Ever so slightly, the weather this week has been changing. Children have been noticing a colder temperature in the air towards the end of the week and we were all so happy to have big puddles to splash in after a lovely downpour.
With the cooler air and damper atmosphere, we have been welcoming some old friends back into the forest in the form of snails. The children found two very beautiful baby snails and spent a long time examining them, looking at their tiny but distinct shell markings and watching the little ones explore their surroundings.
Some children were helping Xiao remove a piece of bark from a tree stump that was looking loose and a discovery of a family of large snails was made (the collective noun for snails can be, a walk, a hood or an escargatoire!) and it was thrilling to see the children get so excited to be able to find snails in the forest again.
Miranda created a great new game this week called 'minibeast bingo' and the children had great fun working together to cover all their images as minibeasts where identified. This is a real confidence booster for new children and a chance for our more experienced Little Forest Folk-ers to show off their buggy knowledge!
Our Little Forest Folk-ers this week have also enjoyed helping us recycle old paper, card and newspapers by turning them into paper bricks. They helped tear and shred the paper and mixed it in large flexitubs with water until it was nice and soggy. They then loaded their mixture into the brick making machine and used the leaver to squish it all together and voila, a brick was produced! These were then dried out and used as fuel for the fire or in their construction play. This has been a great chance to talk about reusing materials instead of filling up bins with rubbish that can take a long time to disintegrate.
Bricks have not been the only thing to be made in the forest this week - our rhubarb has reached the perfect point for harvesting and the children helped Linn make some gorgeous rhubarb cordial. They helped chop rhubarb, pour a little sugar, measure water and mix it all together and talk about 'dissolving'. The process of planting and nurturing the crop right to the point of harvesting and cooking with it, gives the children a hands-on experience of 'farm to table' and helps children find joy in the process. They also couldn't wait to have a little taste!
We hope you all have a fantastic weekend and we look forward to seeing more snails in the forest next week!
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham