Our Week in the Forest
This week we’ve enjoyed many activities to keep us warm in the frost and freezing temperatures. Our walk-ins have explored the concept of frost and ice, we discussed the freezing point of water which is why it’s not safe to walk in frozen puddles, so we found sticks! Some sticks were big enough to crack and smash the frozen puddles… we also explored how slippery ice can be by pushing different items along it to someone opposite. How fast could leaves slide? Stones? Sticks? We rotated our camp to move to base camp from the watering hole as base camp sees more sun.
We’ve opened our own restaurants this week too, with one serving a theme of Apples! We created our menu using a mixture of symbols and words to offer our customers. At first, one or two customers arrived but the news spread quickly because next thing we knew, we had 7 customers in our small restaurant which forced our chefs to expand our menu to pies, ice creams, pancakes, stews and a range of juices. We quickly got to work and had to buy more pots and pans to keep up with the heavy demand. Once we closed up shop, we took a break in the apple garden where the sun shone and the musical instruments were out. Our educators found an apple song online and we marched along to the rhythm of it making as much noise as we could! A truly fantastic opening day, I don’t think any restaurant has had such success before!
Experiencing the cold weather this week helped us get into the Christmas spirit. With our educators, we were able to transform a pallet into a Christmas tree! Our educators had a vision on how to up-cycle the pallet and everyone helped map out the design and angles. Once we were happy with the outline, we got to work. Working on our safety knowledge of how to use the saw, we named each feature and what to do or not to do with it. After the first three grooves were done, our Little Forest Folk-ers had their turn with support. Everyone had a go! And soon, the pallet was taking shape. We created a triangular top and then a rectangular stump. After lunch, we enjoyed painting it and then popped it in the stump to dry and show off.
We are looking forward to making decorations to go onto the tree over the next few weeks so watch this space!
