What a wonderful start to Autumn this week. The weather has been gorgeous, and the children have enjoyed a warm forest full of the sounds of birdsong. This is a perfect time to explore the footpath along the River Crane and encourage your child to observe the glorious colours of the leaves as they begin to change. We will also be celebrating Harvest Festival and have decided to collect items for our local food bank. All food donations will be greatly received. We begin collection on Monday 27th September.
This week has been full of exploring our senses and sensory activities have proved to be very popular. The children have been using the clay again, to shape and mould. In particular, some of the children found it entertaining to roll the clay into little balls and then splat it with their fist. Oh, what fun! We also placed sand, water and stones into the tuff tray and the children enjoyed exploring the different textures and sounds this combination produced. Later, a noisy group of small-world dinosaurs came stomping along and the children made sandcastles for them to perch on. In the mud kitchen our budding chefs turned it into an oven where mixtures were collected into containers and whisked together to create lovely forest meals. One educator came up with a marvellous way of creating a gloopy substance to play with, consisting of chia seeds, mud, and water. The children were quite unsure of what to make of the resulting texture!
With Strawberry Hill nearby, our Little Forest Folk-ers got busy building a medieval Gothic castle using a large cardboard box, toilet tissue tubes, egg cartons and silver foil. After cutting holes for a door, windows and the turrets, the children chose to paint the castle brown and grey. Then they decided to fill the inside of the castle with stones to keep out ‘The big bad wolf.’ Later, a small group pretended that they had come to capture the castle.
Moving on from that theme the children have been busy creating home environments. This gave them an opportunity to listen to and discuss the concept of parents and carers working from home. This reflects the huge changes to their environment our Forest Folk-ers have witnessed. Later, we made props such as a computer and beds using crates and blankets. Does your child know what your occupation is? Why not take the opportunity to discuss this with them. We can also ask them what they would like to do when they grow up.
A big favourite both to read and act out at the moment is the tale of ‘The three little pigs’, with the duty of being the big bad wolf usually falling to one of the educators. Luckily, we have some incredibly brave pigs in our forest. The wolf is no match for their courage and cunning. We have also had some very noisy tigers roaming around looking for a bite to eat and enjoying chasing our Little Forest Folk-ers, learning how to negotiate obstacles at speed.
Have a wonderfully autumnal weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham