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.
We’ve been bursting with excitement and now that it’s the Queen’s birthday and the official announcement day, we are absolutely delighted to finally share with you the news that Little Forest Folk has been given the royal seal of approval.
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.
We’ve also been looking at lifecycles, with focus on frogs and butterflies. We can’t quite get close enough to the river to see if we can spot any tadpoles
Out in the forest some of the children took part in an engaging letter activity, writing and placing letters around the forest where they were working collaboratively.
This week has been especially exciting here at Little Forest Folk Morden. Every year around this time, we receive a special delivery of chicken eggs, and for two weeks we get to watch as the chicks peck and crack their way out into the world. It’s been a wonderful experience for our adventurers. They’ve loved watching the chicks cuddle together to keep warm and seeing their feathers grow soft and fluffy. Even more special has been the opportunity to gently handle them, showing such care and using their “kind and gentle hands” when giving them cuddles. 🐣
This week, to celebrate Earth Day on the 22nd, we have been exploring many activities around our planet. At the start of the week we looked at oceans, and we thoroughly enjoyed painting our own blue ocean onto paper. We were encouraged to create different lines for the waves as we painted, as well as discussing the sea creatures we would find in the ocean and if we have seen any in real life.
On Tuesday, our Little Forest Folk launderette opened, using a very aesthetically pleasing washing machine that Shahana had made out of cardboard boxes! Our little explorers had a great time washing the hand towels and hanging them up on the washing line which was gently hung between two trees in the forest.
We continued our tool work project that we started last month, making a reading bench! We had already sawed a pallet into two pieces which we then problem solved with our educators to think about how we could attach it together and which design we wanted to make - a picnic style bench or a park bench? We decided on a park bench, and it worked wonders! We worked with our trained educators and made sure to wear our safety equipment.
This week’s focus has been expressive art and design, which has sparked lots of creativity and excitement in the forest at Little Forest Folk Morden. We kicked things off with large scale self-portraits. The children saw their photos taped onto big sheets of paper and were invited to draw the rest of their bodies. It was wonderful to see the colours they chose to represent themselves and how uniquely each child approached the activity. 🌈After all that adventure everyone cooled down with some waterplay under the hose and ran and splashed under misty rainbows together.
We began with a joyful music session, where children explored a variety of instruments. From shaking and tapping to listening and moving they expressed themselves freely while developing rhythm, coordination and confidence.
Out in the forest some of the children took part in an engaging letter activity, writing and placing letters around the forest where they were working collaboratively.
We learnt what we can do to help the bees! Earlier this year, we already planted some wildflower seeds to help create habitats for them and this week, we focused on water and a bee hotel for mining bees. We gathered stones on our adventures to and from the car park, and placed them in a shallow dish. Here we then poured water into the dish so the bees could drink and wash themselves.
We have had some great tool time too. This week we’ve been learning how to use a hammer to knock in nails. We had small blocks of wood and as we knocked each nail in we had to watch out for our thumbs and fingers. Once we had knocked in 3, 4, 5 nails we then chose a beautiful length of wool to attach to one nail and then we enjoyed wrapping the wool around all of our nails creating nail art to take home.
The children took part in several beautiful Easter crafts. They carefully cut and painted ducks, mixing yellow, white and brown paints to design their own unique chicks. Once the paint had dried, they finished their creations by adding colourful feathers, which the children thoroughly enjoyed. These activities gave them the chance to practise their cutting, painting and fine motor skills while expressing their creativity.
