This week, with a shiny new young cohort eager to play, we have been finding plenty of moments to support understanding around the Forest School Rules that help us all to be happy and stay safe. These rules are first discussed at the circle and it’s always great to hear everyone confidently bouncing ideas around in an arena where children can also practice kind listening skills. A lot of new children are already echoing the rules, and as always, older children eloquently and effectively help to pad out all the details with great full sentences and independent ideas that filter through from their worlds outside of Little Forest Folk.

As an introduction (or a reminder) our main rules are:

"Be kind and gentle to friends, family and all the creatures we share the forest and planet with."
Rainbow ribbons - with the rhythmic "Stop, Turn Around and Come Back" that children love repeating out loud!
"No picking, no licking" - to help children recognise the danger of berries and mushrooms, and also to keep teeth safe.
"No shaking and breaking" - with a focus on being able to play with “dead wood” all day long but look after the beautiful growing forest. This also leads into ideas around respecting forest school equipment and friend's items too.
Finally, the silver whistle around our necks, when blown means “run to the nearest teacher” where children enjoy being challenged to say who their nearest teacher is!

Whilst we might lead with a rule that needs a bit more focus on certain days, there is no particular order to these and children are encouraged to start off the conversation, with educators supporting, to keep the verbal flow going. There are a few more rules we use but we would suggest that maybe you could ask your little ones about these 5; as we’re confident some of you will be surprised by what has soaked in already! A lot of these rules really do help in your worldly adventures outside of Little Forest Folk too, so we encourage you to also try some out at home to help children have an even more wonderful time here!

Have a great weekend everyone.

Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth