Our Week in the Forest...
Our little forest folk have become quite the story tellers, as you can see written below:
"Once upon a time there lived a police station. And they drinking tea and then they went outside and saw a baddie. They catch and then they too late! They put hand cuffs on them and put them in the police car and then they put in jail. Then they had tea again.
They found another baddie he was a pirate and wanted lots of sweets and he kicked them into the boat. Then they got computers! It’s the end now."
Stories. Writing children’s stories down has become a very popular activity in Fishpond Wood and really empowers the children to show their creative sides in a way that guarantees someone is listening and produces something that is totally the children’s own. We had lots of pirates invading the children’s stories this week as well as animals: “a big naughty monkey, then came a big orange orang-utan, then came a big naughty dragon”! A poor chicken got lost from his farmyard and “he found a troll.” Even the ever-present baddies received an interesting input with them having a bath and eating a sandwich!
Reading this week has involved one of the children’s favourites – ‘Room on the Broom’. We shared the story at lunch times and snack times and it triggered some spectacular play and activities from the children. Broom making was popular, involving the children searching for different length sticks for the handle and the bristles. Potion mixing was a wonder to behold too: with cauldrons set up on tripods, the children set about firstly building fires to heat the cauldrons and then collecting the ingredients, both fair and foul, for their potions. Once created, they were bottled and then splashed about liberally upon adult and child alike to see the effects each brew had on the human body. For everyone splashed, the potions were also their own antidote and so nobody suffered the results for too long… * ribbit *
Trees. When the sun gets too hot in the forest, the Little Forest Folk seek out the shade to allow their energy levels to stay high and play to continue as long as possible. Amongst the branches of the Imagination Tree, the children have really been testing their abilities to climb and balance and becoming impressively inventive in their methods to get to places between the leaves that they’ve never reached before.
Some children experimented with how they could support themselves, by hanging like sloths and taking in the view of the Imagination Tree from a peculiar perspective indeed. Others used extra sticks to create new routes into the upper reaches of the branches and then moved and removed these supports to then get down via a different path.
A Special Event. On July 4th, America celebrated its independence day, or ‘America Day’ as the children called it. The children made some flags and surprised our brilliant American educator Virginia with a hearty “Happy America Day!” when she came down to the watering hole for afternoon snack. She then explained to the children what ‘America Day’ was and the sort of celebrations that would occur (barbeques and fireworks) back in the States. The children listened and absorbed the lesson that it was very much like Christmas! An unusual event to celebrate but one the children really enjoyed.
Enjoy your weekend adventures!
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon