Our Week in the Forest...
Some of our intrepid little adventurers have returned from Little Forest Folk Tuscany and have been excitedly telling others of the things they had done. Highlights definitely seemed to be the swimming pool or the pony trekking. Our scientific theme has remained from last week with the children wanting to continue their science experiments. This week we changed the bicarbonate of soda and vinegar for alka-seltzer and water. The children helped to set up a launch pad for the rocket and a spectating zone a safe distance away. They then each put on a pair of safety goggles, excitement building the whole time. Those children brave enough came forward to add the tablet and carefully pour water into the little canister before quickly making their way back to the spectating zone. The countdown then began… ‘5, 4, 3, 2’ and before we got to one the rocket blasted off into the air – a much better explosion than we had with the vinegar and bicarbonate of soda.
We’ve had such a variety of other activities this week too. The children now love walking through the walled garden, whether that be en route into the forest or on adventures during the day. There is such a variety of things to see, smell and feel and the mini-maze is always a favourite. With most of the plants taller than the children, it’s such an exciting jungle for the children to walk through. Along with all the plants grown by the gardeners, our Little Forest Folk-ers like checking in on their own plants. They have been growing incredibly quickly and every couple of days the children are amazed by their size. We have continued to hunt for more worms for our wormery, however as it’s been so sunny and dry, finding worms has been tricky, even for our very best bug hunters!
There have also been lots of exciting literacy activities. The children have collected leaves on our walk to base camp and then decorated these throughout the day. Some children liked to draw treasure maps, others wrote letters, and for some they were menu cards for the mud kitchen. We also had an interesting selection of Scottish books – The Gruffalo in Scots, A Moose in the Hoose, and A Wee Lassie Who Swallowed a Midgie. These provided a nice opportunity to develop the children’s understanding of the world around them and with Harriet being from Scotland and Conor from Northern Ireland we were able to discuss with the children what accents are and how people from different places might have different words for the same thing.
It’s been such a lovely week in the sun and we’re looking forward to more next week with lots of water play. It’s going to be a hot one so please remember sun hats and to apply sunscreen before coming in the mornings!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham