We can’t believe it’s the Easter holidays already! Where has the time gone? Also, what has happened to the weather? Just as we were getting used to some mild, sunny spring days, the temperature has dropped and brought with it some strong winds. As always, our educators regularly inspect the trees to ensure the forest is safe for our Little Forest Folk-ers. On Thursday the winds became so ferocious that we had our lunch in our indoor space and then returned to the forest for the afternoon. Hopefully it will warm up in time for our lovely Easter bank holiday weekend! Please let us know if you have any exciting plans.
This week we have welcomed back some familiar faces and met some new friends as our sessional children take a two-week break and we open to ‘holiday campers.’ The mix of age groups allows for some nice exchanges, with the older children passing on their own knowledge and the younger ones reminding us all how to have fun and embrace the outdoors. The older children in particular enjoyed having a go at whittling, using tools to peel off the bark of thin branches and then shaping them in various ways. Some children made crowns which made them look very much like Max from ‘Where the wild things are.’ Others enjoyed making wands to cast spells in the forest and used long pieces as fishing rods, casting them into the river.
One of the loveliest aspects of working in London is the diversity of backgrounds, religions and cultural practices that individual families share. This week we welcomed a child from Romania who taught us how to say good morning in Romanian. We choose a different greeting every morning, but this gave us a chance to add another tongue to our repertoire.
We also had another holiday camper who spoke Greek and Italian. One of our full-time children also speaks Italian and had the chance to share a conversation with them which was wonderful to observe.
We continually look for new ways to use our mud kitchen messy play area. One of the most popular this week has been the sweet factory that was laid out with shoots, ingredients bottles, large stirring spoons, and deep pans. The smells coming from the factory’s direction were delightful and made many a tummy rumble. Sadly, the shoot was very temperamental and needed constant maintenance from our little engineers to ensure it carried on producing delicious treats. Two of the most popular items on offer were hot chocolate and strawberry ice-cream.
Recently the children have been singing lots of Disney songs around the forest. One educator had an idea to collect some long sticks from the forest floor and prop them up in the dirt as makeshift microphones. We laid out some pallets to create a stage and watched as ‘Let it go!’ and ‘Hakuna Matata’, amongst others, were performed to an appreciative audience.
On Wednesday we took advantage of a quiet morning to do some birdwatching and listened out to the different bird songs we could hear. Some of the children used binoculars and magnifying glasses to get a better look (it can be tricky in some of the dense wooded areas to spot our feathered friends). One child spotted two pigeons keeping a beady eye on our activities, whilst our dear friend Mr Robin appeared to find out why all was so quiet. We also found a large hole in one of the smaller trees that contained a family of woodlice which fascinated our group of little twitchers.
Using our tuff tray, we have been experimenting with making marks and exploring bright, illuminous paints. Cutting up some leftover vegetables the children were able to mix and move the paint around the tray, making wavy lines, circles, squares, and smiley faces. Sometimes just providing open-ended arts and craft activities enables children to really develop their ideas and ability to think creatively.
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham