Music, Cooking & Rainy Play!

With the first music and movement session of the new year underway, with the wonderful Ellie who visits, the toddlers were so visibly excited and sat in a big circle as the welcome song was started and they began wagging their fingers for the sign for music. The children stomped their feet in time to the music, waved hello to Boo Boo the puppet and of course joined in with lots of singing. When it was time for the parachute games, a couple of children chose to remain holding the parachute where they were lifting it up high and then down low, while most of the toddlers chose to lay underneath for the rendition of sleeping bunnies, before quickly get to their feet, jumping up and down with joy and squeals of happiness. Afterwards, it was time to play some musical instruments with some children choosing tambourines, others selecting maracas and a few choosing castanets to click to the music. They waved their arms, played their instruments and stomped their feet along to the song ‘Music Man’, and for the finale waved goodbye with their sparkly stars on their hands as the session came to an end. 

Outside in the garden and Imber Court grounds, they have been loving the weather and getting to run around as it rained, splashing in any puddles they could find, even if it was just big enough for the tip of their welly boot to go in. A group of children ran around in a circle with their arms out catching the rain when all of a sudden a very loud aeroplane flew overhead causing them all to stop and look up with shouts of, “Look! Aeroplane!” and whilst they all tipped their heads back to look at the sky the rain tickled their faces. One child let out a giggle and said, “Ah I got rain on my eye” while another said, “My hair getting rain on now”. Over by the decking a couple of the toddlers had gathered cups and pots from the sand pit and mud kitchen to collect rain water which they happily tipped out when it was full to start over again.

Over the last couple of weeks in the Under 2s room, the children have been engaging in lots of different activities involving exploratory play. After a nice morning walk, the children came back to a bakery set up where they could explore flour, baking tools and pretend food items like eggs, bread and croissants. A few children approached the table and picked up utensils, some choosing pots and pans, whilst others decided to investigate the food, studying what it could be. Throughout the activity the children used their hands to feel the flour and move it around the table, with some even using one finger to make marks in the flour creating swirls, lines and wiggles. They interacted with each other throughout by showing their friends what creations they had made which included lots of smiles, giggles and even some new vocabulary like ‘bake’ and ‘hot’. 

As we’ve had a lot of rain, the children have spent their outdoor adventures looking for puddles to splash in. In the Under 2’s garden, a few children had found a builders tray full of rain water and were intrigued with what to do next. One of the children cautiously stepped into the tray and smiled as the water rippled around them. This one step became a big jump, a huge splash and a great laugh! Other children began to join in with the fun, jumping up and down and creating giant splashes around them. The Under 2’s have also enjoyed spending more time in the big garden, in particular, climbing up and down the big hill. The children made their way up the hill and got to the top, turning around and smiling, seemingly pleased with their hard work! Together we would then count down from three and the children chose to run, crawl or slide down the hill to reach the bottom. The huge climb would then begin again with the children making their way to the very top and three, two, one …. Go!