It's Cold!

We went outside to play in the cold on a beautiful sunny day. We found that everything had frozen, a great opportunity to explore how ice feels. We picked it up, smashed it, watched it melt, counted the pieces and looked at the shapes. Of course it had to be licked as well!

We made a Christmas Tree

In the lead up to Christmas its great fun helping to prepare the little ones for the exciting things they will experience. I saw this idea on a Pinterest site and adapted it so the little ones could help to make the tree and then stick baubles and stars on it. They loved counting them and talking about the colours. It was a great opportunity for learning about taking turns too and then of course lots of celebrating their work afterwards by showing it off to parents and the big children after school too.

I made a wreath

Hear is a classic example of procrastination! I said to myself that I would fill in some of my Forest School portfolio but found myself in the garden foraging for suitable wreath making foliage. I used apple tree twig prunings to bend them into a circle shape, tied together with string and then threaded small pine tree branches and dried sedum flowers onto it. The smell was heavenly and it was then adorned with some wooden ornaments and icicles and stayed on the front door all Christmas. Felt quite proud of it actually! I can use it as part of my Forest School Training as I had to learn how to bend the wood and think about which resources to use so it will go into my reflective journal as a useful learning activity. 

Birthday celebrations

Everyone loves to be made a fuss of when it's their Birthday, especially if it's a 2nd Birthday and the first time you're really old enough to appreciate it! The children helped make the cake and then we played Musical Statues, Musical Bumps and 'Simon Says' and had a little disco! Great fun for all ages!

Making Leaf pictures

We went out in the garden to collect leaves and I showed the children how to put them in a pattern. This activity completely absorbed the children, they spent ages finding leaves, talking about the colours, sizes and shapes of the leaves. Im learning to step back more and allow the learning to take place, led by the children which is one of the fundamental ethos of Forest School. The children all chose their favourite leaves to bring inside and we made pictures out of them.

Messy fun

I think this was one of the first ever messy play activities I did as a childminder and it has remained a firm favourite. Nothing could be simpler- Corn flour and water and hands getting stuck in. Children (and grown ups!) of all ages love feeling the texture of this strange mixture and watching how it changes and moves. I do then have a film of white powder over everything for a while but it cleans up really easily so its really worth it!

Making Leaf piles

Any gardener knows how good leaf mulch is for gardens so every autumn we have fun collecting leaves in the garden. As well as the apple, plum, apricot trees and vine in the garden we have cherry and pear trees overhanging so there are a lot of leaves at this time of year! The children get to use tools such as a rake to help collect up the leaves, we put them into big tubs and then work together to carry them to the leaf pile near the compost. We talk about the noise the leaves make and  try to identify which trees the leaves came from. It's great for helping children to learn about the seasons. They also love looking into the compost bin to see how stinky it is and count all the worms!