Hello Molesey !

The children have all settled in well at our brand new Molesey Day Nursery where they have been loving the outdoors, exploring all the different areas around our garden.

This week the children had great fun rolling down the hill having races to see who gets to the bottom first. Albie said “It’s making my tummy go swishy’ They all went running up to the top racing each other to see who could get to the bottom first. ‘ I won!’ announced Ezra to his friends. The children have also worked together to help build a den, and as they listened to the rain hitting the roof. Amelie said “It sounds like a big bang!”.

They have enjoyed exploring within our sandpit building sandcastles. They have been making flags to go on top. Eddie counted “1,2,3” and knocked the sandcastles down giggling with a cheeky smile.

Nature Soup!

The children have been making nature soup this week. They used water in the tray, adding various natural materials such as leaves and sticks. The children put their aprons on with Douglas saying "We can't get ourselves wet. We will smell like our soup!" They discussed how they were chefs in a restaurant and were very busy. Elara exclaimed "We are so busy, lets hope it cooks in time for people to eat!" They gathered some more children to help them, giving them little jobs to do. Jasmin said "If we all help, we can do it very quickly!" Once all the ingredients were mixed in, they waited a few minutes until Darcey shouted "Everybody! Quick it’s ready to go but it's hot. Be careful!" They found some bowls and served it to their friends - great fun!

This week the babies have been playing with the gerbils, Thomas loves watching the gerbils through the glass however when it came to touching the gerbils he was a little more cautious watching them and moving away. Emily saw the gerbil and shouted ‘Mouse!’ Whilst James was happy to stroke it and giggled . Ines bought in her lovely George pig and they spoke about the puddles outside. They decided to enjoy the rain like Peppa and George and jump in them. Ines and Freddie did great jumping and splashing and even held hands and looked up into the sky to see the droplets and feel the rain giggling to one another.

Bubbles and garden sports

The older children have been very sporty this week ,racing and running about! During a bike race Joshua said he had a cone stuck on his foot after crashing into them, and this may be why he didn't win this race! When Orion crashed he took a different approach. He jumped of his bike and ran towards the finish line and said that he had won jumping up and down! After our racing they children played bean bag toss, and then decided to pick up the hoops to hula hoop! Damon tried very hard indeed, even getting a couple of spins before dropping it and shouting 'Oh!' and deciding to spin without a hoop! After tossing the bean bags into the hoops, the children rushed the hoops with Darcey leading the charge, dropping her bean bag into one of the hoops and shouting ‘Yay! I did it! I won!’. Whilst out in the garden Zac found a small beetle, and some of the children looked at the bug for a while comparing it to lady birds and observing it’s legs and colours before Zac asked to build a house for the bug. The children quickly mixed some sand and water for cement before placing it on the bricks gluing them together. Joshua.m spread the cement well whilst Avy put the bricks on top squashing it down telling us to push it. A job well done!

The babies and toddlers have been enjoying bubbles indoors and out this week! They had a lovely spring walk to the park and took some writing pads and crayons, and a picnic. The best part however was the surprise bubble machine! ‘Oohhh’ pointed Emily as the bubbles began to appear, blowing around in the wind. ‘ Waahh’ they shouted as they chased the bubbles across the fields there. They were so excited that the staff had to call them back to show them freshly made bubbles make sure they didn’t go too far, and so after a while there were some very tired little ones indeed! The fun carried on inside as you can see during the week, with even the very youngest of children laughing as they tried to catch the bubbles- one even popped on Rowan’s head!

Easter!

This week the children have been joining in with some fantastic Easter activities. They started the week off by making their own Easter cards, decorating a big Easter egg with a lovely chick hiding inside. They the went outside, to take part in an Easter egg hunt all around the garden. They were so very excited to try and find them all. Jasmin said "I'm going to search everywhere- even in the bushes!" Damon replied "Well I'm going to eat them all up in my tummy!" They looked up high and low, working together to find the hidden eggs, and found them all ! The children were fascinated by an Easter sensory tray, exploring and searching through the hay and coloured oats. They pulled the hay apart, feeling the texture and investigating the smell. Joshua said "It smells like the farm!" Theo held one of the chicken eggs up and said "They live in nests with their mummies and when the egg cracks the chick comes out!"

This week the babies have explored natural material and the outdoors. We started the week being Easter bunnies looking for carrots in the mud, as we looked for the carrots we explored the mud around them feeling the textures and the way it squashes as well as listening to the sound it made when we threw it around the floor with James saying ‘Uh-uh!’ We explored some hay, this time we played with farm animals. Emily found the sheep and said ‘Wow!’, before hiding it away again and put her hands up as if to say ‘Where has it gone?’. Joshua did some of the sounds of the animals as he jumped them around in the hay. Then the little ones explored the outdoors feeling the way the grass felt as they played around. Freddie even had a go at using a stick to make marks in the mud and grass by the path. Xanthe and Millie had a turn climbing around some of the beams, and hiding behind them, Xanthe gave a big giggle when we played Boo! and Millie repeated this, trying to scare the staff members!

Happy Easter everyone!

St Marys Church visit

The children visited the church this week for a lovely Easter activity service. They were very excited to join in, chatting away on the walk there. As they arrived, they were lead into the chapel where they were told the story of Easter. The children joined in with songs, dancing away and showing their amazing moves! They participated in a cross hunt, searching high and low to be the first to find one. Sienna spotted one in the mini chapel and said "There's one!" Showing the vicar, who was very impressed. "There's a golden one. It's very beautiful!" Amelia said proudly. Once the game had finished, they sat down for a tasty hot cross bun and a refreshing glass of orange juice. "Found another one!" Shouted Matilda, pointing to the cross on her bun. The children also decorated their own stain glass window, using bright colours to make them stand out.

This week the babies have explored and manipulated playdough. They began by making the playdough in the sensory tray combining a variety of materials both wet and dry for a sensory experience. James poured the flour into the tray and spilled a little on the floor, "Uh-oh" Emily says and laughs. Freddie then began squeezing the flour and oil mixture together between his fingers and watched it ooze out, "Yuck" Ines says. The activity continued in the garden as you can see although the Millie preferred to throw the flour up in the air "Wheeeeee" she giggled. Rowan and Jack also had a go feeling and poking at the playdough with Jack trying to eat some thinking it was snack time. Joshua decided to get some leaves from the tree and combine  them with his playdough to which Ines joined in and tried to use a stick as her rolling pin.

We have also begun some festive Easter activities with the babies trying to find our toy bunnies around the room. Xanthe cleverly ducked down and giggled as she found the bunny hiding under the slide! Emily found lots of bunnies and collected them all in her hands with James helpfully picking them up as she dropped them.