Under the sea at Hampton

This week the children have been investigating the world of animals . They began in the water using sea creatures to swim under the water and make big splashes. Douglas said 'The lobster and crab are hiding'. Damon used a whale to make big splashes in the water as it jumped out and back into the water. Julien and William played with the insects inside helping them to hide behind pines cones and in little wood dens, William said 'Yuck' as he played with insects. The children then played with the tufty tray containing different terrains that the animals live in. They used farm animals in the soil, bugs in the sand and sea creatures such as sharks in the water. Molly named some of the farm animals whilst walking them around the soil , with Zach mixing the soil and hay together to create a den to hide the animals in.

The babies have been in the garden building up some bricks. Thomas built some lovely towers in front of Jasper before Jasper gave them a push and pushed them over making Thomas laugh. Owen used a ball to push back and forth between himself and Freddie. They had a lovely walk to Carlisle Park this week and played on the apparatus in the under 5’s area. Emily and James were rocking back and forth on the horses having a race!

Our favourite stories at Molesey

This week Pre-school have been talking about their favourite stories and the ones they like to read. Lily spoke excitedly about "The tiger who came for tea". " Did you know he eats all the food - even the plate! " and started to giggle. Joshua responded by roaring loudly and said " Gruffalo!". The children then drew pictures of their favourite stories. Max drew a picture and said "I'm writing my own book about a tree".  The children have also been physical this week and took part in yoga. They practiced balancing and slithered around like snakes. Ida balanced on one foot and said "I'm all wobbly!" and started to laugh as her foot touched the ground which prompted her friends to laugh and start to wobble with her. Albie joined in with the boys; " Look we can do it too!"

This week the toddlers have been focusing on mark marking. The children have been exploring different materials such as playdough to make marks using cutters and rollers. Ada cleverly announced the colour of each playdough cutter she used while making a cupcake. The toddlers were also using crayons and pencils to improve their pincer grasp to hold their writing tools. The toddlers also used cotton wool to make textured marks with paint which created a lovely big mess but also a lot of smiles!

The babies have enjoyed their walks around Imber Court and stopped for some snack and also fed the ducks at the river. They smiled at the ducks as they came to see them. They collected some leaves and twigs and used them to make Autumn pictures. They had great fun making a mess hand painting to make hedgehogs.

Zoom!...........We're going to the moon!

This week the children have been exploring and learning about Space. They looked at planets and made marks representing the terrain using different spices. Orange colour was a favourite for Mars as they used toothbrushes to spread the spice dyed water along the paper.

They have also been name writing and moulding shapes in moon sand. Damon moulded a ball and told us proudly it was the Moon, whilst Douglas happily identified the letter D and wrote it saying ‘Look, it's my name'. Hlenhaze and Eve used some play foam to hide and find stars, Xanthe got involved using a spoon to scoop it all up and cleverly found the most stars! The staff also hid poms poms, (planets), and stars for the children to find and they tried to make a solar system. William and Isla pulled out the poms poms giving them a squeeze as they collected them. Avy and Dawid made a good attempt at making a rocket shop, and coloured in the ship, and Avy said ‘We need fire to make it fly!’ before taking it around the room pretending it was flying.

This week the babies have played with some bouncy balls, bouncy them around the room catching and throwing to each other, Lyra often crawled over the ball to catch it and stop it from rolling away, Ines put her hand over her mouth and said 'Oh'. Jonathan and Oliver had a try at building a marble run with Zach supporting them, as Jonathan built it up Oliver knocked it over, other making both boys laugh.

Beautiful colours at Molesey

This week the preschool children have been joining in with an obstacle course. They practiced balancing, kicking a ball and jumping. Firstly they walked across balance beams, holding their arms out high and slowly made their way over. Some children lost their balance, laughing as they wobbled along. They then lowered themselves under a bridge, ready to jump through hoops scattered along the floor. Their favourite part was when they kicked the ball into the cones, trying to knock them over. Ezra said "Woo hoo! Look I did it!" Eddie replied "Uh oh all gone!"

The children have also been painting with the watercolours, exploring the garden and natural world. They dipped their paintbrush into water and picked a colour of their choice. Lily painted a rainbow "Rainbows are in the sky. They have lots of pretty colours!" Amelie decided to paint some flowers "Like the ones in the nursery garden!"

The younger children have been continuing with our colours of the month topic. One of the maths focused activities this week was numbered colour building blocks to encourage number and colour recognition. Zachary said "1,2,3,4" as he built a great big tower. The toddlers have also been doing literacy focused activities like rice mark making with lollipop sticks to create a fun and active way of learning. The children used the lollipop sticks to create marks in the rice and some children used their senses to describe how the rice felt in their hands. For example, Oliver said "It feels hard" and questioned why the rice we eat at dinner is not hard like this rice, which lead to the topic of cooking food and how rice turns soft once cooked. The toddlers have also been singing colour songs and lots of art and craft activities to improve colour recognition.

The babies have enjoyed a walk around Imber Court and stopped to play on the field with some balls. They enjoyed rolling and kicking the balls and chasing after them. They also visited the ducks in the river. They explored the foam in the large tray and used their hands to move the foam around.

Stick hunt at Molesey!