We began with torrential rain on Tuesday but didn't let the bad weather stop play! Our children were little troopers and loved creeping amongst the canopies of the trees to find mini beasts and other hidden treasures.

We've had some duck races in the swamp and have been enjoying testing out our maths by throwing various weighted natural objects into the pond to see which gives us the biggest 'plop'! We were lucky enough to find some ducks very close to the edge of the pond so we spent some time observing the ducks and discussing their home life. We then moved to a fast flowing area of the pond and again tested our theories of gravity and currents with pooh stick races.

With the torrential rain has come another burst of growth in the forest. Our meadow is now carpeted in buttercups, there are flowers and plants springing up everywhere and wild herbs. We've been creating our own tisanes with wild mint and have made our own beautiful potions in the potion factory. We've even used our fine motor skills to separate pollen from petals and learned all about why flowers produce pollen.

We've built dens, we've built zoos. We've been dragons, we've been lions. We've built fires and toasted marshmallows. We've climbed, we've swung, we've measured and we've counted. We've ridden stick 'horses' and flown on stick 'dragons'

We love having holiday campers in the forest and can't wait until the older children can join us again in summer!

Parent request

With next week forecast to be a hot one (26 degrees on Monday!), this is just a reminder that when the children arrive in the mornings they need to have their first layer of sunscreen on as we don't apply sunscreen until we arrive into the forest site. Also, please ensure that on sunny days your little one brings a sun hat.

Some children are still attending wearing lots of layers. We ask please if you can check our clothing suggestions below as many children are baking hot when they arrive as most days now they only need a tshirt & a fleece just in case.

Staffing update

We are delighted to be welcoming Stephanie into the team. Stephanie joins us from a lovely Outstanding nursery in Kent where she has been working as a Deputy for several years. Stephanie is passionate about outdoor nature play and wants to throw herself full time into changing the face of early years education. She is joining us as a Deputy Manager and we are delighted to have her on board. Her first day was in the torrential rain - what a welcome! Our children and team have all been incredibly welcoming and her calm and friendly nature has already earned her a few firm friends.

We are sad to be saying goodbye to Merlin & Beatriz who are moving on for the summer. They will both be leaving us within the next few weeks and we wish them all the very best in their travels in life.

Also joining us in the next few weeks is Katherine. Katherine has dedicated her career to play and is passionate about the early years. She shares our belief that natural outdoor child-led play is essential for developing strong characters in children and is really excited to spend her first day in the forest soon!

Dressing for the weather

The warmer weather (fingers crossed) looks here to stay!

As a guideline next week the children should be wearing:

ONE pair of comfortable trousers (jogging bottoms or leggings)
One t-shirt
ONE fleecy zip up jacket (in a backpack just in case)
One pair of socks
Wellies

Now that the sun is here to stay, we would ask that on sunny days you apply a layer of sunblock to the children before you drop them off. We will then top up their sunblock regularly throughout the day. Also, please ensure the children have sun hats on sunny days.

Next week in the forest

Next week we will be talking about royalty as we celebrate the queen's birthday. We are also going to challenge our children's imaginations and creativity by the introduction of a day a week when we provide no resources for the children and make the day all about high quality interaction between our practitioners and the children. How exciting!

Summer timetable

As a reminder, next week begins our summer timetable. Our full day children will be remaining in the forest until 5pm where we will be eating dinner. We will have your little ones cleaned up and ready to be collected from 5.30pm.

We hope you have a lovely weekend!

Little Forest Folk

Little Forest Folk Wimbledon