Our Week in the Forest...
What a fun-filled week we have had at Barnes! Our new settlers have really immersed themselves in a range of activities this week, getting stuck in to cooking cakes, climbing trees and mixing up magic potions. It has been so lovely to see how our new friends are settling in so well and finding it easier to say goodbye in the morning.
Baking has been a big theme this week at Barnes, with children moulding cakes out of clay and playdough and decorating them with acorn shells. This led to a brilliant cupcake shop which was so popular that the children had to write their names and how many cupcakes they wanted in advance! They used wooden discs to pay for the cupcakes and experimented with writing numbers on the discs and using them as money. Our Little Forest Folk-ers have been so excited about the cupcake shop that the forest turned into ‘cupcake land’ on some days this week!
This week has also involved a wedding at Barnes. Wedding outfits were created out of material and bunting and we also made some leaf forest crowns. At the wedding, we ate lots of cake, had a nap to regain some energy and then had a big disco and learnt some new dance moves. After the wedding, we moulded some wedding snacks out of clay which were then handed round to guests.
The children have collaborated really well together this week and there have been lots of group projects in the forest. They have worked together to make a car using sticks and rope and communicated really well with each other to ensure they had windows, doors and seats. We also saw a mechanic fixing a broken wheel and someone filling up the car with petrol.
On Monday we had our first ‘taste testing’ cooking session. Our Little Forest Folk-ers wore blindfolds and we encouraged them to describe what the food felt and tasted like. Varied vocabulary was used to describe the food such as ‘squishy’, ‘cold’ and ‘crunchy’. We then guessed what the food might be and some children were surprised to learn that what they thought was a banana was actually an apple!
What a brilliant week full of teamwork, imagination and creativity. We can’t wait to see what adventures will happen next week at Barnes.
Little Forest Folk
Barnes