This week in the forest, we've had a few birthdays! We've celebrated with songs and mud birthday cakes and seen some children transition from wearing a yellow high vis vest to proudly wearing an orange high vis now that they’re older. Developmental psychologist, Dr. Woolley, says it's important to mark birthdays to raise children's self-esteem, to increase the perception of time and to also create positive memories. Associating growth with a positive response, helps our little ones to face their future with joy.
We all know how quickly time goes, flowing like a river. We had lots of river play this week on adventure walks. Red Group found a new bridge to cross and there were some who found this tricky, but they kept trying and rose to the challenge, showing great perseverance until they achieved their goal. Meanwhile back at camp the "Dinosaur River" was created, and Sam supported the children to create some dams. The Green Group have also been enjoying water play, busily filling up containers to create "pancake batter".
Whilst water provided our Little Forest Folk-ers with ample opportunity to flex their powers of imagination, the earth provided them with lots of opportunities to challenge their physical development. Dan's brand new "mud patch" at the Bowling Club was also unveiled this week! Green Group were delighted to find a new environment to explore in their field and they experimented with a whole host of different ways of physically engaging with the new space. It involved small hills to climb up, and a slide created by a plank of wood to shimmy, roll or walk down.
Finding new ways of adjusting to new circumstances has been a global challenge. Despite being split into two separate bubbles we've still embraced new ways of engaging as a whole team. Simon found a very clever way of getting both groups to race him, as he stood along the central path and encouraged the children to work together by racing to the top, hitting a bowl with a stick on their respective sides, which meant he had to stay in the middle in ‘no man's land’.
Barack Obama once said, "We didn't come here to fear our future, we came here to shape it". Red Group explored what it meant to be fearless as they played dress up, donning their superhero capes and taking on monsters and villains. This week, they also made gymnastic rhythm sticks with ribbons and sticks to be used during "Ninja play”. Armed with their wits, imagination and courage, we have no doubt they will be able to take on anything! Green Group made clay bugs such as butterflies and spiders, refining their fine motor skills to shape their creations. They also showed bravery in climbing trees and compassion in helping their new friends to settle in. Our Super Little Forest Folk-ers demonstrate daily their strong skills in navigating changes in both weather and life and we know that they'll be able to take on anything that the future has in store for them.
We hope you all have wonderful long bank holiday weekends!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth