Our Week in the Forest...
After the excitement of being on Sunday Morning Live at the weekend and having all of the lovely parents staying for stay and play week, it has been an adventurous yet extremely peaceful week in the forest! Exploration and delving into new territories has been the real theme of the week - with the group leading the way we found new dens, giant dinosaur footprints and a whole host of insects that we haven’t seen before!
The children’s enthusiasm for tool work is boundless and they are relishing the challenge of using more tools to make new and different items. This week we have continued to make tree cookies using the bow saw and using the pinon drill to drill a hole to make the spinning tops. On every occasion this week we have had more than one work station so that the children can start to see the development of their creations rather than the basic process of just sawing and drilling. This will give them the inspiration to start thinking about what they could possibly make. This will garner an understanding of the practical application of the tools. We have already had requests to create our own animals and vehicles which we will start to roll out over the next couple of weeks!
Now every morning upon arriving at the forest we have been going on an adventure walk. This week’s adventure walks have taken us far and wide, to many different areas of the forest. Today we had our blackberry binoculars on, looking for only the ripe blackberries for the educators to pick which we later turned into paint! We also found crickets which amazed us with how far we could jump. In the dappled light of the forest there have been some truly magical moments!
We have also been carrying out helicopter story sessions. Using nice quiet spaces in the morning each child has told an educator a story of their own creation. Later in the afternoon we create a ‘stage space’. In this stage space the children are re-told their stories which the authors then act out with the help of their friends to voice the words of the characters. Needless to say, the children absolutely loved it and it showed the real dramatic skills of some of our Little Forest Folk-ers!
It has been another fantastic week in the forest which we have all thoroughly enjoyed. Sadly, it is the end of term for some of our friends in the forest. It has been another wonderful term, we hope that those of you have a wonderful summer and we are looking forward to seeing you back in the forest in September!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth