Our Week in the Forest...
We have had another fun filled week at the forest where we have observed the arrival of new creatures and honed our skills with new and different activities. As the texture of the ground is changing, the children have been really interested in mark making using sticks. Creating birthday cakes for friends, drawing shapes in the ground or large scale drawings of dinosaurs, the forest floor has proved a valuable sketchpad this week!
It’s the time of year now where birds are starting to pair off, nests are being formed and frogs are making journeys to still water. The children noticed one such sign of spring, when on a morning adventure walk to the lake, noticing a wriggling on the water’s surface the children were eager to find out what it was. Looking into the mass of writhing black dots, the children shouted out “Tadpoles!”. After taking the time to really look and admire these wonders of evolution, we discussed as a group the life cycle of a frog. One child summed it up pretty well in his own words, “His back legs will grow, then the front ones and then his middle leg will just fall off! And he’ll just be a frog". We’ve got our lifecycle books out to find out a bit more detail about how this will work!
We have also been making the most of the lush green forest around us by carefully selecting a handful of different types of leaves to use for rubbing and Hapax Zoming. With both techniques, the children are fascinated when seeing the shape of the leaves appear as if from nowhere. This is a really great tool to be able to analyse what makes each type of leaf unique and through the physical action of rubbing or bashing the learning of the names becomes much easier. Hapa Zoming, a traditional Japanese act of flower bashing, is an even more hands on technique than rubbing. We place a square of cloth over a leaf or leaves and then bash with a hammer to release all liquids and dyes within the flower to create a perfect print. This ties in to our tool work sessions and as the children hammer onto the cloth they are extremely focused on the image being created. The technique also helps to focus our control, as focus and pinpoint direction are needed to bash the whole shape of the flower or leaf.
Have a lovely weekend everybody, and we look forward to seeing you for another sun filled week!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth