We've had torrential rain in which we've observed all of the slugs and snails come out to play. We built little boats made of bark and other natural materials and placed them strategically around the forest in the hope that the rain would make a big wave to wash the boats to the sea. And of course we jumped, splashed, poured and played with puddles and rainwater.

We've then had days of glorious sunshine which have made flowers pop up overnight in a way that seems magical to the children. We have been drawing lots of pictures of flowers and have even tried collecting fallen flowers to make flower soup!

Our adventures in the wider nature reserve and fascination with the pond out there was rewarded this week with a sighting of the first tadpole of the season. Better late than never. Talk naturally turned to the development of tadpoles into frogs, a life cycle we hope to show the children as Spring matches on.

We've run, we've hidden, we've fished, we've climbed, we've jumped, we've skipped and we've rolled.

Another fabulous week of forest fun!!!

Parent request

As you know, we are continually trying to improve our forest experience and give the children more time for free play. We are delighted to say that finally our minibus permit has come through which means from the end of next week we shall be transporting the children in our lovely LFF minibus. The children will of course still be travelling in weight appropriate car seats and still with the adult to child ratio of 1:4, plus Claudette as the driver. We are very excited as this means far less waiting time for the children and far more playtime. Hooray!

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 and a fleece just in case.

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.

We'd like for Spring to recommend warm wellies. These wellies are neoprene based which makes them extremely flexible for easy running in, plus they have great grips and are much warmer than standard wellies so we highly recommend them.