Our Week in the Forest...
'The most valuable asset a nation has is the creativity of its children’ Alan Plater
This half-term saw the first holiday camp at Fulham, and what an amazing week it has been!!
We also welcomed many new children to the forest this week and it was great to see how quickly they settled into the new environment and how comfortable they were with their new surroundings, this is definitely one of the incredible qualities of being outdoors.
Throughout the week we provided a whole variety of creative learning themed around birds. The children particularly enjoyed the opportunity to explore and experiment with a range of materials that encouraged their curiosity and creativity, they produced birds using clay and sticks, mixed up a recipe for making bird feeders, made their own bird masks and used our hand tools to create wooden owls.
Having a natural environment that doesn’t specifically direct the children’s play offers the perfect setting for these activities, it provides the time and space for children to investigate and revisit creative activities throughout the day so that they can extend their learning, making connections and seeing relationships with their surroundings. It has also been absolutely brilliant for developing their fine motor skills and hand–eye coordination, we have been amazed at how confidently the children have approached the activities and what they have achieved, from the use of clay tools to handling the bowsaw.
One of the really popular games this week has been wiggly worms. So this is how the games goes, the children are firstly required to forage for a stick in the forest to which we attach a strip of double-sided tape. They are then directed to the kingdom of the wiggly worms, and once there they search for as many coloured woollen wiggly worms as possible on the forest floor which they then attached to their sticks. Although there was some competitiveness there was some delightful teamwork and collaboration. So if you have ended up with a coloured fluffy stick at home, this will hopefully offer an explanation!!
Our little forest folk also had the opportunity to take our muddy boots over to Fulham Palace this week as they had arranged a special Victorians day. The children had the opportunity to participate in further creative activities such as using marbling inks to create their own stained-glass picture, experience Victorian toys and could even try out some Victorian clothes.
It really has been a memorable week in the forest and we really hope to see all the children again at our next holiday camp.
We hope you all have a great weekend and enjoy the Spring-like feel in the air.
Little Forest Folk
Fulham
