Our Week in the Forest
This week, we have thought a lot about size and shape! We have considered how bear footprints and tracks might be ‘bigger’ or ‘smaller’ than ours. We also discussed how different horse tracks are to dog footprints and then spent a little bit of time comparing both of those to our own footprints. Using towers of blocks, our Little Forest Folk-ers showed that some of us can reach higher than others and what this means if we need to reach the top - or secure the tower from lower down - with lots of great teamwork shown!
As a group, educators have talked with the children about Christmas and we’ve enjoyed creating a star using branches from the camp for our ‘pallet’ tree, hanging some of the decorations that we created last week. We all considered how different the pallet now looks with decorations, green paint, lights and a star on it, compared to what it looked like as a pallet last week - and we definitely decided that it looks a lot ‘happier’ now!
Using ‘The Smeds and The Smoos’ as inspiration, the children created ‘tall truckles’ and ‘glompom’ plants, by using offcuts from Christmas trees, red paint and blue paint. Through this activity, our lovely educators talked to the children about the colour ‘purple’ in the book and they were able to relate this to change and ‘celebrating change’ with the birth of the Smed-Smoo baby, which will lead us nicely into considering how different people and cultures celebrate different events and important dates across the year.
During our weather-enforced ‘indoor day’, we of course also went out and about - our intrepid explorers enjoyed a 2 and a half hour adventure, taking in a ‘bear hunt’, a secret garden, practicing rolling down hills and becoming moles for the morning! On our adventure, we spotted some thoughtful memorial benches and talked about the importance of looking at the ‘precious’ items placed around them, but not touching them as they have very special meaning to the people who put them there and the people that they have been placed there to remember. Our adventurers climbed trees, moved logs and dug in the mud! Together, we all looked up what a mole looks like, discovering how small they are, but also how long and tough their nails are too! A few ‘little moles’ amongst us then encouraged all of their friends to become moles and they dug through some of the upturned earth, proudly showing off their muddy hands afterwards! Rolling down the hills soon became a huge part of the adventure, with even our smaller, usually quieter children raucously laughing and running back to the top of the hill to try again!
Once back at the nursery, after we had eaten a warming lunch, the children decided to create a snowman to go along with their pallet Christmas tree and cardboard box ‘Polar Express’ train! Reuse and Recycle really being used to full effect on that day!
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon Village