Our Week in the Forest...
Well the sunshine left us this week and in its place, came a much needed shower for the forest and for the children. On Monday, we experienced a lot of rain which was enjoyed by the children. One of their favourites things to do in the forest is to transport water and mud around our site and on Monday this how most of them spent their day. We have a collection of buckets, jugs, pots and containers that the children used to create mud-pies, potions and soup alongside their peers. There were negotiations about who would use which container and many children waited patiently for a turn with the special red bucket. On Thursday, we were also out in the rain and the mud kitchen lived up to its name. The children were congregating around the overflowing ‘river’ and were working together to move the water from one side of the bridge to the other.
Thanks to some carefully placed tarps and our dome, the children had dry spaces to have a break from the constant rain. On Monday, Emma led a singing session under a tarp for almost an hour in the afternoon and was joined by a large group of children. Her repertoire of songs amazed us and the children went from ‘popping like a popcorn’ to ‘monkeys jumping on the bed’. The theme of singing has continued this week with Christie singing several times during the days. As the children become increasingly familiar with songs they start to make up their own verses. ‘Apples and Bananas’ has been a popular song over the past few weeks and is a song that changes letters in the words ‘apples’ and ‘bananas ‘and turns them into ‘ooples’ and ‘banoonoos’. This week the children started making up new words so we have had ‘swish-pples’ and ‘ba-moo-moos’. It is great to hear the children experimenting with language with such big smiles on their faces.
One place that really needed the rain this week was the frog pond. Children have been visiting the frog pond regularly over the past 2 months to watch some frog spawn turn into tadpoles and the children have been checking regularly to see if they have grown any legs. Last week when we visited the frog pond, it had started to dry up and we discussed how the tadpoles need water to breathe. One child suggested we bring our jugs of water to come and fill up the pond. This week when we visited the frog pond we saw that it has again been filled up. While the tadpoles were impossible to find under the duck weed we will continue to come and check up on our friends and hopefully see their next stage of development. Christie is very invested in seeing this cycle through to the end and is joined by many of the children. We will keep you informed about our slimy friends!
We hope you all have lovely weekends!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon