Our Week in the Forest
With helmets shining and swords swishing, the knights came through the forest to protect the little forest folk. They were so brave and impressive, marching around in a straight(ish) line and making sure that all dragons, trolls and monsters kept their distance from the little forest folk’s sanctuary. Some carried swords and shields (sticks and saucepan lids) and others carried elegant longbows, strung and ready to fire at anything foolish enough to cross the knights’ path.
Having such great guardians in place, the little forest folk felt safe to frolic in the shade, drawing wonderful works of art telling the stories of their ancestors (mum and dad!) or wrote sagas of myths and legends from the little forest folk culture and shared history: the day they went to the cool, calm river or when the older forest folk left to go to the big school!
No toys. In a forest as abundant as Fishpond Wood, there are resources a-plenty scattered throughout the site: tree stumps that are brilliant for sitting, standing or rolling; sticks that are swords, stirrers and fishing rods; grass that is an art resource, a place to explore and a tickling device! When we have 'resource free days', the children show us how vivid and extraordinary their imaginations can be in transforming all of the natural products around them. This week saw a few of these days and the children were spectacular in their play without any toys.
Some children set up home in a tree and went through the beautifully observed routines of a day including going to work, looking after the baby (ensuring it was in it’s highchair for dinner for instance) and tidying up the home. A tough race was created by other little forest folk, as they hopped on their motorbikes and sped around a challenging, rough-terrain course. And yet more simply delighted in good old-fashioned games like hide and seek – although wearing hi-vis vests does make the hider’s job all the more challenging!
'Beach'. During the warm days we took the children on an adventure down to ‘the beach’; a gently flowing, meandering river, complete with pebble shores. Down to the water the children ventured this week to look at the animal and insect life by the water, and collect some very precious river-stone treasures. Not only was this a fantastic experience for our new and regular children alike, but it brought about some fun play that isn’t available usually. The variety of stones impressed the children and gave rise to collecting, throwing and sharing of stones of all shapes and sizes. Discussions of the texture of the stones inevitably arose and choosing favourites was very hard indeed and it is very unfair that the little forest folk can’t take them all home to show off!
No fear. As has been previously mentioned, the season has brought with it a great abundance of wild life to Fishpond Wood and seeking out all that is incredible and beautiful in the natural world is something that the little forest folk love to do all through the year.
This week saw some particularly noteworthy insect encounters. A group of girls discovered a very unusual black spider with white markings: “Maybe he wants to eat some ants and flies?” The little forest folk gently, and with much kindness, picked up this eight-legged wonder and marvelled at it up close. New caterpillars, too, cropped up in unexpected places including the newly nicknamed ‘Bee Caterpillar’ and a caterpillar so tightly curled around a stick that it initially was thought to be a snail! The little forest folk also spotted our first hairy caterpillar (how does it cope in this heat with so much fur?), and the children took the opportunity to discuss which insects may not be safe to pick up. The children’s growing awareness of their environment and things we share the forest with is inspiring, and it’s a pleasure to see budding entomologists and conservationists satisfy their curiosity in Fishpond Woods.
Reminders and News
We're delighted to announce
Our Fulham nursery this week received an Ofsted rating of Outstanding. We are thrilled with the result and wanted to share with all our parents. The report is available on our website.
Jose returns!
Some of you may recognise a familiar face back in the forest from next week onwards as we're lucky enough to have Jose returning to work with us for the next month. Jose is an excellent educator and the children will be very happy to see him back.
In the warmer weather
A reminder to please apply sun screen before joining us in the forest, to make sure the children have water bottles full of water and for children to come in with sun hats to protect them in the sunshine. We'd also suggest sturdy shoes rather than wellies on warmer days.
View our recommended Summer Kit List.
Inset Day: 8th September
Our next Inset day is planned for the 8th September. The nursery will be closed for staff training that day. All other term dates can be found here.
Have a glorious sunny weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon
