Our Week in the Forest...
This week, our children who regularly come to the Common were a little surprised to see how our base camp had changed from the last time they were in it. With so many new children joining and lots of them being very little, we decided to bring our boundary in and make our camp much smaller. Gradually over the coming weeks, we will creep this back to where it used to be, however for now, until our new Little Forest Folk-ers are happy and confident in their space, this is how it will stay. It’s one of the lovely aspects of our style of education where everything needs to be flexible in order to meet the needs of the children.
The change has also been good for the children who haven’t just joined in the last couple of weeks. Our camp changes with the weather and the seasons, however, to have such a drastic change has meant the children have had to figure out new areas to carry out the activities they love so much. This led to one of the highlights of the week; for the first time since our new intake joined us, the children all took part in the same activity on Thursday. The Dinosaur River has always been a fan favourite and the children love to re-carve the path for the water to follow but as our new perimeter didn’t stretch as far as the Dinosaur River, a new one had to be created.
The children observed how the water would often trickle down the hill from where we wash our hands, so this seemed like a good starting point. It began with a few children using sticks and spades to shape the banks of the river but ended with all of our children involved in one way or another. Some of the older children wanted to increase the structural integrity of the banks and improve the flow of water, others wanted to add dams or bridges, while others just wanted to sit in the puddle at the bottom where the water collected and splash their hands. This activity gave our younger children a real sensory experience where they could play with the wet mud, sit in the puddle and watch the water trickle from the top to the bottom of the hill. For the older children, the same activity gave them an opportunity to problem solve, work as a team, fill and empty different types of containers and much, much more.
Throughout the rest of the week, at both Paradise and the Common, friendships have continued to grow. As the children become more settled and a little more confident in their new surroundings, their personalities are starting to show and this is when we are also seeing these new relationships. We’ve had lots of painting activities, where children have casually talked about what they are painting; their families, animals, a house or just covering themselves in paint! We have continued to play lots of games like hide and seek, where the children have the opportunity to explore the area and get to know it a bit better. We have done lots of swinging and even had a forest theatre where the children were able to make puppets before performing their shows.
We hope you all have had a lovely week as well and we cannot wait to see what next week brings!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth