Woodland Corner – Autumn Newsletter

September–October 2026

We welcomed lots of new children to Woodland Corner in September, having said goodbye to many of our older children who moved on to primary school. We spent the first week and a half settling in, getting to know our new friends, exploring our environment and building relationships with staff.

Our first topic was ‘All About Me and My Family’, where the children enjoyed talking about themselves, their families, pets, favourite books, colours and things they enjoy doing. We made paper plate self-portraits, using mirrors to look carefully at our facial features, eye colours and hair colours, and discussed how we are all different and unique. The children also drew pictures of the people living in their homes, which encouraged lots of lovely conversations and helped develop their communication, language and personal, social and emotional skills. We continued this theme during Forest School-inspired activities, creating faces using natural resources arranged inside wooden frames.

We celebrated Julia Donaldson by transforming our book corner into a wonderful Julia Donaldson-themed area, with the help of one of our lovely mums who kindly made us a beautiful new celebration tree. We displayed lots of Julia Donaldson stories and chose a different book each day, with activities linked to the story. The Snail and the Whale inspired a sea creature sensory tuff tray, while The Gruffalo brought us Gruffalo crumble! We made symmetrical butterflies for Monkey Puzzle, created our very own Stick Men using clay and string, and mixed lots of wonderful witches’ potions in our cauldron for Room on the Broom. The children thoroughly enjoyed bringing these much-loved stories to life.

We were delighted to welcome Claire, a dental surgeon, who kindly visited to talk to the children about the importance of looking after their teeth. We learnt about brushing our teeth properly and discussed foods that are good for our teeth and those that should be enjoyed as an occasional treat. Throughout the week, we reinforced this learning through activities, including practicing toothbrushing using a large model of teeth and toothbrushes, and sorting pictures of different foods. This was a really valuable experience for the children, and we hope they have been sharing their new knowledge at home!

We have also been celebrating Harvest and the arrival of autumn. The children enjoyed baking cakes and learning where flour comes from, discovering how wheat is grown and turned into flour. We shared lots of lovely harvest stories and made delicious apple puffs. Our mud kitchen has had an autumnal makeover, with pumpkins, squashes, pine cones, conkers and seasonal recipe cards inspiring lots of imaginative play. We have also made pumpkin play dough, which has been a lovely sensory experience.

Our autumn learning continued with a focus on British wildlife and woodland animals. We have been finding out about owls, badgers, hedgehogs, moles and mice, sharing stories and talking about the animals that live in our countryside and woodlands.

We were extremely pleased to welcome Anna back for Forest School, following her successful training pilot earlier in the year. Anna offered Tuesday morning sessions for all our preschool children aged two to four with the the staff joining the children in the woods, supporting and encouraging them to explore, investigate and try new experiences.

The children enjoyed relaxing in hammocks, using the zip line, climbing trees, walking through the woods and making mud pies in the outdoor mud kitchen. We painted on easels and shower screens, created leaf caterpillars and wooden disc necklaces, and had enormous fun making giant bubbles using willow wands. These sessions have been a wonderful opportunity for the children to develop confidence, independence, physical skills and a love of the outdoors.

As we approach the end of our first half term, we have been enjoying lots of Halloween-themed activities, including spooky sensory soup, pumpkin play dough, seasonal crafts and Halloween cupcakes. Our After-School Club children have also been busy making Halloween biscuits and we are looking forward to more spooky fun before the half-term break!

As we are a Charity based setting we rely on fundraising to buy new and exciting resources. We are sending home a Autumn Treasure Egg Box for your child/ren to collect six special treasures from nature. This also helps with home learning experiences. We are selling Halloween Sweet cones on Friday afternoon. We will also be selling toffee apples, hot chocolate, tea, coffee and cold drinks at the Nayland Bonfire Night.

It has been a busy and enjoyable start to the academic year, and we delighted with how well our new children have settled into life at Woodland Corner.

We would like to thank all our families for their continued support, particularly those who have kindly given their time and talents to enhance the children’s experiences.

We wish everyone a lovely half-term break and look forward to welcoming you back for another exciting half term!

The Woodland Corner Team