We celebrated the longest day of the year this week with lots of fun filled activities! With the warm weather we’ve been having this week (finally!), we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to celebrate Happiness Week.
We started by appreciating how amazing the forest is looking with the wildflowers peeking out among the tall grass. We observed the bees as they buzzed from flower to flower, looking for nectar to take back to their hive. We were delighted when one of the bees perched on our wooden house for a rest in the sunshine, and we were able to see up close how she cleaned herself by rubbing her legs over her thorax and abdomen. We were inspired to become bees ourselves and we buzzed around looking for flowers to visit –morning glories, pansies, geraniums and small red campions. It was a treat!
To continue with our flower theme, as it made us feel happy, we highlighted a particular flower that made us feel cheerful – the sunflower! We learned the parts of a sunflower and made our own craft sunflowers. We also learned how many birds like goldfinches and robins rely on sunflower seeds to eat. Thinking of the birds and how real sunflowers aren’t in bloom yet for them to feast on the seeds, we thought it would be nice to make food balls for our winged friends in the forest. Making a concoction of pumpkin seeds, suet, and oats, we churned and shaped the mixture in a ball and hung them up throughout the forest.
We’ve been eyeing our strawberry patch all week, checking to see if any of the berries have ripened. Unfortunately, they aren’t quite ready, but we’ve been looking through recipes to get ideas on what we can make with them once they are! We decided that a strawberry lemonade would just hit the spot. As we wait in anticipation, we prepare our ingredients and equipment –lemons, honey, a juicer, a jug and we will wait for the strawberries to be ready.
It’s been a lovely week, spreading happiness around the forest with our morning disco dance party and appreciating our amazing forest and the flora and fauna we share it with.
We’ll be back next week with more stories of our adventures in the forest!
Little Forest Folk
Morden