The sun has tried it’s hardest to push through this week’s cold snap, and we’ve even had some snow pass through, but whatever the weather the sites always look splendid and are well loved by all. As the Daffodils wilt, the tulips at the bowling club planted several cohorts ago, continue to push through and bloom which the children have delighted in smelling and feeling with kind hands.
The week began, amongst other activities, with some Archery inspired by a wonderful adventure a child went on the week previous. First, children helped to bend and string some long lengths of willow collected by some of the team over the weekend. Next, with wooden clothes pegs as arrows, educators modelled the best ways to hold, place and pull all the right parts. Good listening ensured that archers understood the safest directions to direct our bodies, and the spectators, patiently waiting turns knew the space that they had to give. We loved seeing how children took on the role of educators, explaining to next in line how to hold, place and twang the taut string! Practice made perfect and many pegs impressively travelled several meters, to sheer glee and shouts of “I DID IT! I DID IT!”.
Peg play continued, with a low string line between posts representing a washing line being used for some enjoyable home inspired play. Hand cloths were “washed” in frothy bubble bowls, squashed, and twisted then hung with squeezed pegs. This sort of play really helps children to emulate loved ones at home, gives children a valuable sense of responsibility and is a great way to help develop all those finger muscles so important for everything we need our hands for, including letter formation.
This week in the forest, Dan rigged a new weighing system with buckets balanced and suspended from one of the ancient oaks. This was a much-loved activity, rich in moments for plenty of early maths. Understanding around the differences in the word “lighter” to represent colour shades as well as to represent weight were discussed too. Here children collected, sorted, and placed the variety of forest floor goodies into the buckets and plenty of experimentation continued. Equal amounts of objects like pinecones and stones were counted out to see what would happen, with ten pinecones replacing stones to see if a balance could be found. There was even a brilliant child led idea about filling the containers with equal water amounts which created some excellent “splishy splashy” fun.
All in all, another fab week of non-stop play and learning in the great outdoors. Have a fab weekend and for those having a family break beyond the weekend, enjoy!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth