It's our last day in the forest for 2023 and we are very excited to spend the festive season with our families. But before we do, we fondly think about our year in the forest and all the changes that happened in the past months.
A few of us thought about the wonderfully hot summer we had where we kept cool by going on our exciting river walk. We remembered peering through the low hanging branches to look for seeds, and how we reached for the biggest, juiciest blackberries growing on the bank. We talked excitedly about how our feet got soaked through our wellies as we splashed about in the cool water.
We also remembered the adventures we had in the forest from going on a Bear Hunt, where we learned about animals that hibernate and our super fun insect hunt where we looked for creepy crawly creatures under logs and behind branches. We remembered making cosy dens while we listened to our favourite book stories and of course, we couldn’t decide which of Miranda’s clock stories we enjoyed the most.
We thought about our beloved Plane Tree and how much it changed throughout the different seasons. From watching the buds emerge from the branches until it erupted into leaves in the warmth of the summer sun and how spectacular it looked with its red, gold and yellow hues against the greyness of the autumn sky and how much fun we had playing with the fallen leaves in the winter. Just like the plane tree, we thought about the changes we went through in the forest. We said “see you later” to friends and educators and remembered how we said “welcome to the forest” to new friends who came to join us.
We also thought about how much we’ve changed and how much more we can do now from last year. We were reminded of how we struggled with new activities and with a little bit of practice we are so much more confident and ready to try new things.
We are all excited to think about what the next year will bring. Who will we meet and what we will learn to help us grow. We say goodbye to 2023 with a happy heart and we look forward to our next adventures in the forest in 2024.
From all of us in the forest, we wish all our families, children and educators a peaceful and happy holiday and a wonderful year to come.
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham