Thankful thoughts and super sticker storybooks
Happy nearly December! We can’t believe how fast this past month has gone, though we’re all already in the festive spirit, singing lots of Christmas songs and hearing talk of Santa sightings at Kew Gardens!
This week we’ve been talking more about Thanksgiving, with the American celebration falling on Thursday. Our friends are always so eager to hear about other people’s and countries traditions and we always try to encourage this curiosity. As our friends learn about and begin to understand the differences in other people’s lives, their empathy and compassion will grow even greater.
Our friends were challenged to consider the things that they are thankful for in their lives. For a bit of inspiration our educators talked about how they are thankful for their families and the food they are lucky enough to have each day. Our little foresters took this activity very seriously and offered up some lovely answers…
🦃 I am thankful for flowers and fireworks
🦃 I am thankful for going to forest school
🦃 I am thankful for mummy and daddy
🦃 I am thankful for a dinosaur, a unicorn, a monster and mummy and daddy
…. To share just a few! We wrote them on cut out paper leaves, practicing our fine motor skills, and then stuck them amongst real fallen leaves. We were all so proud of our beautiful thanksgiving wreath!
Another favourite from this week was the book making station. Our friends worked long and hard to create their very own novels, using steady hands to tape down the binder perfectly. Using a variety of stickers they created amazing tales, some of which held magic powers and could turn the reader into a red nosed reindeer! Some of our friends even enlisted the help of our educators to help write up their fantastic tales, dictating exactly how the plot should go. We love how the children really let their imaginations run wild in their stories, yet always mix in some of their familiar everyday lives. One story involved a dinosaur family that visited a volcano and then came to the forest to use the toilet tent, wash their hands then go to the sleep tent to have their nappy changed!
We’ve also been showing off our mixing and measuring, creating a camp favourite - moon sand. Using only flour and oil, a mouldable sand was formed, and we had hours of fun creating mountains, volcanos, and castles.
Throughout this chilly week we’ve found lots of way to keep active and warm. The log swing and hammock are firm favourites in camp, and we’ve been using the educator’s phones to set timers for the next persons turn. All our friends have noticed the sharp change in weather and are so proactive in finding their gloves and hats and have been practicing wiggling their fingers into the right place. Warm milk and oat milk was also a must have for snack, and our friends clasped their cups tightly, heating up their little hands. We can’t set fires in Chiswick House and Gardens but FEAR NOT! Our foresters put their heads (and hats) together and decided to construct an imaginary fire using logs and string. We roasted leaf marshmallows and boiled mud hot chocolate to warm our bellies.
This week we sadly say goodbye to our much-loved educator, Yolly! We will miss her so much but know she’s going on to do fabulous things. We wish you all the best and hope you’ll visit us lots during holiday camps!
Little Forest Folk
Chiswick