Our week in the forest!
What an exciting week we’ve had learning about hibernation and sleeping through winter! We’ve learnt that some animals sleep for long periods of time, whilst others (like squirrels) sleep for 2-3 weeks and then wake up to eat to keep warm and feed.
As we chatted about black bears and brown bears our Little Forest Folk-ers were inspired to build a bear cave, so we took out some old tarpaulins and paracord and tied each corner of the tarpaulin to our very useful trees to create a lovely little bear den just the right size for our mummy, daddy and baby bears. Did you know polar bears don’t hibernate, although the mother bear does conserve her energy and stay in the den with her cubs for 3-4 months until the cubs are big enough to come out into the world?
We have also been learning about bats, many species do hibernate, as there is a scarcity of insects for them to eat. We learnt how they hang upside down in groups and wake up every so often for water and look for food on mild nights.
Squirrels and spiders become less active to conserve energy and squirrels will fatten up then sleep a lot and spiders will sometimes come into our homes or hide under a leaf and slow down.
One of our staff created a box with lots of cards in it. The cards were pictures of hibernating animals and information about them. As the children dipped their hands in they were able to pull out a card and learn about the creatures such as hedgehogs, ladybirds, snakes, frogs, toads etc.
Considering other ways to support our wildlife in the forest, we built a bird feeder this week. The ground was so hard and frozen that the robins and other birds were getting hungry. We have also put out plates of water each day so they have something to drink.
A lovely winter craft activity we enjoyed started with collecting small twigs and sticks which we then glued onto painted cardboard to create bare winter trees. Then with Q-tips dipped in white paint, we created the effect of snow falling around the tree.
Thanks for coming to the forest, see you again next time!
Little Forest Folk
Twickenham