‘Thick oozy mud. We can’t go over it. We can’t go under it. OH NO! We’ve got to go through it!’
Whilst we have not been on any bear hunts this week, we have been negotiating heaps of thick oozy mud and our Little Forest Folk-ers have been finding lots of ways of overcoming it. We have used planks to walk across it, balancing beams to wobble over it, our wellie boots to stomp in it and our running feet to go around it. As well as mud we have seen some impressive puddles forming around the forest in which many little feet have suddenly disappeared. As adults it is easy to look at a puddle as an unfortunate nuisance, but for young children they present an object of fascination. Some of our children enjoy splashing in them, others use them to observe how certain objects float or sink, whilst the sharp-eyed can notice reflections of themselves in the water.
On Wednesday the kind dentist and her assistant arrived during a lucky brief gap in the showers, in order for us all to sit under the beautiful plane tree and learn all about keeping our teeth clean. Afterwards we set up a mini roleplay area with a dentist box, brushes, toothpaste tubes and an odd-looking plastic mouth within a body. Roleplay is a good way for children to interpret what they have learnt and explore their ideas about a given subject. We have also been reading the popular story ‘Peppa goes to the dentist’ and discussing what a trip to the dentist is like.
Heavy rain presents a challenge when it comes to arts and crafts activities. This requires staff to come up with inventive solutions and unconventional ways for the children to explore colours, textures and mark-making. This week we have used a large canvas to allow the children to explore what happens when paint gets wet and the marks move around, taking new forms with each raindrop. This kind of painting creates an interesting effect and encourages them to look closely at patterns.
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham