Our week in the forest
Another fantastic week as we launched our exciting new topic all about the Winter Olympics, packed with creativity, movement, imagination and hands-on learning.
We began the week by introducing the children to the Winter Olympics, talking about different sports, countries and what it means to take part in a large sporting event. The children showed wonderful curiosity and enthusiasm, sharing ideas and asking thoughtful questions. To bring this to life, they created their own Olympic torches using sticks and colourful ribbons, followed by collage-making activities. Cutting, sticking and choosing materials supported fine motor development while allowing the children to express their ideas creatively. Outdoors, we practised ball skills such as throwing and catching, helping to build coordination, teamwork and confidence. The mud kitchen was very busy too, with children making “pasta” using a variety of materials. Adding flour later created a snow-like effect, encouraging sensory exploration and imaginative play.
As the week continued, we enjoyed a mixture of wet and sunny weather, which inspired a range of engaging activities. On a rainy day, our Little Forest Folk-ers explored painting Olympic rings using boom whackers, paint and paper. They carefully selected colour, experimented with pressing and stamping to create ring shapes. This soon developed into exciting messy play on the tuff tray, where colours were mixed freely. Imaginative camp play ran alongside this, with children carrying “Olympic torches,” running races, and passing them like batons. In the afternoon, the mud kitchen returned as a favourite, with lots of messy mixing using mud and muesli.
Midweek sunshine allowed us to focus on developing core movement skills. The children took part in hopping, skipping, jumping, throwing balls into hoops and spinning hoops using circular arm movements. We talked about how these skills link to Olympic sports such as gymnastics, javelin and long jump. Imaginative role play was also encouraged as the children pretended to travel to Olympic stadiums by bus, complete with tickets and a driver. Music and rhythm filled the space as they practised drumming and following a beat, inspired by Olympic opening ceremonies.
We ended the week with a cosy indoor day full of Winter Olympic-themed learning. The children raced cars down ramps as bobsleighs, explored ice play with animals and minibeasts frozen inside, talked about ice skating and cold environments. They also made their own medals using clay, celebrating effort, perseverance and achievement.
It has been a wonderful week of learning through play. Thank you for your continued support - we wish you a warm and restful weekend! ❄️🏅
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath