Our week in the forest

What a super busy and fun week we have had! We loved having the holiday camp children here, especially seeing lots of familiar faces and old friends. For some returning from starting school in September it was as if they’d never left! The mix of ages is really interesting to watch with the holiday camps and we think it is part of what is so special about them. Children are consistently learning tolerance and respect for one another which we really strive to promote.

Adventure walks have been really popular and exciting this week. We found a trail of horse tracks and the children were really keen to follow this. They were so excited at the thought that they might find a horse by the end of it. Alas, we did not but it was super fun to try nonetheless! We also found some very deep, squelchy mud, which provided a great opportunity to investigate which natural items would sink into the mud faster. We explored concepts of depth, weight and speed as we placed various items on top of the mud and watched as it slowly engulfed them.

We have loved using tools and engaging I forest school activities this week. On Monday the children were supported to use a billhook to chop wood and we have been whittling sticks. We built a fire yesterday and had discussions about fire safety before toasting some marshmallows. Yum!

With a larger group of children this week we have also been playing lots of group games. ‘What’s the time, Mr Wolf’ and ‘1,2,3 where are you?’ have been especially popular. These games are just fantastic to encourage social skills! We have been on group trips using our magic forest aeroplane and have visited some exotic places (and Fulham!!).
We have also been reminded just how fantastic our practitioners are as they allowed groups of children to bury them entirely with crispy Autumn leaves :-)

Today we are having some Halloween fun with lots of dressing up, face painting and general tomfoolery! We have spotted tigers, leopard, cats, witches, dragons, spiders and pumpkins in the forest today. We look forward to having a Halloween disco tonight complete with glow sticks!

News

We hope that you all had the chance to see Little Forest Folk appearing on ITV London news yesterday! It was very exciting to be asked to show off what we do, and explain why the concept of full time outdoor education and care is so beneficial to children.

Dressing for the weather

Brrr....it has been a cold week! We recommend packing a pair of gloves, a hat and an extra warm layer (jumper/fleece) into your child's bag next week, just in case!

As a guideline next week the children should be wearing:

One pair of comfortable trousers (jogging bottoms or leggings)
One long sleeve top
One fleecy zip up jacket
One pair of socks
Wellies
Their waterproof layer

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Little Forest Folk