Woodland Corner Blog - Summer Update

Summer Update:

We have certainly been very busy over the past few weeks! The sunny, warm weather has meant lots of time outside enjoying our beautiful new mud kitchen, which was built for us by Salvage Stitch Restore. This family-run company specialises in creating bespoke furniture items from wooden pallets that would otherwise end up in landfill and our new kitchen is a fantastic addition to Woodland Corner that will last for many years to come.

We have also loved seeing the results of all the hard work the children and their grandparents put in during our Grandparents’ Gardening Week in May. All that weeding, sowing and planting has really paid off and we now have lots of flowers to enjoy as well as the promise of everything from lettuces to potatoes and strawberries. Given the recent heat, the paddling pools and sprinklers have seen lots of action, while the posts for our new garden sun shades have gone in so the sails will be up any day now.

At the start of June, we finally held our Sponsored Walk, which had been delayed from the Coronation due to the bad weather. When the day arrived, we couldn’t have asked for sunnier, drier conditions! The children all did so well, especially given it was quite hot, and we want to extend huge thanks to the staff for helping and to the parents for participating. Another big well done to the children for smiling so nicely for the photographer – we can’t wait to see the photos when they are ready in a week or so.

Forest School sessions also resumed in June. These are always hugely popular with the children and, here at Woodland Corner, we believe they are an important part of early years education. Forest School emphasises child-centred learning based on the belief that children should play without adult interference – rather, the adult’s role is as a facilitator to children’s learning. Research undertaken on Forest School shows it can improve children’s concentration, confidence, motivation and language skills, as well as having a positive influence on their engagement with the natural world.

Finally, the children have enjoyed our recent topics. We’ve had music week, which involved making some really cool instruments and decorating them. Who would have thought you could make an instrument out of toilet roll tubes?! Another theme has been under the sea, with lots of painting and arts and crafts, including making jellyfish out of paper plates. Even our yoga session that week was sea-themed – the children loved practising their crab and shark poses and were taught how to use the sounds of the waves to connect with their breathing.

New mud kitchen!

It's arrived!!! Thank you to Jen & James at Salvage, Stitch, Restore for building a bespoke mud kitchen that will last for years to come!

We would like to thank Babergh District Council for awarding Woodland Corner with a grant for £4,800 from the ‘VCFSE Resilience Fund’. We have started to make lots of improvements to our garden. The money has enabled us to purchase some sun sails to give us some much needed shade, special gardening tools for children, plants, numbers for the fence, a music station and a bespoke mud kitchen!