Christmas Concert at Molesey!

This week was very exciting indeed with our first preschool Christmas Concert. The children looked amazing as you can see, dressed either as reindeers, swans, snowmen, dogs and Santas - all characters from the Stick Man story. Max said "Woof woof, I'm a big fluffy doggy and I like to run around!" , and Sophie said "But the reindeer eats the carrot not the donkey silly!" .They sang beautifully and there was a fantastic turnout from parents, relatives and carers whom all joined in with the singing, which was lovely. Afterwards everyone was able to go outside and have some hot and cold drinks, and some snacks and treats. They children were able to run about in the darkened garden which they love!. At one point, Ayla looked at her white face paint in the mirror and stared laughing saying "I look like a ghost!" .

Thank you to everyone who came to support the children, and the hard work of the staff and efforts from the children. we are looking forward to the Christmas dinners and parties next week!

This week toddlers have been talking about the weather, when talking about the cold we gave the children frozen peas to feel. George shouted "it's cold" as he moved his hands round the mess tray! The toddlers also played with a small world zoo which was covered in snow to mimic the cold frosty weather outside. They have been busy with Christmas decorations getting ready for the Christmas concert get together, preparing presents for their parents. This has included making stockings with pom-poms, tissue paper and cotton wool. Alice says "This feels soft" when touching the cotton wool. The toddlers participated in cooking this week and made shortbread for their dessert. Salvador really enjoyed stirring the mixture! He used the spoon and also his hands to really get the mixture mixed!! The toddlers have also been painting with some new colours this week 'silver and gold' which they hadn't used before. The children enjoyed how sparkly it looked.

We have had a busy week in babies getting ready for Christmas. They have been very involved in producing the artwork for the display boards, using white paint and fluffy cotton wool to make mountains for penguins and snowmen made from chalk. They have been mark making using flour on the table, moving it around with their fingers and also whole hands using fine and gross motor skills, then using it to shape some salt dough.

In the messy tray they have also been exploring different dry materials including oats, cornflour, dry mashed potato and even fruit tea bags!

During circle time the little ones have been learning new action songs called ‘Open, shut them’ and ‘Jingle bells’, using the musical instruments as they sing.

Leaf pies!

This week the children have been enjoying the outdoors with a variety of activities. The children paid a visit to Carlisle park and made leaf pies. Isla scooped leaves into a pan and threw the leaves in to the air saying "Wheee" as she did this. Eve found a potato masher "Look what I've found!" and started to crunch some leaves. "It's got crinkles" William said . Douglas pointed to the sky and said "Did you see that? There's lots of geese!" Douglas and all his friends watched as the geese flew by and began to make quacking sounds, the honking sounds which made everyone laugh. They have also visited Bushy Park for a winter walk, and of course the nursery garden where they made their own train from the outdoor blocks.

The children also completed an alphabet floor puzzle, pointing out the letters they could identify. Some of the children also made the letter sound with Molly pointing out the letter in her name. This prompted all of the children to look for the letter of their name and practicing their air writing. Zach became very excited and said "I'm doing it, I'm doing it " whilst moving his finger around in a Z shape in the air .

The babies have been using their fine motor skills to mold and feel playdough. The babies explored different types of playdough such as jelly playdough and oat playdough. Lyra sprinkled some oats over her playdough before pushing and prodding it and babbling to herself before giggling. Jasper used rolling pins alongside Lyra on the jelly mixture as he pulled some apart, the using the rolling pi to flatten and make marks. Abigail also used her fine motor skills as she used blocks to build small towers alongside her friends, and when she knocked them down Oliver laughed, prompting her to laugh as well. Owen and Jasper explored a small hideaway den, reading stories with one another. Both boys flipped through the pages sharing the book nicely, and as Owen pointed to the pictures, they both smiled to one another. The spaghetti and water play was popular. The little ones used spoons to mix the water and spaghetti before pulling the spaghetti out and pulling it apart!

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.