Our Week in the Forest...
Rub-a-dub-dub, three kids in the mud,
But who do you think they’ll be?
The artist, the baker and the mud-ball maker,
And all had fun before tea!
Can you make a guess as to some of the joyous ideas and fantastical activities that have been happening in our forest this week? Our old, reliable friend Mud was with us through most of our play but we’ve had superb story times, games galore and some lovely looking at our changing environment and impressive insects!
Boil, bake or fry? Roast, grill or sauté? Cooking with the children in the forest is a serious affair with all manner of culinary delights on offer from the children and their related shops. Thanks to the increased temperature on Monday, ice-cream parlours were popular role-playing environments, as were coffee shops (selling equal parts coffee and hot chocolates) and several home kitchens. The streams have been well stocked so the water was readily available as a key ingredient but leaves, stones and twigs were also part of many recipes!
The use of water in this way has been a great way to support the children in their learning of capacity and there has been huge development in the children’s use of different sized cups, pots, tubes and buckets showing an increasing knowledge of appropriate containers for different tasks. Making water flow faster down a gutter, moving water from streams to buckets and ensuring that you have enough water for all the cups of coffee needed allowed the children to make excellent calculations and assessments and develop their mathematical and scientific skills.
As we make the transition from Winter into Spring, the children seem to be fuelling their imaginations with new and more stories in the forest. The love and appreciation of books is evident in all of our children and it is a wonder seeing their engagement with and enthusiasm for books of all varieties. The insect book was a fabulous stimulus for the children’s art, both children and staff have been in stitches reading ‘Aliens love underpants’ and mystery abounds in the children’s minds after reading a new book, ‘This is not my hat’.
With most of us this week, we’ve been somewhat interrupted by the presence of Storm Doris. Her mischievous wind forced us indoors for the day (so the sky and trees didn’t fall on our heads) but this has given the children a chance to try a few group games together. Shark attack was incredibly popular in the hall, with shark eggs flying around and the need for safe islands being a high priority. A pirate game identifying port, starboard, bow and stern also went down well, especially when the children had to walk the plank and jump into the ocean!
Food in the forest:
Our current food in the forest can be found HERE
It's Pancake day on Tuesday! We'll be enjoying some pancakes with the children... YUMMY!
Have a wonderful weekend... can you spot any Daffodils blooming?
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon
