Frosty play and reindeer soup!

The preschool children have been joining in with their phonics this week. The letter of the week was 'A' and the children had some brilliant ideas for words. When asked about who flies into space, Olivia said "A for Astronaut!' They also came up with words such as arm, apple and ant. The children also practiced writing 'A', proudly  sharing their beautiful writing with their peers. All of the children have really enjoyed doing lots of Christmas artwork to decorate the pre school room and are getting very excited for the arrival of Father Christmas. Elodie told her friends at circle time, "If you are very good, Father Christmas might bring you some presents". Raegan replied, "He is coming to my house".

We have had some very frosty mornings this week and the children went out looking for some ice around the garden which triggered a conversation of how the ice is formed. Thomas suggested ‘In the freezer!’

This week toddlers have enjoyed making reindeer soup! They used big spoons to mix the carrots, brussel sprouts and parsnips together. Tomas said "Mix mix mix" and also used the spoon to chop some of the carrots. Ada announced "We making soup for reindeers" and Jack, George and Will enjoyed feeling the cold vegetables with their hands. The children were very chatty during this activity and enjoyed repeating the names of the vegetables! Toddlers also had fun doing some car rolling with lots of coloured paint. They used the cars to mark different marks on the paper. Some children enjoyed rolling the car in the same spot, making short lines, whilst others moved the cars side to side and made curvy lines. Sienna spent time doing the former, whereas Scarlett enjoyed doing the latter. Alice stuck to rolling the car in one colour for a while before mixing some of the colours together she said "I making lines with my car".  We also had a very exciting trip to the field with preschool! Toddlers did lots of running, chasing and playing football. We especially enjoyed trudging through the muddy grass and stomping in the occasional puddle! We also watched as the birds and aeroplanes flew by.

The babies have been exploring many different malleable materials including paint, jelly, crazy soap and playdough. They used the cutters to make shapes in the playdough as well as poking their fingers in it, watching the marks that it left in the dough. They also enjoyed playing with the cold, wobbly jelly, watching it move as they touched and squeezed it using their hands. Some of the little ones couldn't couldn't resist tasting the strawberry flavour and everyone got very sticky! They have produced some more lovely Christmas art work this week, using paint with brushes and especially fingers! They also did some mark making with chalk and crayon on some penguins and Santa faces. Can’t wait for Christmas!

Puddles!

The preschool children have enjoyed their new swedish waterproof outfits this week. They put on their jackets and trousers along with their wellies, making their way outside for some lovely splashy messy play. They noticed a large puddle in the back garden and became really excited, running about in and out of the puddle and made big splashes as they jumped into the mud.  Some of the children explored the rest of the garden for more puddles. Thomas said "I'm going to jump really high, everybody watch me!" Thomas took a breath and jumped off the hill, giggling as he landed on the bark. Arthur said "That was a good jump!" Henry, Oliver and Joshua were covered head to toe in mud, giggling as the water flew through the air and all over the floor. they have also been around the site and found some amazing areas of water and mud as you can see!

The children have also made currant buns with play dough. They molded their dough and sang '5 currant buns' as they painted them brown. They discussed what ingredients were in currants buns and the children agreed sugar and currants.

Toddlers enjoyed going for a walk on Friday with some friends from both the baby and preschool rooms. As toddlers rode through puddles and across the mud in the buggies Tomas said "Look, mud!" and George spotted an aeroplane and said "Look" as he pointed to the sky. They enjoyed looking at the birds flying past and the occasional person walking their dog. As they went over the bridge they stopped to look at the water and saw some ducks! They were all given some bread to throw to the ducks and Scarlett said "Duck!" with Arthur pointing excitedly. They also did some floor drawing with crayons; the children loved laying on their tummies and drawing pictures. Some drew small lines and circles while others drew pictures of mummy and daddy. Elena used lots of different colours and clapped when she had finished and Benjamin tried to say some of the colours he used.

Babies have had lots of fun getting our artwork ready for Christmas displays. We have made a cosy fireplace by sponge painting the bricks, some festive stockings by using brushes with fluffy paint which was very squishy and we made some lovely hats by using fruit tea bags. They loved smelling the different fruit flavours like raspberry and orange and looking at the different coloured marks they made as they splatted them onto the paper.

They too have been going on walks to the river to feed the ducks some bread and they all made quacking noises as they came over.

Pet shop !

The children visited Squires pet shop to see what different animals they could see. They were particlularly fascinated by the lizards and tortoises. Harry pointed and said "Look, a dinosaur!" The children then noticed to look at the fish. Douglas and William watched closely and looked at the different colours they could see. They then began to name the fish after their friends back at nursery. On the way back to nursery the children visited the park and decided to act out the movements of the animals they had observed.

