The river Crane had areas this week where shoals of fish gathered to enjoy the warmth of the sun. Our children have loved visiting the river from the bridge or the banks to observe them. When a child dropped their map into the water, Lizzie grabbed her superhero cape (and her wellies) and waded down the river retrieve it. We noticed that the water was only ankle deep and now would be a safe time to explore the river from a different perspective.
Miranda’s group went first, each child excitedly put on their waterproofs and wellies and holding an adult’s hand, stepped down into the water. How strange to now have to look up at the bridge opposed to being on the bridge looking down. To avoid disturbing the fish, the group waded in the opposite direction where they discovered large Horse Chestnut trees with lots of green spiky conkers and undisturbed blackberry bushes growing some very juicy berries.
Xiao and Linn’s group ventured in next and the older children were fascinated with the plant life flowing in the water and thought it thrilling the call the weeds “sleeping crocodiles”. They were equally as drawn to the sight of the enormous blackberries and soon helped fill Miriam’s pockets so we could have them back on site to squish and turn into paints. One of the children’s houses backs on to the river and it was great to suddenly have their mum appear in the garden and we stopped in the river for a chat.
On dry land, the children in green group have been very dramatic. The stage and curtain has been a very popular place for children to assemble and watch each other do performances and our circle times have been improved with children acting out stories they have been making up such as The Three Little Owls and the Big Bad Wolf and it has been amazing to watch even our shyest of children take turns being characters in the story.
The children also seem to prefer the stage when they have costumes to put on and so with Xiao, children for to have a go at some dress making. They cut their fabric out from a large sheet (and this was harder than it sounded when you only have little hands and little scissors but there was lots of persistence!) and then they decorated it with paints, pens and even squashed berries. Once ready, they then swished around in their new robes!
Miranda’s group seemed to use their observations of the river to inspire their play as they pretended their pallets were ships and they had to jump down into shark infested water! They also seem to love drawing around themselves too, some liked to just draw around their feet or their friends’ feet or lie down on wooden planks and have a friend try and trace around their bodies with the chalk. They would then stand up and label the different areas of their bodies and had fun colouring their chalk shadows in.
We hope you all have a fantastic weekend and thank you to all the families who attended the Zoom parent evenings this week, it was lovely to reflect on how well the children have been doing since returning.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham