Our Week in the Forest
We have had such a lovely week here in the forest. In line with our new intent focussing on the children’s Personal, Social and Emotional Development we have started each day with a story bag during our morning circle which allows the children to experience emotions outside of their usual realm in a safe way, leading to an understanding of the emotions of others and how our feelings can change. The stories have included The Colour Monster, Where the Wild Things are, Little Rabbit Froo Froo and fairy tale classics such as the Three Little Pigs complete with inflatable mallets, straw, sticks and bricks and even bunny and wolf ears for the little ones to wear so that they can participate in the story telling! This has made for some really lovely and engaging interactions and some really calm and focussed learning during the rest of the mornings and afternoons!
On Monday all the children also had the opportunity to practice using their senses as a way to regulate starting off the week with an activity focussed upon discussing our senses such as sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Then we each took it in turn to practice aromatherapy by making our own scented necklaces using card, wool and a set of essential oils. All the children loved dripping the oils onto their card hearts and really enjoyed watching the process again and again as each child chose their preferred scent. We ended up with passionfruit, mango, lemon, strawberry, watermelon, coconut, lime, cherry and apple scented necklaces and everyone was in agreement that these smells made us feel calm and happy and it was lovely to see the children taking an interest in everyone’s choice as well as sharing their own creations with each other.
All week we have also had a zen den complete with fairy lights, draped fabrics, soft picnic blankets, cushions, books and calming music to offer the children a relaxing space where they could regulate and chill when seeking some calm. This was a wonderful area where the children really engaged in reading stories to each other and it’s definitely something we are looking forward to recreating every day next week too!
From all the team, we hope you have a lovely weekend!
Little Forest Folk
Morden