They have been experimenting with cooking a variety of sweet and savoury dishes. The children helped to make the staff vegetable soup. They spoke about where the vegetables came from, what food they like to eat, and how they grow. Jonah spoke excitedly about the food he likes "Apples and pears are juicy, I think they grow on trees".  Douglas responded " did you know Tescos picks them up" he then started to chuckle. This promoted all of the children to talk about their favourite foods. Eve started to giggle and joined in with the conversation " I like chicken and rice, they are tasty. I"m hungry" Eve then started to rub her tummy. The children also drew pictures of the foods that they like to eat. Scarlett asked her friends if they knew potatoes live in the ground.

The babies have been mark making using crayons, The little ones tapped, and rolled the crayons on to paper and were please with the results. They also had fun exploring water, using their hands, jugs and spoons to empty, pour and fill. Arthur was very interested in pouring it out as fast as he could! Oliver placed his hands in water and began to splash about , until the suds were everywhere, which caused giggles all round.

Muddy adventures!

The preschool children have explored their new light box this week. They were mesmerised, as the light went from dim to bright with just the press of a button. The children had lots of fun, staring through the coloured paddles at the light, discussing what happened. Sophie said "Mine has turned green! Has yours?" as she asked her friends.. They all decided theirs were different colours. They have also been using various sized shapes, to build and stack. They built small towers and tall towers, looking through the point at the top to explore the colours. 

The children have also been on a walk around the lovely Imber court site, starting with the bridge and feeding the ducks, and along to the fenced fields spotting the horses to the football pitches, to practice their football skills. They ran as fast as they could, to catch the ball and were kicking them back and forth to each other. Some of the children wanted to be goalkeeper and laughed as they tried to stop the ball. Best of all was splashing about and jumping up and down in the muddy pitch puddles!

This week our toddlers joined in with the adventures while reading ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. They created a den using tables and blankets to create a dark and cosy environment for the children to hide in. At first many were reluctant to venture in but as soon as the adults got in too they couldn't wait to pile in! The children then experienced colourful snow that was falling down onto the toddlers heads which gave everyone a big laugh as they got covered in pink and blue snow. The toddlers have also started some preparation on some Christmas baubles where they glued materials onto felt baubles to give a sparkly effect. Tomas enjoyed repeating the word "Sparkly"as he made his bauble.

The children have continued to paint lots of cardboard boxes to soon reveal a Christmas surprise come December. The toddlers mixed water, flour and salt to make some salt dough which all the children throughly enjoyed! Sienna enjoyed pinching the dough and watching the mark it left. Ada and Scarlett had rolling pins and were pretending to cook some food. The toddlers had the opportunity to dress up as builders and doctors. Eloise carried round the doctors case all morning! The toddlers and babies have spent some lovely time playing together this week during our free flow play between the two rooms. It was lovely to see the toddlers looking out for the babies while playing.

The babies loved making snow pictures using cardboard tubes cut into different shapes; dabbing them onto the paper to make their snow flake pictures. Oliver loved changing his coloured roll and using the different shaped rolls and looking at his picture at the different marks that he had made. Emma really enjoyed exploring the treasure basket exploring the bath poof feeling it between her fingers, Oscar used a wooden stick to rub it against the nail brush and listening to the sound that it made. Millie, Oscar and Fabian enjoyed getting messy with the peas, squashing them in between their fingers, exploring the texture and throwing them into the messy tray watching them bounce!

They have started to get ready for Christmas and have made snowmen pictures using glue and cotton balls and exploring the garden playing with the balls and exploring the sand.

St Mary's House Visit

The children went to visit St Mary's house to visit the elderly residents this week. They took a variety of activities to share with the ladies there. On arrival Emily waved to everyone and said "Hello, hello!" as she walked along which made all the ladies smile. Douglas was very eager to show everyone his drawing skills, and the children handed out pens to the ladies in order to join in! Sami began to cheer "They are doing it" when he noticed that everyone was drawing along with him. William proudly gave one of the ladies and a picture, he smiled and said "it's a duck" he then held his arms out to give her a great big hug. This week the children explored shapes and structures during their sparkle time. Ines placed shapes on top of one mother to build a tower, and giggled and said "All fall down". Molly began to name each of the colours she could see and stated to sing the rainbow song; everyone started to join in and helped Molly to finish the rest of the song. Zach picked up a shape and looked through the bottom, he started to chuckle and said "Everything is green, I can see green, green and green!’ Everyone found their own shape to look through this prompted a lot of laughter.

This week the babies have been exploring paint and the marks they are able to make. Jonny waved his hands through the paint, and every time the paint moved around the table he banged his hands on the table with excitement. They have also been exploring different texture from oats, foam and sand. Lyra began to fill her bucket up with sand using her hands, she then tipped the sand out of the bucket and kick her feet through the sand giggling away. Jasper used a spade to fill up his bucket, before an older friend helped him to tip it out into a sandcastle, with Jasper started over again giggling at his friend. When they were finished Jasper gave Hlenhaze a big hug.