Animal Habitats, Sports & Vegetables!

Over the last couple of weeks, the toddlers have been learning about different habitats that some of their favorite animals live in, as well as exploring some more exotic animals and environments they may not be familiar with. Margot absolutely loved exploring the jungle den, so much so that she didn’t want to come out! Jude and Cleo hid inside with the elephants and lions, roaring at all of their friends - “ROAR! I’m a lion!”. Kitty used all of the different animals to eat up the vines and leaves - “Munch, munch.”. While playing, Cecilia was surprised to hear jungle sounds coming from the speaker. She said, “I can hear it!” with a gasp, which led Esmeralda to whisper, “I can hear frogs in the jungle.”

After learning about some more environments through other activities, including desert, ocean, and rocky terrains, the toddlers were put to the test with a slightly more challenging activity: “Can you find where I live?”. Freddie was able to remember where some of the more tricky animals went, including the arctic fox. “He lives in the snow,” he said and the reindeer “He helps Christmas!”. Isabelle was so confident with the under the sea animals, quickly placing them in their correct habitat and telling some of her friends, “This one’s a squid. He goes there. And starfish too.” Eloise was keen to join in too, pointing out the “Big beetle” and the “Big spider! Ah, he’s a little bit scary for me.”

Outside, the toddlers loved experimenting with different sports. Jasper jumped straight into the ball games and began kicking every ball he could see, with an excited “Whoa!” and pointing every time the ball zoomed through the air. Joshua joined in with the ball games too, laughing as he ran fast after each ball, saying “Running!” and “Fast!”

Tennis was a big hit as Amélie and Oliver each picked up a racket and began throwing and hitting balls back and forth, sometimes sending balls flying in the complete opposite direction to each other. Sophie decided she was going to be a ball girl and help her friends out by fetching some of the balls for them. “Oliver, balls gone all the way over there!” she said. “Oh, it’s okay. I go get it.”

Over the past couple of weeks, the under twos have been investigating animals in their play. To encourage physical development, there was an activity available for the little ones to have the chance to unstick various sized animals that had been taped down to a table and to the floor. Arlo was the first to get fully engaged in this activity, really concentrating on what he was doing. He used his finger to peel off the initial bit and then excitedly used his whole hand to rip the rest of the tape away. Edward and India sat and watched what Arlo was doing before getting fully engaged themselves. Edward was happy to show staff that he had got a giraffe, and India had the biggest smile on her face when she managed to peel the tape away from the cow and the horse.

They also enjoyed getting messy at a group floor painting activity, using the animals to make prints on paper. Ava could not wait to get involved. Eagerly, she took hold of the horse and placed it directly into the paints, ensuring that she covered the whole of the horse's body. She then went on to rubbing the horse onto the paper, as well as her hands. Amelie watched, smiling, when she saw that some of the other children had made prints with the farm animals' feet, and then confidently leaned forward to take hold of her own horse to have a go herself. Oliver was making "clip-clop" sounds and laughing as he moved his horse around the paper.

Outside in the garden, the children enjoyed digging for carrots and potatoes in the mud garden. Monty bent down to look at what was hidden in the mud, whilst Blair used the rake to move some soil around and dig deeper for the carrots. She was babbling away whilst doing so, now and again looking at her friends as if she was talking to them. She eventually got to the buried vegetables and proudly lifted up a potato. Harry picked up a potato and said "Wow", and gave himself a clap. Monty was trying to put the potatoes and carrots back into the mud once he had pulled them out, and then used his hands to pat the soil back down over the top.