Our Week in the Forest
While creatures in nature remind us to slow down and appreciate a secretly quiet atmosphere, before they start getting ready to hibernate, our Little Forest Folk-ers are as busy as squirrels, making the most of the last weeks of this wonderful autumn. We welcomed November in the forest with a lively, wonderful week full of themed adventures, fun celebrations, lots of stories and sparkly energy!
On Monday, we embarked on a sea adventure to get to know all about one of the most fantastic creatures in the ocean. We celebrated Jellyfish Day and shared interesting facts about these peculiar invertebrates. We enjoyed story time in our submarine corner, full of non-fiction books about sea animals and chose our favourite ones in the sandpit tray. We added water and played with them, while pretending to be pirates burying stone gems under the sand! In our loose parts area, our brilliant children let their imagination run wild and worked together to build a converted car and a bridge!
Tuesday was the sweetest adventure, as we celebrated Candy Day. We had Hansel and Gretel's house with a giant lollipop at camp! Lucky us, we were home alone and could make our own lollipops out of paper and sticks without any witch around. We also challenged our literacy skills by completing words with the corresponding letters in the correct order. In the mud kitchen, we tried our best pudding recipes and our little confectioners got muddy, chocolatey hands! They followed a visual recipe and also experimented by creating their own!
On Wednesday, we had a cracking and colourful day! We celebrated Bonfire Night and talked about Guy Fawkes Day at circle time. We related such a historical and mischievous character to all the baddies we know from our favourite books, such as the ones in The Baddies. Many children recalled all the characters and key events. We had the bridge from the Three Billy Goats Gruff and pretended to be the three goats and the troll hiding under a secret spot! The bravest children reached the top and crossed the bridge to get to the other side of camp. Not only did they find grass on the glorious meadows, but also story stones around a pretend campfire. We retold popular stories and created our own too! We also painted fireworks with recycled materials and waved sparkles with sticks and sensory and shiny coloured fabric!
On Thursday, we highlighted one of our most important rules in the forest: BE KIND. We celebrated International Day Against Violence and Bullying at School. The Coloured Monsters soft toys joined us to remind us that we validate all types of feelings. Our Little Forest Folk-ers identified how the monsters might feel and shared ideas about what we can do or what we might need when we feel a specific emotion. We used the jars of feelings and our little ones enjoyed picking up different-coloured pom poms and filling their jars. Then, they described a range of emotions as colourful as a rainbow! We also painted a mural against violence. Everyone had fun getting messy by painting their palms and leaving handprints to represent our sign: No, Thank You!
Before the day ended, we went to play tennis at the tennis courts by Bishop Park and they smashed it!
By the end of the week, we celebrated National Hug a Bear Day! We took our teddy bear to the forest and invited him to our afternoon tea party! We made cupcakes, pancakes and sausages in our mud kitchen and prepared foamy coffees and bubbly tea. Of course, we also went on a bear hunt and enjoyed a story walk where our little explorers excitedly recited some phrases and copied our gestures.
Have a wonderful weekend all and see you soon in the forest!
Little Forest Folk
Fulham