Welcome to our forest story. This week we have been investigating and learning about our health, our bodies, healthy food and exercise. We have learnt about international cancer day and how we can keep ourselves healthy and have gentle hands when looking after anyone unwell.

This week at Little Forest Folk Winkworth we’ve been focussing on supporting the children to build independently, using a wide range of resources to make and enjoy imaginative and complex ‘small worlds’.

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! 

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!!

Another fantastic week as we launched our exciting new topic all about the Winter Olympics, packed with creativity, movement, imagination and hands-on learning.

This week, we introduced a new focus for our fortnightly goal: physical development. This has been a fantastic opportunity to tailor activities around what our adventurers love most, using the forest environment to support and strengthen their fine and gross motor skills. ⭐️

The frequent rain has meant there has been full puddles for splashing, jumping and a muddy part of our camp has become a perfect area for muddy digging and wet mud moulding 🪵 When the rain got a little too torrential, we headed inside for an adventure in the palace museum.

The rain this week has brought us lots of mud and puddles but also loads of fun!With the weather getting a little bit warmer we have been spotting signs of spring all throughout Chiswick Palace grounds.

Welcome to our forest this week, we have had a wonderful week learning all about birds. We hid pictures of different birds around the forest and with a tally sheet we hunted high and low recording each bird we found. With binoculars, telescopes and keen eyes we searched the trees and bushes for our real bird friends that share the forest space with us too. We found robins, black birds, magpies, wag tails and many more

For our younger Little Forest Folk-ers’, we have embedded maths in activities such as songs and rhyme, including ‘5 Little Speckled Frogs’ and ‘5 Little Ducks Went Swimming One Day’,  whilst providing rich sensory play with numbered ducks in coloured water and foam, which they absolutely loved!

The current education system is too focussed on qualifications at the expense of broader aims. 94% of respondents favour urgent complete or partial reform of GCSEs. (HMC report)

This week our management team at Little Forest Folk attended a lecture by Simon Sinek called ‘The Infinite Game’. Simon Sinek is an organisational consultant who gives inspiring and motivational talks on a subject dear to our hearts – leadership. 

It’s a challenging thing in today’s society to trust your children to develop when they are ready. Amidst NCT groups there is always much talk about when a baby starts walking, when they are potty trained, with some families feeling the pressure to achieve a goal by a certain age or time, rather than when the child is developmentally ready.

Today is my son’s last day at Little Forest Folk. He will be returning for holiday camps but today is his last official day as a daily member of the nursery community. 

You may have seen that Little Forest Folk Chiswick recently had an Ofsted inspection, grading us as Outstanding, in which the inspector commented ‘Children thrive in this nursery. They gain a superb understanding of early literacy and mathematical skills’.

We are so fortunate in our forest nurseries to have a high adult to child ratio that allows us to fully embrace ‘in the moment’ planning.

Today is a bitter sweet day for me. It’s my last baby’s first day in the forest. It’s a good reminder of how difficult settling in can be. Not for the children but for the parents.

There’s a saying that a goldfish will only grow to the size of the bowl it is confined to, whereas a fish in the ocean surrounded by space, freedom and the wonders of the natural world can grow to its full capacity.

As part of a recent parent survey, we asked parents if they could change one thing about Little Forest Folk, what would it be? The vast majority responded ‘nothing’, which is always lovely to hear.

There were however a small group of parents who responded with ‘do some learning’.

Following the announcement of our Queen’s award in April, we are delighted to share an article written about Little Forest Folk by a journalist who visited us in May.

Following our being selected by Tatler as being one of the finest nurseries in the nation last month, we are now delighted to share with you an article written about Little Forest Folk by a journalist who visited us in our Wimbledon setting a few weeks ago.

Well, this weekend was the long awaited Nursery World Awards! It was a fabulous event and we were delighted to be recognised in such a large industry such as the early years to be one of the industry leaders.

‘Wouldn’t we all secretly like to be Little Forest Folk?' We are incredibly excited and proud to be included once again in the prestigious annual Tatler Nurseries Guide.

We have some exciting news to share with you. It’s been difficult to keep quiet about this achievement as we were inspected just over 10 days ago at Little Forest Folk Fulham…

We are delighted to have won the Nursery World Awards 2016 award for Online and Social Media. We see our website and social media as more than an opportunity to tell parents about our setting...

We are delighted to announce details of our third Little Forest Folk site....

From October our fantastic team will be bringing our magical experience to Fulham. Our children will spend all day playing in the beauty and wonder that is Fulham Palace Gardens. 

We are delighted to have been recognised by Tatler as one of the 'finest nurseries in the nation' in 'The Tatler Nurseries Guide 2016'