After the Bank Holiday weekend, excitement danced all around us as the crisp morning breeze brushed our cheeks and the sun illuminated the minibus. A sight that all of the children (and staff) had missed, one of the children exclaimed, “It’s the bus! It’s the bus!”, laughing and pointing as he did so. We couldn’t help but smile and feel joy for having got through this transitional period and be returning back into the full swing of our routine. The children were extremely happy to be going on their minibus adventure to the big Forest once again.
It’s been a fabulous start to September! We’ve welcomed quite a few new children this week, as well as two new educators! But the most special thing about this week has been having everyone back together in one big group! Excitement has filled the air and the energies have been absolutely wonderful. The children have certainly adapted back into the old routines. They know everything so well and have been happy to show our newcomers how things are done, including explaining our daily routines in the forest. Being welcomed so warmly has greatly helped the new children to settle in at Little Forest Folk and new friendships have begun to blossom. We’re all so proud of how friendly the children are and how they always look out for others.
In one of the clearings in the forest this week, dinosaurs lay dormant on the ground, waiting to be played with. It reminded us of a scene from Toy Story where the children forget about their ‘old’ toys and venture off to play with other ones. Teacher Sam had an idea and said, “Who wants to help me create a dinosaur river then watch the water flow downwards to create a puddle at the end?”, which made the children’s faces light up! They picked up the spades, took hold of the dinosaur toys, and dropped them by their feet to prepare for their decent into the dinosaur river. After splashing about for a little bit and throwing some of the dinosaurs into the water, the children were shown the different types of dinosaurs in a book, their eyes full of wonder and curiosity.
This week has been exceptionally eventful in terms of the abundance of games and activities the children have been getting involved in. The “dinosaur river” has been particularly popular as they’ve had opportunities to splash into the flowing water and get muddy. “Let me tell you something” said a child to one of their new friends that joined this week, “You can splash in the puddle because you have your waterproofs on! Let’s jump!”.
Some of the children have also enjoyed being ninjas, catching the criminals and bringing them to justice in their makeshift prison house! “There’s the criminal! Let’s get her!” they shouted at educator Sadiye as she ran away as fast as possible. She shouted “No! You can’t catch me! Hahaha!” but before she knew it a child swivelled past the tree and caught her unexpectedly and into the prison she went.
The forest swing has been put to very great use this week. All of the children have been showing their excellent awareness of space and have all been so patient at waiting for their turn. They’ve also enjoyed playing musical instruments that have hung low from ropes, looking through books and listening attentively to different tales, and there’s been great imaginative role playing! We were even lucky to receive a magical Wildflower book that we’ve put to good use at identifying the last of the beautiful summer blooms. We are extremely happy to be back for our new term and the new adventures that await us here at Wandsworth. We can’t wait to share our flora and fauna knowledge with them all and continue to create a safe, nurturing and positive space for the children to explore, play and build on their individual characters.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth