This week we have seen all weathers that April can throw at us. The children have been so excited to see rain, sleet, and lighting, as well as sunshine and blue sky. It really has been a week of all weathers.
No matter what the weather has been our children have loved this week in the forest! We have had everything from measuring the sizes of the trees around us, to learning new Makaton signs through song. It’s been a very exciting week!
In our forest we have had a very big focus on our Eco school project. Our children have getting involved in lots of special environmental activities to help the forest around us. One of the main things we have been doing recently are litter picks. We go out and about through the forest armed with litter pickers, gloves and rubbish bags looking for any unwanted rubbish that is on the floor. The children go out with some educators, and they look for what doesn’t belong in the forest and then collect it up and it gets taken to a proper bin. During these litter picks we talk about why we shouldn’t drop litter and what can happen when the litter is left. Our children talk about the harm it can do to the animals around us, as well as the lasting damage to the rest of the planet. They love going on these litter picks and show such pride in the fact that they are helping the planet.
We have recently had a tree surgeon into the forest which has been such a highlight for our Little Forest Folk-ers! Watching as a man climbs the trees and uses tools to cut down branches has been so exciting, and it really got us all talking. We spoke about the different patterns inside the logs when they had been cut down and all the sawdust that had come off them. The children were also amazed by the size of some of these logs. This led us to the idea of measuring them and seeing how big they were. We used tape measures to put around the logs, looking at the numbers we recognised on the tape. This was a great way for the children to show off their number understanding as well as their enjoyment of nature. For them, it is so exciting to see something that they see every day but in a different form. From these giant trees that tower above us, to the little logs that now stand at their level. Everything in the forest is just so exciting!
Another thing our children have becoming very interested in is learning Makaton - so using speech with signs and gestures. This is a great form of communication for our children to learn as it can help those who are not verbal to communicate. The children have been learning the signs for “please” and “thank you”, along with signs for some of the fruit we eat at snack. We also use songs to help us learn new gestures and this week it was ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. This form of communication is so amazing to learn and such a great tool to use throughout your life. Our children now use it freely and we will even see them using it to each other when educators are not around. Yet another magical lesson from the forest.
It has been another fantastic week at Wimbledon and our days just keep being so exciting for everyone. There is always something that can be learnt about the forest around us, and it doesn’t matter how many times we go to the forest, it’s always as magical as the first!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon