Magic in the forest!
To start our week in the forest, we had the fabulous music teacher Joe bring in something exciting for our Little Forest Folk-ers to listen to - a trombone! We were amazed to see a new instrument in the forest, and the children began to speak about the interesting way the trombone looked and sounded! "Look, it's so shiny! I can see my face in it!" Our circle time was full of songs being played on the trombone, like Paw Patrol, Bob the Builder, and Let it Go! We laughed as we played some fun games along with the music, like crouching low when the trombone played a low note, and standing tall for the higher notes, as well as pretending to drive our fast-racing cars while the trombone played the sound of an engine!!
One of our forest teachers helped the children create their own magic wands using sticks, leaves and colourful pipe cleaners! The children had a fabulous time crafting their own wands and adding their own favourite treasures, "My orange leaf will live at the top!" Each child was so focused on winding their pipe cleaner independently and were happy to wait their turn if they needed a little help from an educator if they needed it. There was some lovely conversation while the wands were being made. "My wand has lots of big leaves, so there will be lots of magic!" After the wands had been made, the children took their wands around the forest to cast a little magic in their play! "I will turn you into a frog! Ziggety...zap!" We could jump around the forest pretending to be the animals we'd been turned into by the spell! It was so lovely to see such creative play being sparked by the treasures the children had made themselves!
The children's love for cars and transport is still very strong in the forest, and this week we had a police car built near the climbing area! The children had seen the educators set up the cars a few times before; and so were super confident in setting it up themselves this time! The 'mechanics' found the rope from near the shed and collected the 4 tires they'd need from around the forest. The tires were put in place by the mechanics, and the educators were asked for some help in tying the knots around the trees and tires, to keep them steadily in place. Once it was all set up, our 'police car' was in action!
The children love having big cardboard boxes to use in their imaginative play, and this week they were greeted in the morning with a huge cardboard building! We practiced our turn taking so we could safely allow our friends to have a turn to look out of the window from the inside. The forest tower soon turned into a 'restaurant' as the children spent more time playing around it; they bought bowls and pans in with them to cook 'spaghetti' and pass it through the little window to the customers. We're really excited to see what other kinds of play the children lead alongside the new building!
On the fire this week, Otis led a cooking activity where we made lemon and honey tea! The children talked about a previous cooking activity where we made minty tea and remembered that we need the water to "show the little bubbles so it's boiling". We used a Kelly Kettle to boil the water, and the children said it looked like a 'Choo choo train' as they watched the steam coming from the top! We made lemon and honey tea to help the sniffly noses that have been popping up because of the changing season!
We hope everyone has a lovely weekend, and we're excited for more adventures next week!
Little Forest Folk
Morden