Our Week in the Forest...
This week the children made a great discovery during their walk-in to the forest. High in the air on a branch was a small hole which was attracting lots of bees. From a safe distance the children stood and watched what was happening and realised the bees would disappear inside the hole and emerge a few moments later. “I think the bees live there!” said one child and the more we watched, the more we realised that we were watching a busy hive. Freddy explained that the bees outside were the soldier bees who were protecting the hive from attack so we had to stay far away so as not to pose a threat.
He went on to explain that inside there would be lots of worker bees who were building the hive using wax. “Where do they get the wax from?” the children wanted to know. This led to us reading about how a special gland in the bees’ body converts sugar from the honey into a harder waxy substance and another bee will chew it up (making it soft) so it can be shaped into honey comb ready to store honey. The children also discovered that deeper in the hive there will live a Queen Bee whose job it is to lay all the eggs and produce all the future worker and soldier bees. "She will also have a princess and she will die because of a witch who is jealous of her” added one Little Forest Folk-er who enjoyed adding a fairy-tale twist.
It may be that this inspired lots of building projects in the forest this week- the children have built bridges over streams using logs and ropes and the children have also made a climbing frame using larger logs. It was a huge team effort including both children and educators.
One child who loves cricket worked with Sam this week to make his own cricket bat using the saw and peelers to whittle. Even though the bat is not perfect yet, it was interesting to see the child evaluate his work “I think this but doesn’t look like the bat I have at home and I want to change it”, and being able to look at an outcome and make plans to adapt and change work is a really important skill.
We hope you all have a great weekend and may this beautiful weather last!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon