The children this week returned to our old basecamp and were super excited to explore the wide-open spaces, jump in squishy leaf puddles and make up their own stories in new role-play areas!
With the return of our mud kitchen, the children have been intensely engaged in collecting water from tarps, leaves from under bushes and mud from the forest floor! They gathered their ingredients and set about making some wonderful treats. One group made a special birthday cake for Ruth’s upcoming special day, another boiled eggs in pots and created delicious soups with leaf bread for their friends. This was all done in the kitchen of their superhero flying car!
Role-play games continued throughout the week and in all the spaces on camp. Some children got together to be a group of cats with a baby kitten. The cats had to protect the kitten from predators and also feed it milk and take it for naps. Each child was fully immersed, moving, behaving and sounding just like a cat! Another group pretended to be superheroes and went off to solve all the problems in the world! They had a wonderful time with their capes trailing behind them as they ran from one disaster to the next saving the day each time!
We had a wonderful adventure on one day where we explored the deeper parts of the forest. The children had to negotiate very tricky terrain dodging roots, brambles and holly branches as they trekked through the thicket. In a clearing we found some minibeasts under a log. The children were quick to point out worms, millipedes and centipedes. One smaller worm was carefully placed with the larger worm so he could be close to his mummy!
Back on camp the children were enjoying the long rope-swing, testing the limits of how high they were happy to go. The swing sent them flying through the forest about 10 meters from side to side! We also had some children showing off their creative side as they painted on cardboard adding mud, leaves and sticks for texture and different coloured paints to make wonderful modern art. The creativity didn’t stop there as a percussion band formed banging pots and pans with sticks making up their own beats together!
Next week we look forward to continuing some of our creative projects and seeing the wonderful and imaginative ideas that will no doubt flow from the children’s minds! We hope you all have lovely weekends!
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath