We are deep into the Autumn months now and some of the changes around us are paving the way for Winter. Such a sign is the huddling of ladybirds and some children have observantly discovered this happening whilst on their adventure walks. Here, we discovered that ladybirds hibernate through the winter months and that November is when they start looking out for suitable places to rest. You may even find some at home in window gaps or door frames, which would be a great moment to extend the type of discussions we would have here with similar finds. As examples, by following a child’s lead, talk may include specific details and features, the number of spots, similar beasts, the changes in the wider natural world, month sequence or the growth of life.
Along one of these walks, Dan found some clayish earth which has given the children lovely opportunities to be creative. We have seen some great experimental and skilful modelling with hedgehogs, snails and worms being made to play with. Children have found the texture of the natural clay very interesting and educators have helped support here by introducing new vocabulary for children to talk about their detailed observations.
These adventure walks have been far “more puddly” this week, so bigger splashes have made smiles even bigger than we thought possible. Puddles, beyond their immediate awesome use, have the propensity to provide great maths moments too. Children have been using sticks to measure depths and have been supported to give the water-marks numerical values. Heel to toe steps have also been used to help children find other ways to measure dimensions of puddles and this has been observed being used independently in play back at the forest site.
Further numeracy has come to the fore this week with the addition of laminated numbers on site. Older children have absolutely loved the challenge of ordering digits to 5 and we look forward to introducing numbers to 10 next week. Younger children have also done so well to match numerals and quantity correctly too. With all the fun imaginations, these cards have also been used to represent many various parts to play, and we have seen these being used in the “kitchens”, “cafes” and “houses” that children have created.
Back in the bowling club we have begun embellishing the atypical dinner routine by reimagining we are at a restaurant. Here we have provided a menu, albeit with one dish, and educators have jumped head-first into their roles of chefs and other staff to amplify the theme. The children loved roleplaying this and we observed that more food had been eaten. We anticipate that we will soon include blackboards for menus which will help with letter recognition and give us an opportunity to practice sounds too. This sort of fun will increase vocabulary whilst helping the children to take ownership of their own environment.
We hope you all have a great weekend full of similar fun and we can’t wait to hear all about it!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth