Wesak, Toadstools & Gardening!

One of the themes the toddlers explored recently was around the Buddhist celebration, Wesak, where they got involved with activities that focus on helping to clean, being kind as well as making their own tea light holder. The tree of kindness was an activity where the children were able to thread leaves onto the branches of a tree whilst speaking about different ways they can be kind. Leo picked up the biggest leaf, “Woah, look got a BIG one” and carefully threaded it onto one of the branches, commenting, “Can give a cuddles” when asked how to show kindness. Emily wrapped her arms around herself, giving herself a cuddle while saying, “Aahh cuddle!”.

Outside, the children have been able to explore the new enchanted area in a corner of the garden. Cara gasped as she saw the new toadstool seats and ran straight over, “Look, mushroom!”. Henry and Clara ran over too and scooted themselves onto the new seats, all looking at each other with big smiles when suddenly Clara shouted out, “HAMMER HAMMER HAMMER!”, bursting into song which the others quickly joined in with. They continued on with a rendition of ‘Twinkle star’ and ‘Baa baa black sheep’. Skandar approached the area just as there was a gust of wind, making all of the wind chimes clang together and make a magical tinkling sound. He looked straight up into the trees with a look of amazement, just as Sienna made her way over and said, “There’s music in the trees!”. Jenson laughed at this and began swaying his hips and moving his arms in a circular motion, dancing to the sounds of the wind chimes. 

Over the last couple of weeks, the under 2s have been indulging themselves in lots of malleable play, which has included squeezing play dough and exploring the texture of sandy paint and colourful foam. As the foam activity was being prepared, Lyra approached the table, curious as to what she saw and pointed towards the foam mixture. Lyra helped pour the colourful mixtures into each tray, ready for the children to play with and clapped herself after each pour. Calvin and Lowen were next to approach the activity and both chose to play with the yellow coloured foam. Showing lots of excitement and eagerness, Lowen put both of his hands directly into the foam causing a huge splash to fly out and land on the table. This made Calvin laugh and together, they began splashing the foam as they giggle and shouted, “Bang, bang!”. 

Outside in the garden, the children have been helping plant and water the herb garden. Lyra and Will were very keen to help out and rolled up their sleeves, ready for business. Lydia placed her hands into the soil and lifted them up, realising there was soil stuck to them. She held them up and turned around to show her friends; “Yuck!”, she said, as she wiped her hands together, brushing off the soil. After planting a few plants together, they had the job of making sure they were all watered. They used both hands to hold the watering can and slowly tipped it up, pouring the water all over the new herbs they had planted. A few more of the children had a turn with the watering can and were very pleased with their achievements.