Every form of weather that could have happened this week, has happened! The forest has been hit by strong winds, rain and even some snow but this has only made for an even more exciting week!
With the change in weather, we have used it as a conversation starter with our children. We talked through why the weather can change and discussed all the different types of weather that we know. The children were so excited to have an indoor day to start the week and we looked at what the wind was doing outside. The children watched as the trees swayed in the wind and then we went into the forest the next day to see what had happened. We went on adventure walks to look for fallen trees, we collected sticks that had fallen from trees that were covering the ground and we explored new areas where we could climb on fallen trees. It was so exciting to see what a difference the weather had made and how it had changed our forest.
We also had a lot of excitement when we had some incredible hail/snow on one of the days! The children were so in shock by the quick change in weather from bright blue skies and sunshine to a downpour of tiny little snowballs. They all tried catching them and this then provided a conversation of which shapes they could see, and which ones were bigger or smaller. We then noticed that the hail was collecting on top of tarps and when we took it off it had all frozen together. This then meant we could make bigger shapes out of it, which was great! Seeing how much joy the children get from the different weathers and how resilient they are is amazing, and one of the important things they learn at Little Forest Folk.
We have also had some time for tool work this week and our children have been doing some whittling. They all found sticks that would work for whittling down and then sat with one of our educators to use the peelers. Everyone focused on the task at hand and were so proud of what they achieved at the end.
We also asked our children if they would like to help to build a bookshelf using pallets and this was another fun project. They helped to hold the different parts of the shelf and used tools to hammer in nails. At Little Forest Folk we think teaching the children about tools from a young age is so important and they learn great skills as well as learning to respect the tools. We also think it’s great to get them involved in projects that will enhance their time with us. The children helped to fix up this wooden pallet into a bookshelf which can now be used for a long time to come.
It has been another wonderful and busy week in Wimbledon, but we love having so many different things to occupy our time with and help our children to learn about. No matter what the weather there is always something fun to do in the forest!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon