Our week in the forest
It’s been a lovely week, with dry and sunny spells brightening our time in the forest. The children have been learning about different celebrations, exploring both Ramadan and Lunar New Year through lots of creative activities.
We talked about the traditions behind each celebration, including the meaning of Ramadan and the story of the Year of the Horse for Lunar New Year. The children created crescent moons by carefully cutting out shapes, gluing and adding glitter before hanging them on a tree. This activity supported their fine motor development while helping them engage meaningfully with cultural traditions.
A traditional tea room was set up, where the children poured and scooped tea from cup to cup, adding flowers and petals to create their own special blends. Nearby, our noodle bar was busy with children combining rice and “noodles” in their imaginative recipes. Throughout the morning, an energetic group game of tag unfolded across camp, with everyone taking turns chasing and being chased. When it was time for a rest, the children returned to the mud kitchen, adding water to rice to “cook” it and noticing how the texture changed and became mushy.
We have also begun our 2026 eco project journey. Some families may remember last year’s project, when we adopted Shadow the tiger and organised a food drive. This year, the children have started investigating the eco-friendly practices we already use in our clubhouse and forest space, discussing what we do well and what we could improve. A key part of the project is our eco promise. We want the children to understand why it is important to care for nature and how they can help protect it. Together, we created a large eco promise banner, painting plants, forest animals, patterns, leaf prints and colourful splatters. Each child added their own handprint as a promise to look after the forest and take part in the project.
Our Lunar New Year celebrations continued with clay dumpling making. The children rolled, folded and pinched their clay “dough” into buns and dim sum shapes, discussing what fillings they might include. Chocolate hobnobs proved to be a particularly popular suggestion. Later, they experimented with flour and water in the mud kitchen to create dough, noticing when it became too sticky and problem-solving by adding dry leaves and sticks to absorb the moisture.
The children also made lanterns, folding paper, carefully snipping with scissors and persevering to complete each step before securing them with tape and adding handles. Fine motor skills were further developed using pincer tweezers to lift wool “noodles” or “gold” into decorated envelopes as lucky charms. Many extended their play by creating Chinese-inspired recipes, including noodle soups and loose-leaf teas, working collaboratively on their muddy culinary creations.
Little Forest Folk
Putney Heath