Our Week in the Forest...
Mud, Glorious Mud!
From glorious sunshine to splashing in muddy puddles, this last week has been a great introduction for the children to life as Little Forest Folk. They have all shown us their love for investigative play in the outdoors by seemingly not battering an eyelid as the clouds whooshed over and the raindrops started to fall. And with their waterproofs on, and fun to be had, there was no stopping their adventurous play!
This week, over at Paradise, the bucket and pulley system has really captured the children's imaginations, hoisting the bucket up as they shouted, 'Up, up,up', and letting it down again to the cries of 'Down, down down!' At first it was so exciting that it was a little bit of a challenge for the children as each of them was eager for a turn at once. With just a little support from the adults about the language we can use to ask each other for a turn, it was wonderful to see how the children listened and picked up on the advice. Before we knew it the children were politely asking for turns, with the child in charge of the pulley giving up ownership without hesitation! You'd be hard pressed to find adults so generous! The newfound knowledge of sharing led to the children realising they could still be part of the activity whilst waiting for their turn by making the activity into a game. One of the fun games they played was to see how much mud could be piled into the bucket before the pulley master yanked the bucket up again. The children were excited to see just how heavy they could make it for one another, turning the experience into the world's first 'Iron Man' competition for two year olds! The game was progressed by others by turning the bucket into a big pot of soup that they had to create, mixing it up before the chef heaved it up to the top, out of reach of the hungry educators.
Meanwhile, over at our Windmill site, the children have also been having a blast becoming firm friends with one another. As the children wander over to join their new friends at the different areas in the forest they now wave to one other and greet each other with a 'Hello!'. A game they initially enjoyed playing with adults has progressed to them enjoying it independently- 'The Great Sneezing Game'! It's very easy to play at home, provided it is done outdoors and you have a spare hour or two! The idea is to fill up your pots and containers with as much mud as you can, describing your actions as you go, 'Make the porridge, stir it, stir it, add some honey' and voila! Present your concoction to a friend complete with a spoon or stick. The friend then goes to take a bite, but suddenly feels a tickle in their nose. It grows and grows until 'Aaiiitttishooooo!' and low and behold the porridge has flown everywhere. We have had such a brilliant time watching the children play their game together and hearing their giggling echo through the trees. This could be the magic recipe to make friends for life!
At both sites we have had a cracking time rustling up some mud paint with freshly dug up mud, a splash of water and a big old stir from all the children. They have had a wonderful time using different sized paintbrushes to experiment with different brushstrokes as they painted patterns and pictures on giant paper. It was such a lovely activity to encourage the children's mark making and pencil grip with the paint brushes, whilst also encouraging lots of discussion about what they were creating. We are sure that this will be a favourite activity for us to return to again and again. Although Thursday was International Mud Day, we celebrate it every day at Little Forest Folk!
We have also had a fab week getting to know all of you lovely parents, as well as your brilliant children. Thank you for helping us make this settling in experience for all of us so wonderful! We hope you all have a terrific weekend and we are already excited to have the kids back next week.
Nursery world awards 2017
We are incredibly excited and proud to announce that Little Forest Folk are finalists in the 2017 Nursery World Awards in the following categories:
Nursery of the year
Health and Wellbeing
Online & Social Media
Newcomer of the year – Liam Bartlett educator at Little Forest Folk Wimbledon
Newcomer of the year – David Trillo educator at Little Forest Folk Wimbledon
Winners will be announce in the Autumn!
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth
