Our Week in the Forest...
We have had such an exciting and action packed week at Little Forest Folk Wandsworth.
Not only did we have new friends to play with at Paradise but some of our experienced Little Forest Folk became mentors and teachers to our newcomers. These ‘teachers' really knew their stuff, and set about singing a song to encourage nice sitting from everybody before going through the visual time table with their eager pupils. One of the ‘teachers' had planned a lesson on body parts- ‘Right, today everybody, touch your toes,’ before commencing a rousing version of ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’.
After delivering imaginary wipes and and biscuits, the children went off to play, with one of the ’teachers’ reminding them ‘Remember your rules, ok?!’
More children flocked to see the game and suddenly they were off on an adventure walk! Children scurrying here and there to collect the ‘tent' and pack the log car. It was gorgeous to see our seasoned little forest folk role-playing a typical day as they structured a wonderfully exciting LFF experience for the newcomers.
It has been all go over at the Windmill where we have found a lovely new base camp site for our adventurers. We hope you'll enjoy exploring it too during Stay and Play week :-)
The children have had a blast exploring the hidden dens that the hanging branches and holly bushes have created. We've been so pleased to hear them identifying all the plants they recognise in our new space as well, 'Ooh, spiky holly!', 'Watch out for brambles!’.
A new climbing tree set up with ropes and ladders has allowed the children to challenge themselves physically and take risks in their environment. Once nestled in to the tree, the children announced they were birds who need worms!
Most afternoons we have packed up a snack picnic and ventured off to explore what new and wondrous things we have in the woods nearby. Imagine the children's surprise on discovering a huge pile of dinosaur bones (!!), just a short walk from our space.
Thank goodness we had had some practise on our new climbing tree as this was a brilliant opportunity to put those new skills to the test. Some were a little anxious, worrying that the bones were 'Too big, too big!' to climb on, but it was only a few moments before they were up and away, hoisting themselves up and crawling under the enormous branches of the fallen tree. This was a great opportunity for both their imagination and their physical development.
It has also been brilliant to see how the children are starting to share their expertise, suggesting where their friends can position their hands or feet to enable to them to climb up higher.
We are really looking forward to our first week of opening for full days and welcoming lots more Little Forest Folkers into our adventure squad. Yay! Enjoy your weekend everybody!
Have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth