Exploring Streams, Pulleys and Thunderstorms!

Over the last couple of weeks, the preschool children have been very excited to play with the new pulley system apparatus. They very quickly worked out how to use it and have been working together to transport buckets of sand and wooden blocks to and fro using the turning wheel. A couple of the children waited at one end as another child turned the wheel and when the bucket of sand got halfway along, the children then swapped over, encouraging each other to be able to manoeuvre the bucket the whole way across. On a rainy day, the children set out some buckets underneath a water flow and once they were full with rain water, they were transporting the buckets to the sand pit on the pulley and using this water to wet the sand with one of the children suggesting, “Now we can make really good sandcastles!”. 

The children have been embracing the wet weather and even welcomed the thunderstorms throughout the week. The children situated themselves to look out through the open doors to the garden and watched as the lightning struck through the sky and eagerly waited, counting how long it took for the thunder to happen. When they got to just 2 seconds, one of the children informed everyone else, “That means that the storm is very close!”. Once the storm had passed, the children went straight out to play in the garden, with some children setting out some guttering to catch the falling rain that had collected on the sail and had placed buckets underneath to catch the water.

A group of children ventured off to the wilderness to observe pond life this week which has been a focus topic in preschool over the last couple of weeks. At group times, the children have been discussing things that live in ponds, rivers and the sea and also how important it is to dispose of rubbish and recycling correctly to protect our oceans ahead of world ocean day. Whilst in the wilderness, the children waded through the stream in their wet suits and wellies, collecting water and using magnifying glasses to investigate the water they had collected. They used nets to scoop up some small creatures that could be found in the water, carefully handling and examining them before gently releasing them back into the water.

Giant cable machine play!

Recently the toddlers celebrated World Bee Day when they explored what bees do and how they help us, as well as looking at pictures of bee hives and read stories all about bees! A few children explored the play dough set up which had a model of a what the inside of a bee hive looks like with the aim for the toddlers to make their own bees and hives. One child began pulling off small pieces of dough and said, “I’m making lots of little ones” before adding in a higher pitched voice, “They babies!” Meanwhile another child began rolling out a large amount of dough and stated “It’s a Daddy Bee!”. On another table some of toddlers were extracting pom pom ‘honey’ from egg carton bee hives using tweezers. A discussion started about honey and if they liked it, “I like honey I have it at home”, “My daddy has honey on his breakfast” while another child added, “Mmm it’s so nummy”.

Outside a group of children explored a very exciting new piece of equipment which they could use as a pulley for their sand buckets. One child wondered over and asked what it was before taking hold of the handle and moving it from side to side. As others approached they noticed the hook on the bottom and hooked on a bucket which gave them a little giggle of success after attempting for a few moments. This was then followed by some trial and error with the handle before they were able to fully rotate it which moved the hook from one end to the other. Some toddlers watched on laughing while others began asking, “Can I have a turn?” A couple children began getting scoops of sand and adding it to the bucket as it moved along the pulley with cheers of, “I did it” and “That’s a big one!” as they successfully got their scoops into the bucket. There were a few “Uh oh”s and “Oopsy daisy”s as some of the scoops missed the moving bucket which gave them another laugh. A few toddlers standing nearby then picked up the dustpans and brushes and very helpfully began sweeping the fallen sand from the floor and returning it to the sand pit.

Over the last couple of weeks the  Under Twos have continued to enjoy outdoor play in the garden and their adventures around the grounds. Whilst out on a daily walk, the children had just finished up with their picnic snack when a couple of children stood up and went over to one of the football goals. Others soon followed and chose to take along their small footballs with them. One of the children began to kick and throw their ball into the net, followed by clapping their hands and smiling which encouraged others to join in. Other children found the base post of the goal a rather comfortable seat and sat alongside friends as they watched the balls roll past them and into the net. In the garden the children have had a lot of water play activities to keep them cool in the hotter weather including water trays, builders trays with boats and pouring on the water wall. Whilst playing with the water wall the children were giggling and helping each other work out exactly what to do. One of the older children gave a great demonstration by lifting a cup of water and pouring it slowly into the top part of the wall, then pointing out the water as it flowed down the pipes. They would then say, “All done!” once the water had reached the very bottom of the wall. 

Inside the children have been developing their fine motor control by taking part in a lot of mark making activities. This particular day it was a drawing table with chunky pencils. A lot of the children were very eager to get started and helped set the table up, by placing the paper down and applying a piece of tape to the tops of the paper. They then helped choose some pencils from the tray and got stuck in. One of the children shouted, “Pink, pink!” as they began to colour and another child said “Circle” and pointed down at the circular marks they had made on the paper. Once that was said, the whole group of children began to say the colour crayon they were using. 

Bees, Birds & Foxes!

Over the last couple of weeks, the pre school children have been observing nature in the nursery garden and whilst out on walks around the grounds. Each day, the children have been monitoring the birds nest in one of the bird houses in the garden, making sure to be a little quieter each time they approached the house. The children have been amazed to watch the babies grow day by day and have been very caring towards them as well as tracking the bird feeder, helping to top it up with seeds when they noticed it was running low. 

Whilst out on a walk, the children spotted a fox cub on a mounded soil heap which the children have called the ‘home of the fox’ from the Gruffalo story for many years. This caused a lot of excitement and the children couldn’t wait to tell their friends when they got back to nursery and asked for the Gruffalo story so they could identify the fox. Only a few days later on another walk, the children got to see two fox cubs asleep at the top of the mound. They very quickly gathered around and watched from a distance as the cubs were sleeping. 

