Christmas Countdown!

The toddlers have had a great week with lots of Christmas themed activities and spending lots of time creating beautiful artwork to take home along with special cards and gifts made for their families. One activity the toddlers seemed to enjoy was writing a letter to Father Christmas. Cora sat at the table as soon as she saw the pens and began mark making, creating circles and swirls across her paper, “This is christmas”. Upon hearing the word ‘Christmas’ Margaux immediately piped up and shouted in excitement “Christmas tree, Christmas tree!”. This led to all of the children at the table chiming in and sharing about their own Christmas trees at home. The toddlers then engaged in conversations of how they wanted to spend their Christmas as well as what they wanted to eat. Finley said “I get presents and have a party” while Matilde said “I have cuddles with Mummy and Daddy”. Evie joined in stating “Yes, eating yummy food” while rubbing her hand in circles over her stomach. 

Later the next day the children were able to post their letters in the post box in the garden. Charlotte immediately knew what to do and took the letter in both hands and pushed it into the post box, clapping her hands together once it dropped in. After watching Charlotte do this Arlo and Lucy had a turn, taking their time to line up the letter with the entrance to the post box and pushing it all the way in. Lucy didn’t let go of her letter and pulled it out again, only to post it one more time with a smile of success on her face. Sebastian posted his letter and said “Do it again?”. So after sitting himself on the floor with some paper and pens he wrote another letter, getting up as soon as he had finished and posted his second letter to Father Christmas.

Over the last couple of weeks, the under twos have been getting very excited for the upcoming festive season. Together, the children have been decorating the room by painting and printing on bright coloured paper to make paper chains, along with rolling pine cones in paint to make hanging decorations. One activity the children thoroughly enjoyed was the paint splatting activity, using spoons and paint to create abstract marks across the paper. Henry stood patiently at the table whilst paper was set up and giggled every time a drop of paint hit the paper. Hearing Henry’s laughter, Theo soon approached the table and seemed eager to have a go. As they are absolute professionals at this activity now, the children got straight to work, lifting up the spoons and splatting that paint all over the place. Some paint splatter had made its way onto Zachary’s arm as they played, to which he pointed and said, “oh” and smiled, looking around to show his friends. 

 As the temperature is beginning to drop, the children have loved making dens in the garden using blankets and furniture. Before garden time, a den was set up with pillows, story books and toys inside. As the children went out into the garden, Skandar and Lowen were first to spot the den. Lowen, with a huge grin on his face said, “Ooooooo”, as he pointed in the direction of the den. Skandar was very curious too and bent down to have a look inside. After having a sneak peak, Skandar got down and crawled inside, shortly followed by Lowen and Theo! Together they sat, super cozy and having fun with their toys.