Our Week in the Forest
Monday was a great day - you might even say a dreamy one! 😴✨It was the perfect time to catch up with learning after the weekend and what better way than by making dreamcatchers? Katie led the children in crafting a huge dreamcatcher using natural materials they found around camp, including the overhanging holly branches. A dream activity - especially since one of our learning intentions for the younger children this week is to explore and manipulate natural materials! 🌿 The results were truly dream-worthy... it certainly ‘catcher’ed the children's imaginations!
In the afternoon, the children created a natural wildlife pond in the hope of attracting some frogs, dragonflies - or maybe even a newt friend! 🐸🪷 We talked about the importance of natural spaces for animals and how we can use our understanding of animal adaptations to design environments that support their needs. Over time, these spaces can become increasingly wild and welcoming to local wildlife. 🦋 For example, discussing how, since frogs are only semi-aquatic, they benefit from having rocks nearby to help them hop in and out of the water. It was toad-ally fun!
Expanding on this interest, the children got botanical, making potions out of found materials. 🧪🍃 Luckily, we were budding botanists, not witches - so the frogs and newts were spared from our potions! 🐸 That would have been a little counterintuitive to our earlier wildlife efforts, after all. We brewed up some real fun - and hopefully stirred up some interest too! 🌿🔮
Our intent for our 3-4s this week has been to explore different occupations! 👩⚕️👷♂️ Building on the excitement around potions and natural remedies from Monday, on Tuesday we brought a full doctor’s practice to the forest. We had everything you could need - including a waiting room - although luckily, wait times were nothing to scoff at, or should I say cough at! 😷🩺 We certainly had a holistic practice, combining our interest in herbal remedies from Monday with innovations and tech to help with diagnostics. From blood pressure monitors and stethoscopes to MRI machines and X-rays - we had it all! 📋 It was a fun morning and definitely just what the doctor ordered! 👨⚕️✅
Happily, our junior doctors didn’t have to work full shifts like our hardworking NHS staff - because in the afternoon, we switched gears… or should we say careers? 👷 Following the children’s interest, we transformed our surgery into a construction site! 🚧 A few of our holiday campers were enthusiastic to use mud as pretend concrete and, unsurprisingly, lots of our friends appropriately got ‘stuck’ in! 🏗️
Following the construction passion from Tuesday, on Wednesday we hit it hard with child-led interest. We nailed it, transforming our site into a huge construction site! 🔨 It was exciting! ⚠️ We had a pulley system for moving heavy loads and loose parts galore to get creativity cranking. From bricks to pipes, tires and logs! 🧱🛠️ We managed to erect an entire cabin fitted with a ceiling... talk about raising the roof! Meanwhile, other children used the loose parts to create an obstacle course - did someone say parkour? 🤸Other friends kept it homecore, using tires to make sofas and a log for a TV, ready to unwind in front of. 📺🛋️ Well, after a full-on day of hard core building, why not?
On Thursday, returning to our intent for our little ones, we used natural resources to create masks with an emphasis on emotions! 🎭🌿 Ironically, we thought masks might be a great way to talk about not ‘masking’ our feelings. The creations were beautiful - it was clear creativity was really branching out! 🌳 Speaking of creativity, we continued the interest in dreamcatchers from Monday by making forest dreamcatchers in the afternoon; so it’s safe to say nightmares won’t be able to catch a break! 😴🕸️
Finally, returning to all things occupations on Friday, we didn’t just have a mud kitchen - we created an industrial kitchen! 👨🍳🔥 We talked about all the different roles, from head chef to sous chef to KP and how important every part of a kitchen team is! 🍽️ Our kitchen had a huge emphasis on manners and sharing and the whole team did amazingly - even if we aren’t convinced that’s completely typical of industry standards... no mini Gordon Ramsays here! 😅
All in all, it was an amazing week, full of exciting occupations - perfect for the penultimate week before a long summer break! 🌞🎒🛶
Little Forest Folk
Fulham