The children have also celebrated World Bee Day this week, engaging in many activities such as observing the new pollinator plants in the garden which have attracted lots of beautiful bees! This inspired the children to make their own bees with coloured blocks and collage sticking as well as learning lots of facts about bees during group times, aided by some hand and finger puppets alongside story books.

Drawing in Nature, Shopping & Hail Storms!

One afternoon after tea, on the day the weather had been consistently switching between sun, hail and rain - the toddlers were inside, shopping. With the sound of the week being ‘M’, the toddlers who wanted to go shopping were handed some money and were able to choose what ‘M’ items they wanted from the shop. A couple of children chose magnets and melons, while others selected magnifying glasses and pictures of motorbikes. One child went over to the collection of small world toys and chose “A mummy and a man” to add to her basket. They had discussions of what they chose and were going to choose next time, “I’m going to pick the mountain!”, “I want the monkey to give to a cuddle!”. All of a sudden there was a large clap of thunder, catching everyone’s attention and bringing on shocked and excited sounds of “Oh!”, and “Ooooo” and comments of, “There’s a storm coming!” and “That thunder was loud!”. As the children gathered around the patio door to listen out for more thunder, it started to hail! This incited screams of excitement, and lots of ‘wows’ followed by a few questions on what was happening. A practitioner went and collected some of the hail in a jug for the children to explore and they immediately dove their hands in to get a feel. One child retracted their hand with a gasp and said, “It’s cold!”, followed by a quick shiver, while another scooped out a handful and giggled as it melted and dripped through their hands. 

In the garden, a small group of children were working together and cheering each other on as they practised their climbing and jumping. Two children worked together to push one of the balance beams closer to the tunnel which they used to help them climb up on top of it. They were able to balance themselves and come to a standing position on top of the tunnel before bending their knees and taking a giant leap, landing on their feet on the grass in front of them. With giant proud smiles on their faces they said, “Let’s do it again!”. This activity gathered some attention and soon a large group of children were all waiting for their turns to take big jumps. The crowd made comments on and each of the jumps their friends did, “Wow that was a big one”, “That was funny” and comments of support, “You did it!” and “Well done!”.

Over the last couple of weeks the under 2s have continued to enjoy spending lots of time outside and exploring nature. Whilst out on the daily walks of the Imber Court grounds, the children were inspired to take part in drawing whilst surrounded by nature. There were many sights to be inspired by, such as ducks near the river and squirrels in the trees, or horses in the fields with tractors riding by! As they found the perfect spot to start drawing, one of the children shouted out “drawing!” when they saw the paper, pencils and crayons, whilst another shouted “crayons!”. A group of the children picked up some crayons and pencils, and each picked up their own paper. One of the children picked up a green pencil, held it up and said “green”, which led to a chorus of several children naming the different coloured pencils and crayons they had picked up. They then settled and began to do some drawing, each of them kindly passing their friends different coloured pencils and crayons as they had finished with them. 

Whilst in the room, the children further explored nature through the use of the leaf balancing activity, where each of the children began to pick up the different leaves and acorns which had been collected from the garden and grounds nearby. After a couple of the children had successfully balanced some of the leaves, they looked at each other and celebrated with a “Yay!”, whilst clapping their hands together proudly. After trying to balance a couple more, the tower tumbled down, which led to a chorus of giggles and “uh-oh”s from the children standing around it. 

Our Trip to Bocketts Farm!

The preschool children have been looking forward to their Bockett’s farm trip this week and had an amazing time on the day. On the build up to the trip, the children have had lots of discussions about what animals they think will be at the farm and made each other laugh when one of the children suggested a giraffe and another suggested a squirrel. On the day before the trip at tea time, a group of children were discussing excitedly what they were going to have in their sandwiches and the contents of their lunch boxes. The children also had the opportunity to participate in many activities on the build up including clay animal shape moulding, farm collage sticking and even the chance to see and go on the tractors that belong to the groundsmen of Imber Court. 

On the morning of the trip, the children arrived to nursery very excited and could not wait to get going, with many questions being asked throughout breakfast time such as “Is the coach here yet?”, “When can I have my lunch box?” and “When are we going?”. When it was time to get on the coach, the children found their group of friends and teacher for the day and eagerly waited to take their turns to climb the steps up to the coach and got settled in their seats. One of the children asked straight away, “Is it time to eat our lunch now?” When the children arrived at the farm, there was a lot of excited squeals, claps and laughter when they could see the sign to the farm and the children were ready to get going, but first there was the safety talk which the children listened to with lots of concentration and participated with suggestions about the rules of the day. 

First the children went on to the tractor ride and whilst at the top of the hill with lots of viewing opportunities, one of the children let out a little gasp and said, “I can see the whole of the world!” whilst looking in every direction. The children got to see a Highland cow, pigs with their piglets, a very large horse called Ted and they were very fond of the curly haired goats. The children observed a sheep pen very quietly and showed lots of care when they discovered that 2 lambs had only been born just a few hours prior. The most exciting part of the day was the pig race with the children cheering on the colour pig they wanted to win and raising the coloured flags. On the coach journey back and when the children got back to nursery, they were engaging in many activities about their favourite parts of the day.