opportunities for learning are endless.
The excitement of cooking class continued this week (exciting for the children, maybe less so for parents when presented with the end product) and Cannelloni was on the menu. Along with tennis lessons, it’s lovely to see how excited the children get when they realise what day it is and that they can take part in these activities.
It’s been another delightful week in the forest, with the children continuing to amaze us.
Have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham