Dinosaur eggs and bug hotels have been amongst the many highlights this week. Simon made magic by hiding dinosaur eggs, that our little dinosaur hunters uncovered. After popping it in water, over the next few hours they kept checking back to see the progress of the "hatching". Eventually we had two baby stegosaurs!
Simon's dinosaur eggs sparked some interesting conversations over on Green Group, in which they discussed the different kinds of animals that hatched. These included ducks and swans, like those that Green Group see at the lake on their adventure walks, but also, caterpillars! These curly creatures have been hanging from trees in abundance this week. Green Group have been rescuing them and gently placing them on leaves, showing their great capacity for compassion.
The magic continued on Green Group's adventure walk as they found a very special door on a tree; their imaginations ran wild as they came up with suggestions of who could live there. They also made good use of the wet weather and enjoyed splashing in puddles and rivers!
"Understanding the World" is a key area of development in the Early Years Framework. Red Group have begun to work on a "Bug Hotel", using an old pallet, children have been collecting pinecones and sticks to make "rooms" for wildlife. In creating this wildlife area, we hope this provides little ones with an understanding of what life needs to flourish and grow - shelter and food. By creating a habitat to observe how small invertebrates live and behave, hopefully little ones can continue to develop their awareness and understanding of the natural world and life itself. Also, "considering the needs of another is one of the building blocks of empathy" and we know that the compassion our little ones already show the millipedes and snails we find in the field or forest, can extend beyond their time at Little Forest Folk.
Red Group have been practicing their phonics this week. They've been exploring the ’b’, ‘d’ and ‘p’ sound, these plosive consonants can sound very similar but also lower-case ‘b’ and ‘d’ share visual similarities. So, to avoid any confusion, with the help of some flash cards and models of a polar bear, duck and brown bear, Matt did an activity with little ones, challenging them to match the animal to the correct card. Over on Green Group they explored the phoneme ‘ca’ and how adding a 't','p' or 'r' can create cat, cap or car.
The magic of letters and bugs has been interspersed with moments of music and art. Sofia held a forest disco with red group, whilst over on Green Group, Dan made a game out of a tambourine. Using their listening skills, children followed the sound of a shaking tambourine to find a hiding Mr. Tambourine Man Dan. Katie helped Green Group to make trees from mud paint, whilst Cici helped Red Group shape snails from clay.
It’s been another magical week in the forest, and we hope the magic continues into the weekend…if the sun doesn't make an appearance, we hope rainbows do!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth