Bear Hunt & Sports!

Over the last couple of weeks, the children have enjoyed being active and learning about different sports as well as focusing on our book of the month 'We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’. After sharing the story at circle time, the children had the opportunity to go on their own small world bear hunt. Emily was first to the table, choosing 2 small world people and immediately heading off through the long wavy grass. Soon after came Ava, heading straight over to the deep cold river to see what she could find and was very excited to see some frogs on lily pads. She held one up for all of friends to see and shouted “Frog!… Ribbit”. Henrietta headed straight to the bears cave and let out a squeal of excitement “A bear! Look bear!” while pointing in the cave. She took hold of the bear and let out a big “Roar!”. Max giggled and took one look at the bear and excitedly said “Feed it” and ran and found some green pom poms and started to put them to the bears mouth, even storing him some extra food under a log. All of a sudden Harry said “Oh no… help… he stuck in the mud!” Arlo picked up a person and said “I help you Harry!” walking his person over to rescue him. The children had lots of fun creating their own narrative with this activity and had lots of fun exploring. 

Outside, the children have been very creative using the blocks and beams on the decking. George and Santiago set out 2 blocks on the floor then grabbed a circle block each and sat down. They twisted and turned the circle block in front of them. George shouted “Bee bee” pushing his hand onto the middle of the circle shortly followed by Santiago shouting “Beep beep!”. Once their friends heard the noise they were eager to join in. Ethan pointed and said “Look, a car!” Grabbing his own blocks to add. Arlo and Rafe went off to the shed and found some cushions to add to the car. Isla came over to see and said “Can I have a turn?” She sat in the car and said “I need to shut the door”, picking up a flat block and placed it next to her foot. The other children climbed in and when asked where they were going Leo shouted, smiling “The beach!” 

Over the past two weeks, the under twos have had a blast spending lots of time in the various outdoor areas the nursery has to offer! With the new book of the month ‘We’re Going on a Bear Hunt’ and the sports week, the children have had the opportunity to get busy with lots of activities engaging their senses and gross motor skills. 

Within the garden the children were transported into the “deep, dark cave” with their very own bear to find! A blanket covered tunnel and tuft tray made the perfect cave, allowing the children to become immersed in the story where they were able to crawl, climb and sneak their way into the cave, lifting the blankets to find the darkness underneath. Zachary and Henry were incredibly curious as they entered the garden and immediately began to explore the cave, finding their way under the blankets, whilst Evelyn crawled in through the tunnel. Whilst they were encouraged to sit within the cave, and join in the sing along of the story, Leo began tapping his legs to the beat and giggling at the sounds of ‘oozy mud’ and the ‘whirling snow storm’. 

Later in the week they also got the chance to go for a hunt of their own, but instead of a bear, the children were on the look out for the animals on the nursery grounds. At the beginning of the walk Sienna and Leonardo joined in making noises of the animals they might see, ‘clip clopping’ like horses, ‘tweeting’ like birds and ‘woof woofing’ like dogs. As soon as he entered the grounds Sebastian pointed to the field opposite, “Horse, horse!” he said and began making the sounds from before. Sebastian and Margaux were very excited to see a horse standing right next to the fence, lifting his head as the buggies approached. This horse was very brave and stayed right where he was whilst the children giggled and waved. As the walk continued they saw even more horses and sang the ‘horsey, horsey’ song as they watched from the gate. Once the bridge was in sight, Sienna and Imogen began to ‘quack’ knowing they would soon see the ducks in the water. Ready with duck food and bread to throw in, Madeline and Phoebe watched as duck after duck appeared from the bushes and swam along the water. Sienna joined in as Laura began to count the ducks, ‘one, two, three..’ but so many ducks came they couldn’t keep count!

During the sports week, the children got another opportunity to learn some numbers and begin to be introduced to counting. Cora, Cara and Charlotte were particularly interested in the ring toss, entering the mud kitchen for the game with colourful paper plate rings and being challenged to throw them onto the sticks in the soil. At first they were unsure of what to do with them, Cora holding the ring to her face as a mask, Charlotte poking her arm through as if wearing a bracelet and Cara holding it up looking at the dots. After a little demonstration of how to throw them, the group had a try on their own, launching the rings into the air and watching where they land. Each time they tried they got a little closer to the target and eventually Cara landed one on the stick, congratulated by a round of applause. Soon, it was time to count the rings the children had thrown and the children were encouraged to use the language “one” “two” “three”, with Charlotte enjoying picking the rings up as they were being counted to have another turn.