What a wonderful round up to the end of the year. We have had a fantastic week jam-packed full of Christmas crafts and festivities. Our learning intention this week has been ‘personal, social & emotional’ development, supporting our younger Little Forest Folk-ers develop friendships and safely explore their emotions through play and stories. As well as this, fitting perfectly with the time of year, our target for all children has been ‘expressive art and design’ exploration. Specifically, joining different materials and textures together, ensuring lots of experiences to express themselves or their ideas ⭐️
Clay Baubles 🎄
We noticed that some of the fallen leaves/greenery reminded us of the festive branches we would see normally in a wreath. We dried these off and thought they would be perfect for some clay stamp printing. Our little explorers flattened their clay with the palm of their hands until it was smooth enough to cut. They then got to choose either gingerbread, star or love heart cutters. They then used the offcuts of branches and leaves to press into the clay, before peeling them up to reveal beautiful imprints of nature’s gifts! An educator popped a hole through the top of their creation so that once dried, they can be attached to their family Christmas tree!
Christmas Music Magic 🎶
The forest has an addition of a ukulele! We really upped our sing along game when musical Dan joined the forest team, with his music knowledge and harmonica. This month he has been teaching us how to use the ukulele and showing each child how to hold the instrument correctly, and play the strings with the correct pressure to make a lovely sound. We’ve played along to the tune of many children’s classics- one child on the ukulele, Dan on the harmonica and the rest singing along. We should start a band! 🎸
Foraging 🍂
Our little adventurers have loved seeing the festive ornaments, wreaths and statues the gardens/palace volunteers have been creating, particularly the red nosed reindeer! We were super inspired by their intricate wreaths, which held an assortment of dried flowers, branches, berries etc- so we decided to make our own. We hunted through the grounds to find natural treasures which would look perfect on a festive wreath. Children decorated their repurposed paper plates until they looked the spitting image of the gorgeous wreaths the gardens had created 🌺
We have had a wonderful year with our little ones and look forward to seeing you all again in the new year. We hope you have a restful and merry Christmas break, which is as magical as can be. Happy New Year! ✨
Little Forest Folk
Fulham