Mother Nature is our main Teacher in an outdoor setting. We rely on the environment to provide learning opportunities and as Educators we shape activities in line with the Early Years curriculum. However our Little Forest Folk-ers are encouraged to be as active as possible in how they shape their own learning. This week, we have enjoyed the many fruits of our labour out on the Bowling Club field. All of our digging, planting and cultivating along with the help of Mother Nature and the children has created a beautiful space for flowers to grow, bees to fly and bugs to take shelter. The children have busily moved soil, sewn seeds and are always extremely keen to help with the watering. Gardening is a great physical development activity that encourages the use of both fine and gross motor skills through moving from one place to another transporting soil, water and using tools.
Gardening can also be an exercise in phonics! This week Matt led an activity focused on CVC words, 3 letter words which are easy to read using phonic knowledge. The children picked out CVC word signs for the garden like "sun" and "bug". They coloured them in and placed them where they thought they should go, like by the sunflowers or at the bug hotel. This gives children a chance to define their surroundings and gives them autonomy. By being authors of their own space, they get to decide how their learning environment looks, encouraging them to be active learners.
Creativity has been a continued theme, with Dan supporting the children to make play-dough. Our little problem solvers helped to perfect the best play-dough consistency through trial and error of quantities and measurements. This was a great exercise in exploring texture, as they noticed if the dough was too sticky or crumbly, eventually reaching the "Goldilocks zone" of smooth and pliable dough.
This week in the forest we have had a very special visitor... our former Forest Educator Chloe who’s brought lots of fun and energy! The children have been overjoyed to have her back to play ‘bumble bee tag’. With Chloe being such a big fan of literature, she also brought in some fantastic children’s books to read. Chloe read "Once Upon a Dragon's Fire" about the power of kind words and the importance of rewriting unfair stories.
Dragon's have featured heavily this week in imaginations. Working together, the children created their own dragon, using a tarp to cover themselves as a group then they ran around the site full of dragon fire! Mother nature showed her playful side and contributed to the dragon role-play also. After one rain shower as the sun hit the wet leaves, as if by magic, steam rose from the ground and the children told tales of the sleeping dragon underground.
Our little earth dragons have had another beautiful week in the forest and on the field! We wish you a magical weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth