When the educators stepped into the forest to set up early on Monday morning, they could all sense that something had happened over the weekend. There were the reindeer footprints all over the grass, the skid marks left by a veering sleigh in the mud and why was the laptop covered in magic dust? When they saw the greenhouse, they couldn’t believe their eyes - it had been transformed into a beautiful, magical grotto and there were gifts for all the children. The children have spent the week visiting and watching the video Father Christmas left them and have had lots of fun and giggles playing around in the grotto’s photo booth, holding up props to make them look like Santa’s and elves!
Outside the grotto, Christmas party week has been in full swing. Children have been making pomanders- piercing holes in oranges and inserting cloves - filling the air with the wonderful smells of Christmas. Children got to taste these flavours too as they made Christmas spiced orange juice. Sugar was dissolved in a small amount of warm water and cloves and cinnamon sticks were added. Then the children had great fun squeezing oranges into the mixing bowl and then sieved this amber coloured mixture into cups before mixing with a little more hot water and enjoying this Forest Folk mulled drink!
As well as Christmas, we have been looking at the celebration of Hanukkah. The forest casino saw lots of children falling in love with the dreidel game. Each player had a collection of pine cones and each would place a cone in the centre pot. The children used their little fingers to spin the dreidel and depending on the symbol the dreidel landed on, had to either add another cone to the pot, win half the contents of the pot or win the entire pot! Cones could then be cashed in for chocolate coins and of course, the game saw many a returning player. The week ended with the lighting of the menorah candles and a moment of reflection before the candle flames came together to light our collective camp fire.
For many of you, this may have been your child’s last week in the forest until the new year. We know this year has presented its challenges but know that when your child returns in January and we ask about their Christmas, they very rarely talk about toys, gifts or a perfectly cooked Turkey. They talk about the time they spent with their families and the things mum and dad did to make them laugh. So if any of you need permission to unburden yourselves of the pressure to make things extravagant or perfect, let this be our gift to you. The only thing we ask is they hurry back in the New Year!
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham