Party Time at Hampton!

Merry Christmas to you all from the Nursery. Have a wonderful break, and a happy and healthy 2020!

This week the children had their Christmas party. They enjoyed tasty food together to start with. They then got into the festive spirit by taking part in various party games. During musical chairs the children began to move around getting faster and faster as they moved around to sit on a chair, with lots of laughter. This was followed by pass the parcel and Thomas shouted out "Bubbles, bubbles!" as he discovered the contents. The children each had an early present from Father Christmas and were so excited to tear the paper off to reveal their very own book, showing each of their friends the book they had received. William began to point at the various pictures in his saying "It has my name!" as he noticed his name in the title of the book. The highlight of the party was the snow! Douglas had so much fun playing in the snow he used both hands to try and catch it, then proceeded to lie on the floor and say "I'm a snow angel" and began to wave his arms and feet and started to laugh. Ines was so excited to see the snow she started to sing "Snow,snow,snow!" and began to dance around. Damon and Sami noticed different sized foot prints on the floor and started to identify the different sizes . Hlenhaze used his hands to make various patterns in the snow. Great fun!

The babies got involved in the Christmas party as Lyra jumped up to catch the snow as it was falling whilst clapping her hands and smiling. They were fascinated by this. Oliver enjoyed pass the parcel as he tore the paper up and helped to unwrap some presents. The babies have also been exploring textures with different colours. Abigail played with some green and red pasta, she squashed it between her fingers and palms before lifting it up and dropping it back causing jasper to laugh. The babies also used jugs and spoons to fill and empty with the pasta. Jasper and Owen played with some Christmas coloured floaty materials whilst listening to music. Jasper hid under his before saying ‘Boo’ making Owen laugh before he copied.

Church visit and Christmas Concert at Hampton!

This week was very exciting indeed with our 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. Before the concert Damon and Scarlett cuddled and Scarlett said "I'm Santa and you're snowman ! We're best friends." As the adults came into teh room Sami waved shouting "mummy mummy! I'm here!" and Xanthe ran over to give a cuddle to her family then excitedly ran back over to join her friends saying "I'm back! I'm back." 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 under the pergola and have some hot and cold drinks , and some snacks and treats, despite the pouring rain!

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 the babies have explored cosy dens. The sleep room was turned into a cosy corner with bean bags and pillows to sit on with hideaway sheet covering the doorway to make it the perfect den. Jasper and Owen explored the cosy den snuggling on the bean bags and exploring some sensory light tubes. Jasper was amazed at the colours changing opening his mouth in shock when it closed and turning it into a smile whilst Owen laughed as he gently shook the tubes. Abigail and jasper explored the foam, jasper was eager to bury his way to the bottom to find some oats where as Abigail played high five with the foam. Lyra, Oliver and Owen explored the baby gym, blankets were laid over the top to make a secret passage way to the slide intriguing the babies more. Oliver crawled up the stairs and slide his was down the slide before Lyra followed and had a go steering the wheel before drawing down the slide. The babies have also played with the floaty materials and bubbles playing peek a boo with the materials making all the children laugh before popping bubbles together as they make friendships.

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!