What a great week we’ve had here at camp Fulham! There have been some high temperatures this week, so we have ensured there has been plenty of water breaks, suncream applications and nature hunts to seek out some chilly shaded areas to cool-off 🌱☀️
We have been thinking a lot about the qualities ‘patience’ and ‘kindness’ here at camp, which fall under the learning area, Personal, Social and Emotional Development which we have been focussing on. We hope to model and practice with our little ones the most effective way to navigate peer conflicts. Occasionally, disagreements can occur within peer play when a child feels as if they are not getting fair use of a toy, for example, they want a spoon another child may be using in the mud kitchen. This week, we have given extra attention to supporting our Little Forest Folk-ers until they feel equipped with the necessary vocabulary and approach to navigate these situations. Could we share? Could I wait a little while longer? Could I find another resource which would fulfil the purpose? Could I make a compromise? Could I let the other child know I would love to use the toy after their turn?
We also considered what literature had deep-rooted teachings about friendship and the action of sharing, and our amazing Educational Lead Maria landed on Sharing a Shell, a much-loved story by our cohort. Inspired by this story, we have brought the book’s concept to life, and had some wonderful learning opportunities which have had a heavy focus on patience, sharing and discussing how and why we should be great friends to our peers.
Some of our fun has included:
🖊️Positive affirmations. Children wrote secret letters with the help of educators, with kind comments about their family and peers. They then got to roll them up and put them in a bottle, ready to be put in the sea!
🐚As well as sensory rich, this next activity strengthened patience and teamwork: Children were blindfolded and hunted through the water to choose an object. They had to feel the object to guess, and what was even greater, friends chose to support them by giving them hints and clues.
⚽️We have had plenty of ball games this week, where we have pushed collaboration, teamwork and celebration of others, as well as building up our self-confidence by celebrating ourselves.
Another glorious week, we hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham