We have spoken an incredible amount about the wildlife around us and what we are starting to see, which inspired us to focus on birds in our tool work project.

We have enjoyed some big adventure walks nearly every day and have given our Little Forest Folk-ers the responsibility of choosing which directions we are going in. Each time they have been able to recall spaces we are familiar with and have taken us on the right track. We went to a horse jumping arena for a picnic lunch, on a bird watching expedition to see how many different bird breeds we could find and also looked out for frogs as well as other animals around the forest. It creates wonderful conversations and widens everyone’s imaginations when we go on these walks, at the same time as showing how exciting the forest can be in all weathers! 

The mud kitchen has also been a huge focus with a café and everyone talking about the meals they have with their family. We have spent time looking into each other's favourite meals, using the items around us to create them and thinking about ways we can add to them. This has also shown us an insight into our friend’s homes and how we share our family time differently.  

The rain may have made the sky grey, but it has certainly not dulled any colours in our play and fun in the forest!!

February has arrived in the forest and has brought us a lot of rain! For us this is perfect - puddle jumping, adventure walks and mud play all make for an incredible day in the forest! 

We have enjoyed some big adventure walks nearly every day and have given our Little Forest Folk-ers the responsibility of choosing which directions we are going in. Each time they have been able to recall spaces we are familiar with and have taken us on the right track. We went to a horse jumping arena for a picnic lunch, on a bird watching expedition to see how many different bird breeds we could find and also looked out for frogs as well as other animals around the forest. It creates wonderful conversations and widens everyone’s imaginations when we go on these walks, at the same time as showing how exciting the forest can be in all weathers! 

The mud kitchen has also been a huge focus with a café and everyone talking about the meals they have with their family. We have spent time looking into each other's favourite meals, using the items around us to create them and thinking about ways we can add to them. This has also shown us an insight into our friend’s homes and how we share our family time differently.  

The rain may have made the sky grey, but it has certainly not dulled any colours in our play and fun in the forest!!

A week of adventure and creation at Little Forest Folk Wimbledon! We have been on different adventure walks each day, added new parts to the obstacle course and engaged in so many role play games.

The forest is a place for magic and adventure and this week that is exactly what it was! 

The children put their forest knowledge to the test and created their own maps of the space they enjoy every day. We started by speaking about things we could see around us and then used our memory to draw things that we see on the walk-ins or adventure walks. This led to some incredible maps of the forest all through the eyes of our little explorers! 

The forest has been a busy place this week, full of fun and adventure! We have been talking about the weather as it’s been changing each day, using everything it’s had to offer to add to our exploring. 

A week of snow, frost and ice has led to lots of exploring and discoveries in the forest this week!

We have kept warm by going on some fun adventure walks and looking for all signs of the cold weather; everything from frozen ponds to frosty leaves!

This week, we have enjoyed lots of fun adventure walks with our educators. One walk was themed all about what can we see? Our educators, Anamika and Olivia, created a musical tune for us to ask and answer this question! We headed out towards the doggy meadow and to our joy we watched many many dogs run round the meadow chasing and playing with each other, some of whom were taller than us! We spotted trees, grass, dogs, fences and even a horse! It was as we went through a holy tree tunnel and turned round, we saw a giant brown horse riding through the common, it was a great delight for many of us as horses are our favourite animals! On another adventure walk, our focus was the mushrooms

The children have been enjoying listening to lots of Christmas songs this week, showing off their amazing dance moves! We have created magic wands that then became drum sticks and microphones to complete our performances

This week, we’ve enjoyed getting into the festive spirit! We explored Christmas and Hanukkah by making baubles for our pallet Christmas tree and spinning tops as a dreidel to play for Hanukkah. We have practised our tool work safety using the saw and palm drill. For both activities we used the same tools and techniques, it’s was great to have opportunities to practise, strengthen and progress our skills. For the baubles, we sawed a wood cookie and then drilled a hole. After, we painted and decorated them using sparkly paint before threading string through to make an attachment.

This week we’ve enjoyed many activities to keep us warm in the frost and freezing temperatures. Our walk-ins have explored the concept of frost and ice, we discussed the freezing point of water which is why it’s not safe to walk in frozen puddles, so we found sticks! Some sticks were big enough to crack and smash the frozen puddles…

The magic of winter has well and truly arrived at Little Forest Folk Wimbledon and this week we had our first snow of the season! The excitement on the children's faces as the huge white flakes cascaded down was amazing! They tried to catch them on their tongues and see who had the biggest flake. We also looked at the different patterns of each flake, trying to see if we could spot any that were similar. 

Remembrance Day, festivals and exploring the autumn environment…all in a week's work at Little Forest Folk Wimbledon!

Fireworks and Bonfire Night have been the talk of the forest this week! The children have enjoyed so many activities based around creating colourful pictures of fireworks using different techniques. We have done straw-blowing painting, stamping, wax creations… so many things to explore the incredible colours and shapes of fireworks. 

This week we’ve been talking more and more about Halloween - what it is and what everyone is planning on dressing up as. We have organised activities this week that explore different features of Halloween. Spider painting was a huge success; they dangled down from a cobweb made by one of our educators!

This week we have enjoyed celebrating the festival of Diwali! We learnt about the story and its characters: Lord Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Ravana. Sita was taken by the evil ten headed monster (Ravana) so Lord Rama worked together with Lakshmana (his brother) to rescue his wife.

The Gruffalo lives in Fishpond Woods and for years the children have been walking past his house everyday without seeing him. This week, however, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the Gruffalo, the fox and the owl! We then went onto site and saw the mouse’s reading house and the snake's log pile den. The children then had to find some more logs to help the snake rebuild his house, to help ensure he couldn’t be found by the Gruffalo!

We’ve had meaningful conversations about harvest time and where our food comes from - learning about planting, growing and how food makes its way to the shops

Role play was buzzing throughout the week. Some children transformed the role play area into a cosy house where they looked after teddies and served tea, while others became doctors, handing out “strawberry medicine” to keep everyone healthy.

A busy week all round at Little Forest Folk Wimbledon! Our new starters have settled in so well and have really found their feet in the forest. We have had so many fun activities out for everyone, from instrument making to pasta crafts! 

We headed to the park to fly the kite! We waited for a gust of wind to ensure the kite was able to fly and then the children enjoyed running up and down the grass to allow the kite to get some height.