From snow and ice to rivers of mud!
After a weekend of snow, we were lucky at Putney that the snow stayed with us for another two days! The children were super excited as they ran around on the snow and ice, getting to grips with the uneven and slippery surface! Their skills in negotiating this environment were amazing, they negotiated it all at top speed. As we stood back to observe, it truly was a winter wonderland filled with laughter and positive energy.
The excitement built as our purple tubs were turned into sleighs with educator-come-reindeer pulling the children around. The children paired up and screamed with delight as they took off across the snow! This wonderful resource was put to good use all day! After sledging the children practiced their climbing up and over the fallen snowmen. Blocks of icy snow were collected and tools were found in the forest nearby and the children then set about making their own ice sculptures. They used sticks and stones to chisel away at it forming different shapes. They talked about how the snow was melting and we explained about friction and body heat. One group used large blocks to make a useable throne, they explained that it was for the ice queen! Soon the ice queen was sat down, and she received gifts of different animals sculpted out of ice!
As the children walked into the forest each day, we talked lots about the different sounds we could hear. Early in the week we talked about the crunching of snow and cracking of ice under foot, we also talked about the closeness and quiet created by having snow on the ground. Later in the week we talked about the sound of the rain and sloshing and squelching sounds of jumping in muddy puddles! Woodpeckers have also featured on our listening walks; we could hear them pecking away at the trunks of trees around the forest. We even spotted one high up in a tree.
With all the snow melting in the latter stages of the week and some heavy rainfall, we found that some of the paths had turned into rivers! The children thought that this was wonderful, and we went on river walks, splashing through the swamps! The swamps that formed on camp were used well by the children. At first, they splashed and splashed until their faces were covered with mud. Then they used sticks and planks to make bridges so they could cross them and play wonderful role-play games!
We hope you all have had a lovely week too, and we cannot wait to see what next week brings!
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath