Rainy days and dens!

The pre school children have been learning about different types of weather systems after many conversations around the weather we are experiencing at the minute. Last week they were learning about how rain clouds are formed. Oscar said, "I know how, the rain comes from the sea, its sucked up in to the sky and it makes a cloud". Max was then prompted to follow on to say, "Yes and I know what happens then; the cloud gets too heavy and it rains". The children made their own chalk rainbows, making patterns on the chalk board and then watching as the rain water was smudging the chalk down the board. Eloise called out, "Wow, its a real rainbow".

The children took part in a colour sorting activity using the coloured hoops in the garden. Maya suggested to her friends, "I know what we can do; we need to search the garden and find the right colours for the hoops". A lot of the children were involved in a colour hunt, searching all around the garden for various toys and materials and then placing them in the matching coloured hoop. After coming back inside, the children them enjoyed a paint mixing activity and talking about the colours they were making.

The children have been busy making dens using the wooden blocks and some blankets. Ollie suggested "We need a door so we can get in to our new house". The children worked together to move the blocks around so that they could make a small space for a door to be able to get in and out. Once they were all inside and cosy, Eddie started to tell his own story to the children. The children then took it in turns to add parts to the story.

Last week the toddlers enjoyed the home corner being transformed into an ice cream parlour. Each toddler had their own ice cream cone and was able to choose which flavour ice cream they wanted as well as their toppings. Isabelle couldn’t wait to join in. “Make ice cream” she said. Sophie loved adding sprinkles to her ice cream and Ari thought the sprinkles looked so realistic that he tried to eat them off the floor!! 

Outside the toddlers have been on kitchen duty making mud cakes and washing up the dishes. Eve enjoyed mixing the soil and water together and said “Look! Chocolate cake” as she mushed it together in a frying pan. Amelia picked up some leaves and added it to Eve’s cake and said “Yummy”. Connie put on her apron and said “I do the washing up” as she gathered the plates and put them in the soapy water. Jonny loved splashing with the cutlery and shouted “Bubbles!”. Zac laughed as the bubbles flew high up in the sky and then landed on his friend’s faces. 

Back inside, the toddlers have been getting creative and sending home lots of lovely masterpieces for their parents to keep. Alastair loved making a colourful caterpillar using glue and pom-poms which he carried so carefully out of toddler room to give to his parents. Rhys enjoyed listening to the rain through his handmade rainmaker which he continued to shake round the room. Charlie was so excited to show his parents his creation that he even corrected them when they said “It’s a lion”. Charlie said “No!, it’s a Roar!” 

The under twos were really excited to be playing with the light up shakers in the dark sleep room. Sadie was shaking them really fast listening to the loud rattling sound they made and Sophie and Billie were shrieking and shouting “Whoooo” with excitement. 

Outside, Zack, Rafferty and Emily loved exploring the garden, holding on to the rail of the wooden bridge and investigating the tunnel, taking turns going through it and laughing when someone emerged from the other side. Chloe and Blake were really engaged with mark making in the garden, using chalk on wooden slices of blackboard. 

Olivia, Billie, Chloe and Sadie explored the sensory experience of foam, and they loved squeezing it between their fingers and throwing it in the air, laughing as it fell on them.

Last week the children began learning about healthy eating and sampled some exotic fruits including kiwi, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya and cherries. They all had a plate and a little piece of each fruit to sample. Finley found the blackberries very sharp, Daniel loved all the different flavours, eating everything! Ada liked the raspberries and kiwi and Tommy was a little more cautious.

Next time the younger children will be sampling different vegetables.