Caterpillars and stories!

This week the big children have had a wonderful story week. They began with the Gruffalo, reading the story where Jasper repeated it, telling everyone what the Gruffalo looked like; for example the purple prickles, and poisonous wart. The children then wanted to make a Gruffalo table. They found different animals from the book and added it to a forest themed table, James flipped through the story book matching the different animals whilst Zach hid the animals in behind the tree and under the paper grass making James laugh when he picked them up and said ‘Boo!’. The children also read more stories about different vegetables and this made them want to go to the other nursery garden and see what vegetables were growing, collecting different vegetables in their wheelbarrows. Sophia then suggested that the children should make some vegetable soup in the mud kitchen. Sophia and Ines made some lovely soup in a big pan but as Ines was stirring it she made it all fly out, which made Sophia laugh and Nyra who was also walking around, who said ‘Yuck, you got me’ as if she was splashed. The children also explored different forms of transport as they used their number of the week ‘8’ to draw a race track, which they then raced their cars around. Maxwell swung round shouting ‘Beep, beep’ whilst Abigail decided to crash instead turning it into a big game of chase.

They prepared our newly arrived tiny caterpillars ready to grow. They were placed individually into pots with plenty of food, and once the caterpillars where in their homes they looked at them crawling around and spoke about what would happen next. Xanthe said they would turn into butterflies and fly far away, Elisa said ‘I like butterflies lots, they fly’. the children will observe the caterpillars as they grow bigger, and learn about their life cycle as they form into a pupa on the next stage.

The little ones at nursery read the hungry caterpillar book and then explored everything it ate. George choose the Orange as his favourite and began to roll it around the room and chase it. Ciana picked up all the fruit and favoured the apple pretending to take a big bite from it. They also read the Gruffalo and explored the mouse’s journey as they tried to copy different sounds and actions made. Isla pointed at the fox and owl saying their names proudly. The little children also explored some transport and used cars to make some lovely art work as they made marks as they rolled. George and Emma enjoyed this activity; however, instead of rolling the car through the paint to make marks they used their hands and made lots of splashy paint marks and mess, and this made George laugh and laugh whilst Emma carried on clapping her hands. Jessie and Grace liked playing with a small world road and zoo, Jessie used the car to say ‘Beep, beep’ before kindly giving the car to Grace to play with. Once Grace had rolled the car away Jessie gave her some animals naming them for her, especially ‘Sheep’. They also explored with their senses; during sparkle time they shook their cylinders, and Honor loved the different colours. Agnes loved the sensory bags to feel and smell, shaking them around.