Our Week in the Forest
Once upon a time, there was a lovely friendship adventure, secret messages on paper boats and hibernating bears! This week, we read, recalled and discussed ‘The Boy and the Bear’ book daily at circle time. We noticed the importance of sharing and the joy of spending time with others as we went through different seasons. We also learnt about the differences we find in nature and in the types of clothes we wear by observing the whimsical illustrations. When revisiting the lovely story, some children made connections and found out where Bear had been all this winter time and why! ❄️🌨️🏔️🧸
As Bear stopped replying to the Boy in the story, we decided to go on a sailing adventure to find messages from the Boy's best friend. The windy, rainy days of this winter week invited us to gather under the tarps, which waved like sails as we let the intermittent and magical rain form rivers from puddles. We also got on board our fishing boat made out of pallets at camp, but we didn't find any paper boats with a message reply. Instead, we used our bamboo-stick fishing rods with giant magnets, and our Little Forest Folk crew caught all the letter fish! The oldest children practised letter recognition and identified their initials, whilst the little ones also practised their motor skills. They were all magnetised by this magnetic force activity, which kept many of them busy and entertained as they explored every corner of camp, searching for metal resources to see how the colourful giant magnets reacted. 🧲🐠⛵️🎣
Does anyone fancy a cuppa? As we understood how much Boy missed playing with Bear in the story, we organised an afternoon tea party to celebrate friendship. It's lovely to see the little ones interact more often and share their joy and playtime with others, while the older children continue to build strong bonds through teamwork and shared interests. All of them copied each other and loved using the murky water to make ‘hot chocolate’. They organised themselves, and while some of them enjoyed serving drinks with pastries, others helped carry logs to the campfire. We gathered around the pretend campfire whilst pretending to drink comforting hot chocolates, and everyone's lovely smiles warmed us up. Sharing and gathering were indeed our cup of tea! ☕️🫖🧁🔥
This week, we were delighted to announce to our explorers that we have officially started our Eco-School programme to obtain the certification. As Dan is our Eco School leader, he gave us an Eco talk during circle time, during which all the children shared their answers and ideas. He used visual prompts, photos and raised questions about local wildlife, renewable energy and what we can do to protect the environment. From now on, we will be adding eco-activities and projects to support the environmental education framework, inspiring and empowering our Little Forest Folk-ers to care for the environment, take charge of their future and our marvellous planet Earth. 🌍♻️💚✨
Our magical week in the forest is about to end and we couldn't have a better finale than writing messages on paper boats as Boy and Bear did in this lovely story about friendship. Some children learnt how to make paper boats using a piece of paper and following the steps carefully. Others traced their names or even longer messages, such as 'Happy hibernation, Bear!' 🖍️💌🐻PS. We can't wait to see you in Spring! 🌿🌻🌸
In the meantime, we'll gather again in the forest next week for a new magical winter week!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham