This week we moved our base camp to a different area in Chiswick House and Gardens. Our new location is sheltered by branches and has lots of climbing opportunity for our children.

The children enjoyed running and rolling up and down hills and climbing to the top of a tree trunk. There were some children who struggled climbing up steep hills and the tree but had the helping hands of their peers. This encouraged the use and development of their gross motor skills, problem solving and social skills.

We found a hole in one of the hills and after reading the book ‘Sam and Dave Dig a Hole’, the children decided they wanted to dig for “treasure”. They used sand timers to share hand shovels and when a stone was found they would say “Look! I found a treasure.”

Following on from our ‘Five Senses’ topic, we used binoculars and cardboard rolls to focus on our sight. The children decided to try and spot how many birds they could see through the cardboard rolls. They also found it very amusing to see the difference between looking though the different sides of the binoculars, using terms such as “big”, “small”, “near” and “far”. We encouraged the children to extend their vocabulary and used words like “tiny” and “massive”.

This week most of the children found an interest in the book ‘Supertato’. As initiated by the children, the book was read everyday and the children were soon joining in with the words.

Next Week in the Forest

Next week in the forest we will be looking more into ‘Supertato’ and activities including ‘super vegetables’ – Supertato himself may even make an appearance!!

We will also be expanding on our awareness of different plants in the forest, such as plants that sting us, plants that bees like, and plants for healing.

A Reminder to Families

As we expect the weather to be warming up we recommend you apply a layer of sunblock on your children in the mornings and we will apply more throughout the day as needed. If you prefer us to use a personal sunblock, please let us know.

Here is a suggested Spring kit list for what your child should wear in the forest.

Comfortable bottoms, i.e. leggings or tracksuit bottoms, not jeans
Long sleeve shirt
Thin jumper
Fleece zip-up or jumper (preferably without a hood to fit under waterproofs)
Socks
Warm wellies
A thin hat for early mornings and a sun hat for sunny days
Labelled rucksack
Labelled water bottle
Labelled spare trousers & socks (more than 1 set of each plus underwear if potty training)

Please label your children’s items so as to minimize risk of losing items.

Upcoming calendar events

Monday 30th May - Bank Holiday – LFF CLOSED
Tuesday 31st May - Friday 3rd June: Half Term Holiday Camp
Monday 6th – Friday 10th June: Week of Queens
We will be celebrating the Queens birthday with a week of dressing up, tea parties and learning about our royal family history.

Little Forest Folk Chiswick