Our Week in the Forest...
A Bugs Life
With the leaves on the trees fully opened in anticipation of the summer days that wait just around the corner, the children at Little Forest Folk have been noticing the return of the mini beast families that have started to enjoy the new leaves. We have spotted lots of little caterpillars suspended in mid-air, hanging from their silky threads as they chew over their plans for the day.
Then the children discovered a beautiful bumblebee, that was sitting very still on the floor. At first, they thought it was sunbathing but on closer inspection they came to realise that the bumblebee was sadly dead. The children called Linn over to join them in their observations and so began an interesting discussion with children using clues nearby to speculate the cause of death. One child noticed that the bee was close to some stinging nettles and said, "It was the stinging nettles!". Another child noticed a doggy paw print close by and said, 'It must have been trampled on!". The conversation started with lots of logical reasons depending on the clues that were close by, but then divergent thinking and imagination became ignited and this took the conversation to a place of creative magic, "I know, the bee was a soldier in the bee war and it got hurt!" and it didn't take long before each child was adding their contribution to the story of the bee war.
There was also a discovery of a group of ladybirds and Sarah helped the children research that the name for a group of ladybirds is called 'a loveliness of ladybirds' - which we thought was indeed 'lovely'. The children were explaining to each other how to tell them apart and they were making observations about a difference in shape, size, colour and how many spots.
During our most recent inset day - we looked at how we could use large A3 floor books so children can contribute to the planning in the nursery. The children worked with Abbey and identified that they wanted to make their book about 'vampire animals" and they used pens to draw, mark make or write down the animals that could be classified as 'vampires'. This included leeches, bats and mosquitos. The children then took Abbey on an adventure walk and then used the floor book to record all the insects they had found.
We have noticed a fascination with house building this week. The children have been using collections of sticks and yarn to make small models on the ground. They discovered that triangles make the best shape to support the rest of their structures and have been developing a range of skills by winding the yarn around the stick to secure the pieces together. Some children have worked independently while others wanted to work in small groups, working as a team to add extensions on the homes until little mansions stood proudly on the forest floor. Once child even introduced a steady flow of water over her house and said, "oh no…there is a flood!". We are not sure if the little fairy folk have reliable plumbers and we hope they didn't have to wait all day for one to show up.
We have had a great week and we hope you all enjoy your bank holiday weekends!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon