“Shark, shark! Back on board me hearties!”
What a fantastic week it’s been! We have really noticed how helpful and attentive the children have been during our forest school rules and when interacting and playing with others. The many structures and activities set up can often mean lots of children are gathered in the same area and are keen to play with the same resources. One of the most popular resources this week has been our pirate treasure chest. So many children wanted to use it at the same time which brought about lots of negotiation, problem solving and asking, “Can I play with it after you are finished?” or “I’m also a pirate, can I help collect treasure with you”? When talking about our ‘be kind’ rule during circle time, we have role played ways we can be kind to one another with the help of our Pirate-y puppet! Including actions and getting the children moving during this time in the morning has really helped keep them engaged and interested before snack time!
The Pirate ship set up inspired the children to work together as a team to walk the plank, jump into the water and search for treasure in the hopes that no sharks were nearby! Katie was put on shark watch, looking through her binoculars to warn the pirates if she could see a shark coming their way! Others then took on the role and shouted “Shark, shark! Back on board me hearties!”
To involve some numbers and counting, the children helped to count out how many pieces of treasure they had collected in the chest using a clipboard to make a mark for each piece.
Another real interest of the week has been motion; creating ways of making objects travel from one place to the other depending on the angle and position of the pieces of pipe and wood that we have to roll things down. The children have experimented with various loose parts to roll pinecones, apples, clay balls and mud balls. We discovered together that when the pipe was lifted higher, the objects rolled faster and travelled further when they reached the bottom.
Talking of travel, many of the children have been pretending to be pilots and passengers in aeroplanes. Northern Ireland has been the most popular destination this week. Using pallets to create a runway and a large wooden board for a ramp. The planes flew down the runway and were “ready for take- off.” The group involved here decided that for safety only one plane could fly at a time, so they didn’t crash which resulted in great turn taking and mastering being patient. Nearby on a focused table, the magnetic shapes were used to build an airport too where passengers could walk all the way up to the top floor to watch the planes take off!
Two of our favourite books this week have been our new Avocado book and the magic porridge pot. The avocado book got the children talking about their favourite things to eat and the different sized seeds you find in fruits and vegetables. The magic porridge pot story became interactive with the children using sticks as magic wands to cast the spell to say, “Cook, pot cook” or “Stop, pot, stop” when the porridge bowl was overflowing!
We hope you all have a wonderful weekend where maybe you will enjoy some avocados or porridge. Just remember to have your magic wands at the ready!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham