As another week bypasses us, we reflect back on another week that has offered so many learning opportunities to us and our little ones.
The week started off very wet, and so we utilised the rainwater to our advantage. A swamp was made, for the swamp monster to live in! Together, the children dugout a pit in the mud, using spades and shovels, before collecting all the water from other puddles, to transport over to the newly built swamp. Our young miners worked together in order to do so, and eventually the swamp was ready. This led to various different role play games centred around the idea of there being a swamp monster! Children ran, hid and coaxed the swamp monster to “come and get me swamp monster!”. This was something that became a theme for the day and was a truly fascinating way of utilising the heavy downpours and the mud that came with it.
Wednesday was a fantastic day, the absolute ideal weather for forest school. The morning was crisp and chilly, the camp had been peppered with autumn leaf fall, and the grass crunched as we walked over it, a feeling that we had missed. Winter had finally arrived!
We used the fallen leaves to create leaf butterflies on a string with educator Sofia. Sofia helped the children attach a twig to their string, before finding some of these fallen leaves to create leaf butterflies. These creations looked beautiful as the crisp wind blew through the leaves, to give the motion of a gliding butterfly.
By Thursday, we had a day so misty, it brought an eerie effect into camp. Our gloves, hats and scarves were on, and we went into camp to investigate the fog.
Educator Sam created a super fun activity this week. He put two slack lines up, and the children used them as giant slingshots! Some of the children stood on one side of the slack line, and the others stood opposite by the other, and we counted down from various different numbers, before the children pretended to slingshot themselves from one side of the camp, to the other, and vice versa. This was something that persisted for a lengthy amount of time, which is a testament to how much fun everyone was having.
One thing that truly continues to fascinate the educators, is the multiple uses that a stick has! This week we have paid close attention to the many uses of a stick and we have experienced them being used in various creative ways by our little explorers. From swords, to bow and arrows, from oars on a canoe to a train we can ride, a stick truly is the most versatile piece of equipment in the forest.
We have really enjoyed the cold and wintery week that we had been gifted with, we hope it continues next week!
Have a brilliant bonfire night weekend everybody!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth