Our Week in the Forest
We kicked off the week with a bang - well, not a literal one! 💥 Thanks to a thorough safety check, everything was as calm as a forest 🌲..Why? Because this week we're celebrating Child Safety Week, with a special focus on hazard prevention 🚫⚠️!
Monday started with a metaphorical bang! 💥 We kicked off the day with discussions about the special ways we can assess risks and keep ourselves safe. For example, always holding the banister when walking down the stairs. Next, with our older friends, we carried out some hands-on risk assessments - identifying hazards and talking through how we might manage or avoid them. There were plenty of checklists involved (the one silver lining of bureaucracy being the deep satisfaction of ticking a box ✅). Everyone had a hard hat, of course 👷♂️ and we were already suited and booted in our high-visibility vests 🦺. All in all, it was a great day - another item safely ticked off the list! ✅
The next item on the list was Tuesday - or should we say Cruise-day! 🚗💦 That’s because on Tuesday, a car wash came to the forest! 🌲🧼 It was a rainy day, which made our job washing cars even easier. The car was pretty big, but luckily we had plenty of soap, towels and enthusiastic volunteers. 🧽🚿🙌 We say volunteers, because it was an altruistic car wash. So, in the words of Christina Aguilera and Rose Royce: "You might not ever get rich, ha - let me tell you, it's better than digging a ditch...” 🎶 (Though honestly, digging a ditch sounds like our cup of tea too - we love digging at Little Forest Folk Fulham! 🕳️❤️)
Speaking of which, it’s lucky we love digging because on Wednesday we had a construction-themed day - perfect for plenty of health and safety checks! 🏗️🦺 One thing’s for sure: there was no litter causing hazards on our site, thanks to our child-managed litter pickers out in force and our site supervisors on patrol! 🧹👷♂️✅ Forget Paw Patrol - this was Safety Patrol, and we were ready to be there on the double… with a double tick for compliance, that is! ✔️✔️🚨 We were armed with hard hats and a culture of hard work! 💪👷♂️ We were dressed to impress - you might say we had all the gear, and some idea! 🛠️🧱 Our giant climbing frame was the main job site - perfect for practicing gross motor skills. But blast 💥, it needed building first... and there were more than a few bricks missing! Luckily, we had a construction crew on hand ready to raise the roof! 👷♀️👷♂️ The highlight of our construction site was the lift pulley bucket system - perfect for maneuvering heavy loads. The children loved testing their strength and teamwork. Was it magic? Nope - just physics and Maria’s fresh new forest school training ! 🎓💪
🪠 Meanwhile, over at the pipe-works, our engineers were hard at work connecting pipes and running tennis ball tests to make sure the flow was right on track! 🚿✅ Finally, in our mini construction zone, our future contractors tackled a tricky construction puzzle using toy drills, plastic bolts and screwdrivers. It was a real test of logic, motor skills, and patience! 🧩🔩🔧 Of course, our Little Forest Folk-ers smashed it - by which we mean they didn’t smash it, they assembled it! 😉
On Thursday, we had a very rainy day! ☔️ But that was perfect for us because we were celebrating World Environment Day! 👏🌲👏 And what better way to explore our environment than on a wet, windy day when all the worms and snails come out to play! 🐛🐌 We went on a bird hunt - not the best day for bird watching, but at least we spotted a pigeon! 🐦 Since it was super wet, we spent the morning huddled under our cozy tree 🌳, reading lots of books and doing plenty of colouring. We also had lots of great conversations about our environment and the important role weather plays in looking after it! 🌍💚
Finally, we rounded out our week with a special day to discuss Eid! 🎉✨ We talked about what Eid means and asked if any of our friends were celebrating it. For those who weren’t, it was a wonderful opportunity to learn how some of our friends and their families share in this important religious celebration. Of course, feasting is a big part of many celebrations, not least Eid, so our mud kitchen was chock-a-block all day, busy whipping up plenty of treats! 🍽️🍰 And of course, Eid is a time for reconnecting and celebrating with loved ones, and luckily, we had a brilliant day connecting and sharing with our friends! ❤️
All in all, we can check it off as a great week and look forward to the weekend! ✔️🎉
Little Forest Folk
Fulham