Our Week in the Forest...
What a scorcher this week has been! The children have been engaging in some mellow activities to help them stay as cool as possible in the forest. In Paradise on Monday, the children loved playing with the wood cookie alphabet pieces that they created the Friday before. Each letter had its own wood cookie which the children then used to create words out of, and even went on a scavenger hunt throughout Paradise looking for the letters that spelled out a special word, “forest.” They showed such a strong interest in this activity that the children helped cut out even more tree cookies to draw numbers on that we are happy to say was a major success as well.
Over in Wimbledon we were lucky to be shaded by the dense trees of the common which allowed the children to still be as busy as ever. The children at the Windmill location loved using the wood cookies they cut to create something new as well. The children were introduced to the process of how to build a car out of the wood cookies and small sticks which they immediately loved. The activity took a little time and a little patience, but the reward was great! Some children took their wooden cars home to show their parents while others left them in the forest to help build up a collection that we can hopefully use towards car races in the forest in the future.
Thursday had to have been the hottest day of the year, but the kids were not even phased! A home-like setting was built in the morning, complete with wash buckets and lines to hang clean clothing on. The children were given the opportunity to wash some of their favourite dress-up clothing and cuddly toys in wash basins and hung them up to dry in the sunshine. This water activity not only kept them cool, but also gave the children a great sense of responsibility and pride for helping to do a good deed for their community.
This week was definitely a success and although we, as Londoners, can’t really complain about the hot weather, I think it’s safe to say we’re all crossing our fingers that a bit of rain will come soon so that our mud kitchens are actually muddy again! Hope you all find ways to stay cool this weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wandsworth