Our Week in the Forest...

With so much rain over this week, the children have delighted in an array of water-filled troughs and craters in the forest. The start of the week saw much filling, emptying and pouring with children coming up with some ingenious ways of filling their containers; from scooping rain water out of the large tyres to raiding the ‘grey water’ tray after hand washing. This really demonstrated the children’s ability to problem solve or think laterally to circumnavigate an issue. As the week progressed, water inevitably became mud, and our Little Forest Folk-ers have taken enormous pleasure in the sensory play opportunities this has provided. The larger Forest Folk-ers have been served all kinds of mud-based treats; from coffee to chocolate cake and have been witness to competitions to displace the most amount of mud in a single, giant splash.

Again this week, the educators in the forest have noticed and been really impressed with the way that the older and younger children have been interacting. They have all continued to develop physical challenges and obstacle courses, and have frequently supported one another with a hand or an encouraging word. This was particularly evident during the rather dramatic thunder and lightning storm, which left us evacuating the forest on Monday. Many children were quick to reassure those who were a little concerned by the noise and the upset in routine. We are very proud of how brave and sensible they all are.

Discussions in the forest this week have also demonstrated children’s interest in rhyming words. Many of our forest stories are told through rhyming stanzas and the Little Forest Folk-ers have picked up on this and challenged themselves to find rhyming words for favourite snacks, friend’s names and even items of clothing! One little boy managed four rhyming words in a row during afternoon snack time and was so pleased with himself that he repeated it until he was sure everyone in the circle had heard him.

Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon