“Can you tell me a story?”
The forest is looking a little muddier this week! There are some spaces in the forest which the children have been helping us to dig and make water channels to help the water run down the slopes and into the shrubs to be drunk up by the plants, “Run away water!”, “Here's a drink for you, plants!”. We worked together using our spades and buckets to pour the water into the drains, and to move the mud and sticks so they don’t block the flow of the water, “Out of the way, sticks!”.
After a while, the children and educators worked together to build a little bridge over the muddy ground at the back of the forest, which inspired lots of fun imaginative play when it was finished! The children started to decide who would take each roll in the story of the three billy goats, “I’ll be the big billy goat gruff!”, “Who’s trip-trapping over my bridge?”. We have also had lots of fun decorating the new bridge with coloured wool, and crafts that we have made!
The children all love taking time during the day to head over to the area at the front of the forest near the big oak tree, to have a go on the big swing! Recently we have been pretending to be ‘astronauts’ while using the swing, counting down until we ‘blast-off!’ into the air! Continuing the children’s interest in space, they will talk with each other and decide which planet they will be flying to when they swing, “I’m going to Saturn today!”, “I can see my mummy’s car from this spaceship!”.
This has also given us time to explore that part of the forest in more detail, using the app on the teachers’ phones ‘leaf snap’ to look for new plants that we haven’t noticed before; using the app to show us the names of the plants that are popping up now that spring is near! We’re really excited to be using this more through spring to learn more about our beautiful outdoor space!
Our cooking activity this week has been, of course, pancakes! The children were so excited to join us at the fire and prepare the batter for our tasty treats! The little chefs noticed that the recipe was very similar to the crumpets we made a few weeks ago and talked with each other about what toppings they like best on their pancakes when we eat them with our families. It’s always nice to hear the flavours and ingredients that the children like best; we use our literacy skills to write them down or draw a little picture so that we can add them to our recipes for next time!
As well as Pancake Day, this week has also been World Book Day! We were so excited to come into the forest to see what cool outfits our friends and practitioners were wearing and talk about which parts of their outfits they liked the most! We had lots of reading areas dotted around the forest, so we were never far from a nice story, and practised writing some of our own stories which we have been thinking of, scribed by the educators, and read allowed to our friends at lunch and snack times! As we do more story writing activities, we can really see the children’s story telling skills develop, and their choice of words helping their ideas come to life! The children also love hearing their own name in the stories when their friends have written about a magical adventure involving them!
Little Forest Folk
Morden