Our Week in the Forest...
It has been wonderful to welcome everyone back to the forest this week after the Christmas break and has made us very excited for all the adventure that 2020 will bring. This week we have been set up in the mud kitchen area, finding lots of new and exciting things to do. With a small stream running through the middle, we have had lots of children enjoying fishing! Our string-on-stick fishing rods proved successful as we caught many (imaginary) fish - big ones, baby ones and some children even wanted to throw them back in the water. Some thought we best cook them up in a pan and offered them around to their friends to eat.
This play scenario of cooking for friends played out beautifully over the week and extended over to the mark making station where the children drew up restaurant menus. With some help from the adults, the children wrote up menus and walked around asking their peers what they would like to choose. Would it be spaghetti bolognese, fish and chips, worm porridge or mud pies?! The children were in stitches of laughter as they made batches of ‘worm pie’ for their teachers to eat. We have also certainly had our fair share of worm porridge to eat!
Making the most of our muddy, joyfully squelchy forest this week, the children enjoyed using buckets to transfer water from one location to another. The buckets were heavy and so of course we needed some team work to get the job done!
Tree climbing has gone to new heights this week, as the children have found new trees to practice on and try out new techniques. Their confidence has grown over the past few months, which is wonderful to see. Their achievements once at the top of the tree are celebrated and met with a lot of pride from the other children and nearby educators.
The muddy mud kitchen has brought about lots of worms this week. A group of us were particularly interested one day this week and found ourselves observing a worm to see how quickly it could move, in what directions and how long it took for it to get into the ground. As the children were curious to learn more we used technology to search worm facts and we learnt how to find the egg sack, the head and the tail. Next, we went out onto the meadow and looked for worm castings. We learnt how this is the by-product of the worms munching through the mud to get into the ground. We felt the textures of the castings and enjoyed noting their squiggly patterns. Worms are rather amazing we decided!
We’ve had swings, rope courses, fires and adventure walks! What a full week of fun and exploration of our beautiful and ever changing environment.
Have a wonderful weekend and see you next week!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon