A Forest Grew...

and grew and grew...

The prekindergarten children read two great stories this week where a forest actually grew in a little boy's bedroom... or was it only his imagination???

The Salamander Room 

 

and Where the Wild Things Are

Well, we couldn't resist, soooooo

we made a forest grow in our own classroom.

First, we needed lots of big paper and then we got right to work creating LOTS of trees... mostly the evergreen variety.

 Such perseverance.

 Everyone did a wonderful job working together as a team.

This group of kiddos thought that the forest floor needed 

a few pebbles along the path.

We figured out that if we scrunched the brown paper it 

made the tree trunks look more textured and real.

Now for the fun part... planting the trees and 

bushes into the hillside.

 No forest would be complete without a few wildflowers.

 Adding a bit more texture to the trees.

 WOW... we did it!!

Next, it was time to add a few props, like a campfire 

complete with flames... the safe variety:)

A tent, of course!

How about a few wild animals and insects?!

 With all those evergreen trees, we thought a 

basket of pinecones would be appropriate too.

Beware... who is that lurking up in the tree?

And what about that animal hiding behind the tree?!

Binoculars sure come in handy in the forest.

You never know what you will see in the treetops!

Each day someone takes on the role of being the park ranger and one of his/her most important jobs is to closely monitor conditions in the open space in the park to determine the level of fire danger.  
At this point in the year, the children are responsible for the signage in our pretend lab. 
 They are honing listening skills as they practice listening for the sound and then writing the associated letter.

Worms are being sold in the camping store for all the fishermen who come to the forest to camp and fish.

We will continue to add props to our dramatic 

play center over the next week.

One never knows the direction these little imaginations will take.

Stop by if you are in need of any new camping gear or are just interested in camping under the full moon.