Science Experiments, Mud & Space!

Over the last couple of weeks the toddlers have been busy getting involved with some science experiments. One experiment that particularly captured their attention was dropping food colouring onto salt and watching it travel the length of the salt path. 

Maximilian leaned in as close as possible, bending over the table to look in the tray, whispering, “Wooow” as he watched the salt be absorbed. Leo confidently picked up the pipette and began squeezing small drops of colour into the tray, commenting “Look that’s green... going over there!”. Arlo squeezed the pipettes with a grunt to get as much colour out as possible, swapping between using all of the colours. With a satisfied look, he commented “Look the colours all mixing, I did it, I really did it!”.

Outside, the children have been showing a real interest in insects they come across during play. They had been learning about different mini beasts throughout the week and began repeating what they had learned. When Arlo and Gabriel came across a spider in the treehouse Arlo squealed in delight and pointed, making sure Gabriel could see, before squatting down and using his hand to mimic a spider crawling on the floor. Gabriel reached his hand out towards the spider and said “Want to hold it” followed by “Ahh! it’s tickling!” as it crawled onto his fingers and up his arm. Harry approached at all the commotion and after watching for a couple of seconds asked, “Has he got lots of legs? Like a little peed?” referring to a millipede the children had looked at pictures of. Ava was so excited to find a ladybird in the garden and gave the biggest smile as she held out her hands to hold it, Henrietta watched with excitement all the while waiting patiently chanting “My turn, my turn!” while Blair repeated “My go!”.

Recently, the under twos have been on a space adventure! The children had the opportunity to explore planets, singing songs and get their hands busy with space painting fun!

Inside, the children were fascinated with the space wall, with hand drawn chalk planets on every window that they excitedly used sponges to wipe the planets away. Margaux was the first to take to the wall, with a sponge in hand she gently tapped it on the window, not quite sure of what to do next. Along came Charlotte to help, swiping through stars and planets, giggling as the chalk disappeared! This excitement drew more of the children in, and soon there was a whole crew of space explorers ready to help wipe all of the planets away. Charlotte began to sing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ as she continued exploring the planets, and soon the whole room had joined in, singing a range of space songs. Leo’s favourite being ‘Zoom, Zoom’ as he pointed his arms to the sky like a rocket ship! Later in the week, the children explored the textures of planets surface with bumpy bubble wrap. They used paint rollers and their hands to spread paint over the surface and pop the bubbles, creating mini craters to fill with paint. Sebastian particularly enjoyed spreading the paint with the big roller, watching the different colours mix together and then putting it down with a splat! 

In the garden, they have enjoyed exploring the new hanging pots in the mud kitchen, discovering a wonderful array of tools within them. These colourful pots attracted the attention of Cora, who chose to access a wooden spoon, taking it from the pink basket and diving straight into the soil, scooping it into the bowl to make a mud cake! Finley quickly came over to investigate and within the orange pot he found a spoon of his own, together they got baking, adding bark and leaves to make a delicious nature dish. The other children soon got involved, with Margaux accessing the measuring spoons, while Leo got hold of the tongs and began transferring the soil from the tray to the frying pan, then offered it up to his friends. The under twos are very much enjoying their new mud kitchen space and being able to access the toys independently has given them a great opportunity for exploration!