Our week in the forest
This week our forest has been filled with exciting pirate adventures, creative activities, music and lots of imaginative sea-themed play. The children arrived each day full of enthusiasm and positive energy, ready to explore all the exciting experiences prepared for them.
Our pirate and sea-world theme continued to inspire wonderful imaginative play throughout the week. The children were especially excited to explore the new fishing toys, eagerly practicing their fishing skills at the tuff tray. Using magnetic fishing rods, they carefully casted their lines and worked hard to catch different sea creatures. This activity supported the development of fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and shoulder strength while encouraging patience and concentration. Catching the shark became a particular favourite, which naturally led to enthusiastic singalongs of “Baby Shark” with lots of laughter and movement.
Creativity flourished during our arts and crafts sessions. The children enjoyed painting pirate ships and decorating them using colourful markers and pens. They explored different colours, shapes, and patterns while confidently expressing their own ideas through art. One child proudly practiced drawing “Mickey Mouse,” adding beautiful bright colours and impressive detail to their work. It has been lovely to watch the children’s confidence and imagination continue to grow through these creative opportunities.
Music and movement were another highlight of the week. The children thoroughly enjoyed experimenting with our musical instruments, tapping along to rhythms and musical beats with great excitement. We have also been practicing singing “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King, and the children enthusiastically joined in with the words and actions. Some children confidently showcased their wonderful singing voices while others explored rhythm using our dinosaur instruments. These musical experiences support listening skills, coordination, confidence, and self-expression in a fun and engaging way.
The mud kitchen remained a very popular area throughout the week and encouraged fantastic imaginative role play. The children continued their fishing adventures by pretending to catch mackerel and sharks before “cooking” them in the cardboard oven. Water play also became an exciting learning opportunity. One child particularly enjoyed squeezing water from the bath sea toys into containers before carefully pouring it into a watering can to water the dry soil around camp. This activity encouraged problem-solving, hand strength, coordination and caring for our outdoor environment during the warmer weather.
At the end of the sessions, the children worked together beautifully to help tidy and wash the sea toys. They showed kindness, teamwork, and responsibility while continuing to strengthen their fine motor skills through pouring, squeezing, scrubbing, and carrying.
We are incredibly proud of the children for their enthusiasm, creativity, teamwork and positive attitudes throughout the week. It has been wonderful to watch them build confidence friendship and important developmental skills through play and exploration.
Have a lovely long weekend, we hope our sessional families have a lovely half term and we look forward to welcoming our full day children and holiday campers for more forest adventures next week!
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath