Leaves, Leaves, and more leaves!
This week the forest has become a wonderland of magical leaves! There are leaves falling all around us like golden snowflakes and our forest floor is lit up like the sun is shining through from under the ground.
We have enjoyed some wonderful walks into base camp with so much to see and do. Mushrooms are growing everywhere, and the children have been spotting them with their eagle eyes! We have discussed our 'no picking and licking rule' and we carefully observed them. With leaves falling around us the children spotted fly agaric mushrooms, bracket fungi and puff balls! We also noticed that as the leaves fall, they spin, float and turn as they come down! One child found a floating leaf caught in a spider’s web.
With so many leaves falling the children have also had fun playing a game where we try to catch the leaves as they are falling towards the ground. The children run about with their arms outstretched eager to ensure they catch the special leaves that have never touched the ground. We counted them as we caught them and sang our Autumn Leaves song.
We have also been studying the leaves up close noticing the patterns that emerge like crop circles on the young plane leaves. Bright green circles stand out against the yellow background. We have also been noticing the different shapes the leaves have that come from different trees. We have different types of oak, plane trees, elm, beech, silver birch, elder, sycamore, horse chestnut and chestnut trees! As the children study the leaves, they have also been choosing certain leaves for certain projects. For cakes the brown oak leaves have been the perfect ingredient to turn the mixture all chocolatey! Bright yellow plane leaves have been used to make lemonade and vanilla pie. And little copper coloured beech leaves have become sprinkles to go on the top of our potions and other concoctions!
The leaves have also been used as props in the children’s role-play games. Dragons have been using leaves for their wings, flapping them up and down and the children have been flying around in families making birthday cakes, houses and soups. When making dens the children have also used leaves to create a waterproof roof, layering them up over the sticks and logs!
With a golden floor of leaves we can’t wait to see what wonderful leafy adventures we will be taken on next week! We hope you all have lovely weekends!
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath