People who help us!

This week the children have been talking about the various people that help us. Zach proudly pointed out "Police help us". Xanthe shouted out "Fire engine!", and Douglas said "Doctors help us too, they also help people who can't talk". This led the children into looking at Makaton and learning various signs to words such as Alligator and the alphabet. A group of children dressed up as various roles such as a policeman, fireman, builder and baker. As part of the topic the children also paid a visit to the post office to collect stamps. Roma asked ‘Where do letters go when you post them?’ They then visited a shop to buy flowers. Thomas looked at the flowers and said "Pretty!". The children also selected a variety of fruit to taste. Isla held up a plum and said "I want to try this, it's purple".

The sound of the week the children have been looking at the letter "T", the children practiced their air writing and also traced over the letter with their finger. As Molly traced over the letter she began to sing "Turtle, turtle turtle".  The children also went on a letter hunt to look for various objects that start with the letter ‘T’- well done!

This week the babies have explored light and the patterns it can make all around the room. Abigail and Oliver had a relaxing exploration time when they laid in the cosy corner and looked up at the light projections on the ceiling, Abigail particularly liked the sea creatures pointing at the turtle.

Jasper and Lyra explored the light box, using different colour paddles they looked at how the light shines through the colours, Lyra babbled throughout trying to say the colours. Some colourful light blocks were out into the light box and Jasper made a tower, when it got knocked over Jasper giggled whilst Lyra looked very shocked, and when she looked at the staff member she raised her hands in surprise. Zayne and Owen explored the light tubes, they rolled them around the room watching the colours change and the balls move around. The babies have also been to the park and played a game of football, Adeline chased the ball and kicked it away making Sami chase it through the green, Adeline laughed when it got kicked back towards her and she continued to run around happily with Lyra joining in.

Dance train!

The older children were very interested in the progress of the new pergola being built in the nursery garden in the baby area. This will keep the babies dry during wet weather and enable the space to be used to a greater degree summer and winter, as it will also shield the children from the sun. we will post pictures when it is completed. The preschool children have explored chalk paint this week. They grated chalk and water mixed together to make pastel colours such as purple and green. They made various marks on the chalkboard, laughing as it splashed on their legs and feet. Olivia said "Raegan let’s make a rainbow. There are lots of colours to make one!" Raegan agreed and said "It's going to be very beautiful, like when it's in the sky!" They covered the whole chalkboard with their amazing pictures, deciding it looked better with all the colours. Some of the children even painted their hands and made handprints. The children have also had been dancing this week, showing their moves to one another. Maya shook her hips side to side, while Barnaby span around and around. They started to make a train, holding onto each other's shoulders and danced along. Oliver said "Big train, choo, choo!".

This week toddlers have enjoyed experimenting with different textures in the messy tray. They used uncooked spaghetti and oats and enjoyed feeling the different textures. George, Ada and Millie enjoyed listening to the spaghetti ‘crack’ as it was snapped in two. Oscar and Oliver enjoyed feeling the oats through the fingers and dropping it from a height. Other textures they had fun exploring were, cloud dough, crazy foam, cornflour and salt dough! When playing with the cornflour mixture they used two different colours and used their fingers as well as different tools to mix the two colours together! Toddlers also enjoyed lots of colouring this week, using crayons to colour our the first letter of their names and have used the chalks to make marks on chalkboard and easel. They also used finger puppets and soft toys to act out nursery rhymes and some stories at circle time!

The babies have been making winter animal pictures using different coloured paint and different textures, such as bubble paint for the polar bears and more usual paint for the walrus and arctic fox. They loved their sensory play activity in the sleep room, playing with the sensory light up boxes, rice in a big tub and feely bags feeling the difference between the hair gel, oats and crazy foam. When playing with the rice Zac and Emma loved filling their hands with rice and throwing it on the floor enjoying the sound that it made! Babies have been testing their fine and gross motor skills while playing with the play dough pinching it in between their fingers and trying to use the rolling pins to flatten the play dough. 

Teamwork!

This week the children have been working together to achieve great feats as you can see! They managed very well to organise lifting logs and branches in the park on one of our daily outings., and were suitably proud how strong they were together! The children have been doing some bark rubbings and writing the letter "S" as the sound of week. The children then had a look around the park to see what objects they could find that start with that letter. Isla started to laugh and said "I see Sami". Thomas became very excited when he saw some sticks on the ground. He picked some up and began to wave them around in excitement.

Back at nursery they explored various vegetables and what types of seeds they may have inside. As Douglas cut open a pepper he said "You can eat seeds. They have to be special seeds like sunflowers". Eve became very intrigued with the conversation wondered over and said "What are seeds?" and Freddie opened his hand to show her. This prompted various conversations from what other types of vegetables may have seeds inside and where they grow. Damon announced "You can plant seeds and they grow into pumpkins and ginormous trees. Did you know peppers are chewy and hard?" Molly pointed out that they needed water, whilst Roma spoke about the sun and how it helps them grow.

This week the babies have been exploring the cold weather and frost using bubbles. The bubbles became stuck to the frosty grass and tree making Lyra laugh, and Freddie and Lyra began to blow the bubbles making a big ball on the ground. As they blew it it bounced up and down in the frost before finally popping making the two giggle and say 'Pop!’ Jasper and Owen explored the leaves, collecting some leaves to bring back to nursery. Jasper was so excited and tilted the bucket full of leaves over his head, and sat laughing after looking a bit shocked and all of his friends joined in laughing as well as throwing leaves into the air and watched them fall back down again. Back at nursery Lyra and Zayne used animals to break up some Weetabix and mix it with flour, and Zayne dropped the animals into the mix and began to hide them, Lyra and Zayne both searched for the animals laughing with everyone they found, Lyra said 'Moo' for every animal. Oliver and Abigail made cakes, using flour, custard and oats they mixed it all together to make a gooey, textures mess before filling it in to cupcake pan. Oliver tried to eat some of the custard but before he could Abigail took the dirty utensils away to wash them in the toy sink, whilst she was washing she made a splash in the floor and said 'uh-oh'.