We have had a wonderfully sunny week in the forest! Filled with music and laughter as we’ve had returning holiday campers and new settlers to welcome!
As some of our holiday campers are unfamiliar with everyone in the forest, we thought of a lovely way to share a bit about ourselves! Using plain paper, we created a booklet with a self-portrait on the front and our name underneath! Inside we chose our favourite colours alongside our age and some of our favourite things to eat or places to go. This was a wonderful activity to get a group together and discuss their favourites. “My favourite colour is red too, but I like orange as well.” “I went to Egypt!” “I went on holiday too!” “Did you see animals?”
As our forest rules are becoming familiar to all, we have been searching the forest for pretty leaves that have fallen rather than picking from branches. We went on a hunt around the forest to see how many different coloured leaves we could find! “I’ve found orange, brown and green!” “I found four different colours!” We sat to compare the shapes and patterns. We have shaped hole punches which are perfect for creating shapes in leaves and creating natural confetti! “Can I use the heart shape?” Once we had punched holes and gathered all of the confetti together, many wanted to make cards for their loved ones!
We have been extra creative within the forest this week, finding bark all around us we wondered if that would sink or float? Upon our discovery we manufactured sails and some even created a crew for their boat! We couldn’t stop there; we saw they were able to float in a black tuft tray but we wondered how we could make them sail. We gathered the adventurers together to balance pipes at an angle, creating a water slide for our boats! As we poured water down the slide we let go of our boats and watched them sail into the ‘ocean!’
Another popular activity this week has been painting and sensory play! We have made banana play dough where we used our pestle and mortar to ‘grind’ and ‘mash’ the banana! We then added flour and water in measurements until our learners were happy with the consistency. “Too sticky!” “More flour!” The same day we experimented painting on different materials! We set up a clear tarpaulin which our adventurers immediately began to get creative with! “I’m painting the hungry caterpillar!” “I’m doing the sea!” We could hear lots of descriptive words as we chose and mixed colours to apply (or “splat!”)
Finally, we have added a music wall! These instruments have been tied onto a wall near a play area. We have maracas, drums, symbols, wind chimes and more! It’s been a musical week as the explorers have found different tools from the forest floor to create sound! “Listen to this!” We also discussed what we thought ‘happy’ versus ‘sad’ sounds may look like! We are delighted to keep adding to our music wall as our adventurers have shown they love to experiment and manipulate sound!
Have a wonderful weekend and bank holiday! We will see you next week!
Little Forest Folk
Morden