"Its a bear!" at Hampton Day Nursery

The older children have been out and about to the park and library. Whilst at the park the children searched for puddles to splash in. Abigail and Zach jumped very high to make the biggest splasheswhich made Zach laugh. Harry and Florence used clay to push on the trees and make some clay faces using the bark as a nice pattern for hair and using sticks and fingers to make imprints for their eyes and mouths. Harry said “Look -my eyes! ” William and Ray explored the bushes, as they went through they felt the different leaves, Ray said “This is soft” and William shouted “Look! a den” and the children began a bear hunt. The children laughed as staff member hid in one of the bushes and jumped out pretending to be a bear making them run back shouting “Bear!”.

The children have also worked on their sound of the week 'F' drawing pictures of words that have the starting sound, such as fish, fork, flamingo, fire engines and more. They also traced the letter on the light box and looked for it in the garden. Whilst in the garden they found a fly. Sienna pointed at the fly and followed it with her friends.

The babies have explored shredded paper hiding the animals underneath and playing peek-a-boo with the animals. As they pulled one out Abigail said “Boo!” whilst Thomas named some such as sheep and dog. Jonathan and Lyra enjoyed music, they smiled throughout songs whilst Jonathan stood dancing and Lyra sat on the floor shaking her body around. Jonathan gave the floaty materials to Lyra whilst shaking and waving them over her, and Lyra then took them and shook them to make a beautiful colour dance.

The babies have been playing in the sandpit looking for shiny coins under the sand. They brushed the sand away and Abigail pulled out the coins and started to collect them. When she had finished she gave some to a bunny rabbit toy. Oliver and Thomas built a sandcastle together. Oliver helped Thomas to fill the bucket up whilst Thomas tipped the sand out in a castle shape. Thomas clapped whenever Oliver filled the bucket!

The seasons at Molesey

This week pre school have been talking about the seasons, including different types of weather and created their own seasons chart. Ida drew a picture of a snowman and Sophie started to chuckle and said "it's not Christmas yet, the leaves have to fall off the trees!". Camilla was very intrigued with the conversation and joined in, "It's not raining, you need rain Camilla responded. This sparked various discussions from fireworks, Christmas and growing pumpkins! Some of the children decided to explore the vegetable garden to see if they could find any pumpkins , and to their surprise they found courgettes! The letter of the week was ‘F’ and the children have drawn pictures of things such as feet and even a flamingo! the did a tour of the garden and Thomas noticed ‘Flowers!’.

The toddlers have been focusing on nature. They went for a nice long walk and searched for natural objects to collect to go in the nature basket back in the toddler room. The children loved searching for sticks, leaves and stones. Henry loved collecting the sticks and counted them each time he added one. In total he had ten sticks!! While on the walk they played football, catch and even had some time catching bubbles which all the children enjoyed. The toddlers loved having the natural items they collected in the room and they even added some pretend insects to play with, which made Lorenzo laugh every time he found one.

In the baby room this week they have been exploring lots of sensory activities. They had feely bags filled with pasta, cornflour and shaving foam to squash and squeeze. They also did some potato printing with potatoes cut into different shapes and dipped into black and white paint and got messy with some coloured cooked pasta.

Growing at Hampton

This week the children have enjoyed a considerable time exploring the garden. They have hidden in the bamboo den whcih is great funa sthey are hardly visible and so enjoy jumping out saying ‘Boo!’ to each other. They looked at some of growing fruits, incluidng raspberries, strawberries and apples, smelling them with Damon saying 'Yum!'. Using different materials such as wooden planks, branches and the cargo net the children made a further den. Hlenhaze and Xanthe both hid in the dens, popping their heads out slightly shouting 'boo' and giggling when they came came back into the den and had a small dance. Thomas and Zach looked into the pond pointing saying Look, fish' whe they spotted them. Meanwhile Douglas and Ines used some watering cans to water the growing beds. Douglas poured his water over the strawberries and said 'This will help them grow'. We plan to plant garlic, onions peas and spinach in the next few days!

The babies have had a sensory exploration week, they explored different objects with different textures such as brushes and carpet samples, Jonathan even ran the carpet through his hair after being shown how to use a hairbrush! Lyra and Jasper felt the texture of some cooked rice as Lyra squashed it in her hands and quickly shook it off, making jasper and some of the other children laugh. They have enjoyed an autumn walk in Carlisle Park, and collected some leaves.

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.