Our Week in the Forest
As September turned into October, our camp was buzzing with stories, feelings and adventures on every kind of vehicle you can imagine. From farmyard tractors to roaring airplanes, we travelled far and wide - using our imaginations as the ultimate ticket! 🎟️✨ Each day was inspired by a book, with vehicles linking our journeys and feelings guiding our play.
Monday - A Farmyard Wedding to Remember!
We began with a very special celebration: the wedding of Mr. Scare and Mrs. Crow! 💐🌾 All their animal friends joined in - mooing, baa-ing, oinking, meowing and more - each sound louder with excitement and joy. Together, we talked about how feelings can show themselves in different ways, especially love and happiness ❤️. Then it was all aboard the tractor! 🚜 Our farmer guided us carefully past cheeky sheep and patient cows crossing the road. Luckily, Mr. Sheepdog came to the rescue. The role-play was a huge hit, our camp echoed with laughter and “Old MacDonald” on the ukulele. 🎶
Learning Intentions:
For our younger friends: practising patience (like waiting in line for a turn).
For our older ones: exploring feelings - our own and others’.
🐄🐑🐓🎩🎶🌻
Tuesday - Tickets, Please! Next stop: London! 🚌 Our Little Forest Folk-ers climbed aboard the big red bus, tickets in hand, handing them proudly to the driver before finding their seats. As we trundled through the city, we spotted stop signs, zebra crossings and even a fast-changing traffic light that had us all giggling as we tried to keep up with red, amber and green! 🚦Finally, our driver made an official announcement: “This bus terminates here!” The passengers cheered as we arrived at *Fulham Palace*. There we painted buses and tyres 🎨, built train tracks like engineers and whizzed through our own miniature transport networks. But the biggest surprise? A visit from the Metropolitan Police! 👮 The children tried on hats, chatted with officers and proudly wore their giant, round stickers home.
Our book of the day was 'The Queen’s Handbag' 👑👜. A cheeky bird swooped down and stole the Queen’s handbag, racing through London’s landmarks. We followed her journey, talking about the difference between good and bad choices, how actions - like stealing - can affect others. This sparked thoughtful conversations about right and wrong, kindness and respect.
🚌🎟️🚦🎨🚔👑🕊️
Wednesday - Turbulence Ahead!
Midweek we took to the skies. ✈️ With a cockpit full of buttons, switches and screens, our pilots kept everyone safe through stormy clouds and bumpy turbulence. “Please fasten your seatbelts at all times!” they announced like seasoned professionals. We shared feelings about flying - nervousness, excitement, happiness and even fear - celebrating how differently people experience journeys. Afterwards, the children patiently crafted their own airplanes, taking turns and admiring each other’s creations.
Elsewhere, we travelled to far-off destinations without ever leaving camp:
* A sunny seaside with sand, shells and sea creatures. 🐚🌊
* An icy arctic with penguins and polar bears hiding in the snow. 🐧❄️
✈️🌩️🛫🐚🏝️🐧❄️
Thursday - Who’s That Trip-Trapping?
Through the meadow we wandered and there we found the 'Three Billy Goats Gruff' - and a very scary troll under the bridge! 🐐🌉👹 Children bravely crossed as goats while others built trolls from mud, leaves, pinecones and stones, creating their scariest versions yet. Later, everyone gathered for a cosy tea time with biscuits 🍪🍵. The children chatted about their adventures, shared stories and practised the art of conversation and turn-taking - a gentle reminder that community is just as important as courage. This day was full of feelings too: fear, hunger and anger, all explored through play and imagination.
🌳🐐🌉👹🍂🪨🍵
Friday - The Grand Tractor Finale!
We ended the week on a high note: climbing onto a real tractor! 🚜 The children’s eyes sparkled as they clambered up, exploring every detail. Inspired, they each created their own “*box of feelings*” - choosing colours to represent emotions. The finished boxes looked like magical washing machines, full of swirling, mixed-up feelings spinning round and round. 🌈
🚜🎨🎁🌈😃
Reflection
This week, our adventures were built around book-themed days. 📚 Each story inspired our play, vehicles - tractors, buses, planes - became the bridges linking stories to children’s own experiences. Alongside role play and imagination, we explored feelings (love, patience, fear, excitement, kindness) and reflected on morality (like the bird’s bad choice in The Queen’s Handbag). Our intentions - turn-taking, patience, self-expression and understanding others - shone through in every adventure. Most importantly, we followed the children’s interests, letting their excitement and creativity steer our journey. 🌟
We can’t wait to see where our little explorers take us next week! ✨
Little Forest Folk
Fulham