Pumpkin Picking!

The children visited Garsons farm this week. They were very excited, talking about it all morning. During a circle time, the children discussed what we may find at the farm. Sophie said "Big pumpkins. They are orange!" Sofia replied "I want a blue pumpkin!" They found this very funny, giggling away. Olivia said "Pumpkins start as green then turn orange!" Once the minibus arrived, the children took their seats and the journey began. On the way Hector was shouting "Minibus go faster, faster!" The first thing the children did was to make their way over to the tractor and climbed aboard. It was very bumpy as they went along, with the children trying to spot the different fruit and vegetables. The children searched through the pumpkin patch, trying to find the biggest ones. They showed how strong they were, carrying them and placing them in their bag. They also picked some sweetcorn, pulling them off the branches and laughed as the whole branch tipped sideways. They were amzed at the height of these crops, and enjoyed running up and down between the rows. They brought pumpkins to explore at the nursery , and also some produce to take home.

This week the toddlers have been getting creative. The children have participated in autumn leaf painting with vegetables which all the children enjoyed especially knowing that their artwork will soon be on the wall to create a big tree. The toddlers found it amusing to paint with vegetables and some of the children preferred to try and eat them rather than paint with them. Some of the other children like Ada and Callum enjoyed naming the vegetables and asking for a particular one to paint with "Want the potato, or the carrot". The children have also be decorating fish to go up on the display board which involved using shiny materials, tissue paper and most excitingly googly eyes. The toddlers have also been singing songs in circle time every morning and it is lovely to see the children remembering some of the words and actions. Little Archie particularly likes singing twinkle twinkle little star and enjoys putting his hands up in the air to make the stars.

This week the babies have been exploring different tactile materials. They rolled, moulded and prodded the coloured playdough with their fingers and some cutters on the table, seeing what marks the different utensils made. 

We also made some tasty and healthy cheese and herb muffins. They babies were helped to place all helped put he ingredients into the big bowl and gave it a good mix with a big wooden spoon. Later during afternoon snack they tasted some and they were delicious! We also sent some home for our parents and siblings to enjoy too!

"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!