Our Week in the Forest...
We have had a wonderful time in the forest embracing all that this mild winter can throw at us. This week we have had our first taste of ice, which has been explored, manipulated and played with by our little scientists. As we continue to develop as a group we are starting to include litter picks to our adventure walks to heighten the children’s knowledge about the environment and how we can protect it. We were also visited by TES this week, and the children showed how mature they are by braving up to the camera and speaking their minds, keep an eye out for the article hitting the pages in a few months.
All aboard the pirate ship! With the return of mighty Captain Blackbeard’s pirate ship into the forest we have had the most amazing pirating fun. Making our own telescopes and the plank being used to punish the teachers “Walk the plank, Walk the plank!” the little blighters have really taken the role to heart. Adapting their vocabulary, appearance with hats, telescopes and eye patches the transformation is hilarious yet brilliant as the children emphasise another character's personality. This is a fantastic learning process, that will help with emotional development moving forward.
Our Little Forest Folk-ers are continuing to develop their writing skills, with a hunger to create their own stories. When the children show an interest, we provide the materials to write – pencil, paper as well as a pre-written alphabet which the children can use as a help guide. As the children tell their stories, the supporting educator will scribe the story that they tell. As they finish, we re-tell the story back to them as they then try and scribe by sounding out all of the sounds, recognising letters and making their own letter shapes – who knows we might have the next Charles Dickens in our midst.
We continue to have the most amazing adventure walks, the stunning natural beauty of Tuesday especially! With mist rising over icy puddles and our own dragon breath rising into the air in front of us mixing with the stunning low light, it was utterly majestic. Some of the children are fully aware how lucky they are.“It’s just so beautiful”, whispered one polite little girl looking over a resting log towards the pond. On our adventures we noticed that in some places the beauty was ruined with small pieces of rubbish laid around the place – so our team‘s Eco leader has introduced a litter picking scheme to help the children understand the connection of waste and the impact that it has. So far it has been a great success, and I must say the youngsters have a far keener eye than us oldies finding bits and bobs in all nooks and crannies, wearing protective gloves and using litter picker pickers.
A little quote that is resonating a lot with me at the moment, and really ties into our adventures in the forest is from Charles Dickens: “Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires and a touch that never hurts”. – Let us reconnect with the wonder of nature and pure beauty of childhood and not be controlled by the constricts of adult hood. Have a lovely weekend everybody, we are looking forward to seeing you all next week!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth