Muddy puddles and hammering
As we enter Autumn it is a joy watching the forest changing. Leaves fall to the ground, muddy puddles emerge and new colours begin to show. It is glorious to be able to watch these changes through the eyes of a child. They comment on every small thing they see and are so curious about what is happening to the world around them. This is the perfect opportunity for some of the older children to express their forest knowledge. Just this week a practitioner observed a 3 year old explaining that in autumn some trees lose their leaves in detail to a few younger children. What an a amazing learning journey our Forest Folk-ers are able to go on.
As our forest changes so does our play. With all the extra mud, ‘cooking’ has been very popular. A group of children worked hard together to make a very yummy butternut squash soup followed by chocolate pudding, delicious! Other children love feeling the mud and changing the texture by adding more water. Some little ones also added mud to a long plank of wood and then tried to slide down it, adding more mud when it was not slippery enough. No matter how muddy our children get their laughter can be heard across the whole site.
The highlight of this week was hammering! For many of our children this was their first time and they all did so well. A few children at a time went and found Christie on the meadow. First they listened to a tool and safety talk making sure they understood the boundaries and how to use the hammers. Then one at a time the children came forward and put on a glove and goggles. They then picked a nail and tried to get it as deep in the wood as possible. Each child showed incredible concentration and determination wanting to do their very best. They waited very patiently for their turn and were so proud of their new skills.
This week we had the addition of foaming soap in the forest. The texture of the soap is so enjoyable for our little ones and is great for moulding. In the bunnies group they used it to create different shapes as well as see what would happen when they squished it between their fingers. In the foxes they used it to practice tracing letters as well as seeing what would happen if they blew it away in to the air. It is so amazing how one resource can be used in so many different ways.
This has been such a busy week filled with imagination play, adventure walks and friendship making. We can’t wait to see what next week holds.
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon