Who will buy my sweet red roses?
This week in the beautiful Wimbledon Village Forest, the children made getting up and going to work look fun! We wanted to end our final week of exploring different occupations with a bang and we did just that. Forest explorers arrived, had snack and then it was time for trading to begin. We had gardeners planting and nurturing seeds while our horticultural experts sped the germination process along with the help of the art and craft materials so before long, huge, colourful flowers stood proudly in their pots ready to be sold in our forest flower market.
They had a consistent stream of business throughout the day, but no one was raking in the currency (pebbles and tree coins) like our ice cream vendor. The gigantic lollies (sponges on sticks) and cones stuffed with balls of ice cream of every colour were in hot demand resulting in a cash register full to the brim!
The only people working just as hard and not complaining about their cash register being jammed were our junior medical team because they hadn’t privatised their services! Whether you were laid up with an injured leg, a poorly tummy or a broken heart, our doctors and nurses were on hand to conduct their consultations. Every medical tool was applied, no stone left unturned (you didn’t come here with earache? Oh well, I’ll be looking in them anyway!) and creams, potions and operations were handed out all for the price of a smile.
Imaginative play like this enables children to amplify their own real-world experiences while sharing them with others. They get to build their expressive and receptive language as well as their creative and divergent thinking. This really helps with problem solving and this was highly evident as educators watched children find ways to transport water from the barrel to the car wash! It also enables them to harvest from other areas of the forest- our sensory play in the mud kitchen became a hive of activity for pharmacists who tipped, poured and measured ointments, medicines and tinctures. What do you do when you run out of ice lollies and flowers, or you want a dolly for the day? We go to the art and craft area, design, choose the tools needed and make them and play can continue!
Dan was also on hand to help our explorers make their very own ice cream using a rudimentary version of traditional techniques. After whipping together their cream, milk, sugar and vanilla, the children helped pour their mix into zip lock bags that were then placed inside a second bag containing ice. Children added salt to lower the temperature of the ice and then the shaking process could begin. Success wasn’t guaranteed but this didn’t stop our Little Forest Folk-ers throwing themselves at the experiment- and what better experiments are there than those you get to eat!
We hope our little workers have a well-deserved weekend and we can’t wait to see you all next week.
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon Village