Our Week in the Forest...
Mixing, matching, acting and searching are some of the fun things that we have been doing in the forest this week. The children are using their initiative even more to fulfil their own ideas and working as teams to be able to achieve their goals. This has continued to encourage the sociability of our Little Forest Folk-ers.
At Paradise on Monday, we created an atelier space in a cordoned off space. The educators created a makeshift easel with an old curtain and a crafted set of poles. Initially this was used as an art style target practice by dipping material into paint then throwing their paint piles onto the fabric to create an amazing mottled rainbow effect. Not only did this encourage the children to concentrate on the direction of their throwing, but it inspired them to work together to mix colours using palettes and brushes. The aim of this was to mix all the colours and paint onto the material to create a magnificent rainbow. It started small and got bigger and bigger and bigger until it reached the sky! The children worked wonderfully together, each of them bringing their own colour to their creation.
One of our many adventure walks this week was all about searching for dens and the possibility of finding a bear on our hunt. Collectively, as a group of 20, the children recited the words to the story manipulating them so that they do have to climb over and under obstacles to make it much more fun. The hunt allowed us to delve into the really thick parts of the woods where we found real dens that were the perfect fit for a badger or fox sized bear.
Acting out our own stories in the forest has become a very popular activity for the children. Sometimes we use stories that we have written together and on other occasions a narrator creates their own story which is acted out by a group of actors within the circle. It gives the children a fantastic feeling of responsibility and they thrive in the freedom to carry out their own interpretations of the spoken word. We definitely believe we have a future crop of budding actors and actresses.
Have a wonderful weekend everybody and see you next week for more fun!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth