Our Week in the Forest...
The Autumn leaves are falling to the ground leaving a treasure trove of natural materials all around us to use creatively. This very wet Autumn has also brought us a new phenomenon for a lot of our children: mushrooms and fungi! Furthermore, to finish off our week, we have had a Halloween bonanza with hidden ghosts and the arrival of Rex, the inflatable dinosaur who made many friends on its first day.
To start each day, our Little Forest Folk-ers are brilliant at helping us by retelling the important and basic rules that we live by to keep all of us and the forest safe. However, with the incredibly wet and warm period that we have experienced over the past month, so many mushrooms and fungi have sprouted all around us in the forest. Quite simply, the mushrooms and fungus are magnificently beautiful and attractive but also can be dangerous. So, as well as discussing the dangers and wonders of mushrooms at circle times and reinforcing the importance of no picking and no licking, the children have been hired as expert mushroom detectors. Using a crib sheet created for the children to recognise the most dangerous of mushrooms, they have explored all around the forest with the educators let them know of any new discoveries, before using the cameras to document their findings. This connection the children have to the environment around them is the best way to understand their environment and to keep safe!
We have continued to manipulate the leaf debris we have been collecting to create more patterns on the ground. Our Little Forest Folk-ers have expressed an interest in making zig zag and swirling shapes. To help them complete the activity on their own, the educators lay out a design of the children's choice before they take the actions themselves to decide which colours to select throughout the pattern.
Halloween has once again been a hit for the children. We decided to spice up our day with the addition of ghosts around the forest space. Our Little Forest Folk-ers were challenged to find each ghost, noticing that each one of them had a letter written on it. They took the time to sound out the letters as the educators marked them down. After we found all the letters, we spent our time working out that the word was 'Halloween'. We then continued to carve faces into pumpkins - so much fun! As always the best way to learn is through play!
Have a lovely weekend everybody, see you next week!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth