Our Week in the Forest
What an emotional rollercoaster we’ve been having in the forest this week! As we continue to celebrate and cultivate positive attitudes towards the differences between us, our children have been learning all about emotions and self expression. And what better mascot for us this week than the most famous elephant in the world, Elmer!
The children have been introduced to coloured baskets in our morning circle to reflect the zones of regulation colours. We’ve had lots of fun talking about the emotions of blue (sad, tired, sick), green (calm, happy, relaxed), yellow (wiggly, silly, worried) and red (angry, frustrated, grumpy). This has been supported by our friend the colour monster who has helped the children think about their emotions each morning when they have placed a wood cookie with their photo on it in the right basket. It’s been so interesting to start our day with a check-in on how each of us is feeling and why.
Elmer then appeared in a tuff tray for a magical sorting activity. The children each spent time sorting the colourful flowers onto Elmer’s different patches. It was a lovely chance to think about the different colours and the feelings they represent. To top it off, we made our own colourful Elmers, all fabulously different out of recycled milk bottles and squares of tissue paper.
Since Elmer has been a special guest we have been enjoying all things elephant, including the ‘Nelly the Elephant’ song and playing with small world animals around the watering hole. The children got the chance to decorate themselves just like the elephants in Elmer and then come on stage to show us their outfits, the forest was full of colour and we all loved comparing the decorations our friends had chosen.
The children have also been reflecting literally using mirrors to observe their faces and trace their facial expressions for some beautiful self portraits. Finally, we opened up the forest photo booth and struck a pose to express ourselves. The little photographers snapped photos of their friends and pasted them onto our forest community board. What a gorgeous group we are!
Little Forest Folk
Winkworth