Fun at St Mary's House!

The children went to the visit the ladies at St Mary's House. When the ladies saw the children coming, they got excited and started to wave and smile. They showed them how to join in with their activities including drawing and how to use an abacus. William walked over to one lady and noticed she was asleep. He asked, "Why is she sleeping?" William then kept on going over to her to check if she was awake. When William noticed that she had woken up, he took her a bunch of pretty daffodils. The children then started to hand out daffodils to all of the ladies. Freddie held them out to one lady, she smiled and said, "For me?" Freddie and some other children gave each of the ladies a great, big hug.

The music was put on and the children began to show the ladies their fancy dance moves. They found this very entertaining and were clapping along, much to the children’s delight!

Some children also drew beautiful pictures which they then gave to all of the ladies. The children also made bird feeders by making shapes with lard and rolling them in bird seeds. As Molly picked up her bird feeder she said, "What's this and why do birds eat it?" Isla started to giggle and said, "They get hungry". The children and ladies went out into the garden and hung them on the branches ready for the birds to nibble. Zach said, "We need binoculars to watch them" and proudly held a pair up and said "Now I can see!”. 

This week, the babies have lots of fun during some painting activities. They experimented using finger paints to make marks on the table. Oliver loved the sensory experience of mixing his fingers around the paint. He even painted some of his face, then looked around giggling. Jasper and Lyra did some large scale painting on the floor.  There seemed to be more paint on the two children as they decided to have a go at painting their legs as they had painted on paper before. Lyra said 'Uh-oh' and laughed when the staff cleaned her up.

The babies also had some fun playing with the magnetic Grippies. Lyra, Owen and Zayne played really well with the toys. Lyra rolled a ball along the flow saying “Ball”. Zayne was determined to separate two of the magnetic pillars. He stuck them together, babbling away, and then pulled them apart with a big laugh. Owen built a tall tower, stacking the shapes on top of each other. When it got so tall that it broke, he laughed and gave some of the pieces to a staff member and they built it again together.

Domino Tumble!

This week, the preschool children really loved exploring and experimenting with the game of domino tumble. They helped to line up the big wooden blocks around the room and then watched with huge smiles on their faces as the blocks all had toppled each other over. Once they had all been knocked down, Raegan called out, "That was so much fun, let's do it again". Oliver then said, "But that was way too noisy". They all helped each other to stand the blocks up again and repeated the game several times, being careful where they placed them.

Also this week preschool have been talking and learning about various types of transport and how we get to nursery in the morning. Olivia said, "I come to nursery on an aeroplane" and grinned. The children laughed at Olivia and Lily told Olivia, "No, you go on holiday on an aeroplane, not to nursery". They went and built roads with the blocks and raced cars around the airport in the construction corner. Callum said, "Now we can go to nursery in the cars".

This week the toddlers have been explorers! The toddlers were shown how to use the magnifying glasses bringing them up to their eyes and looking through them. Benjamin and Jasper listened to instructions beautifully and then took their magnifying glasses around the garden to see what they could find. All the toddlers used the magnifying glasses in the garden to search for mini beasts and to find some toy creepy crawlies. Ada looked through hers and saw a ‘Green flower’. Isabelle kept laughing as she looked through hers.

The toddlers have also been digging for buried treasure in the sand pit. They listened well to a story about pirates coming to our nursery and hiding their treasure here to keep it safe. The pirates left a clue saying the treasure was left in the sand pit. Some of the toddlers got spades and started digging to see what they could find. Oscar really enjoyed digging and was delighted when he found a car. Scarlett found a “Shoe” and tried to put it on her foot over the top of her wellies. Jacob just kept digging to see if he could get to the bottom of the sand pit while repeating over and over “Dig, dig, dig!”. 

The babies have had fun playing with the messy cornflour this week, Connie and Wren particularly enjoyed pushing the cars and trucks through the sticky mixture, Some of the babies tried having a taste of it and others found it hilarious throwing the mixture around, resulting in covering themselves, the walls and the staff! Frankie enjoyed splashing with her hands and babbling to her friends. 

The babies have been being creative with paint using paint brushes, fingers and feet. A lot of them got very messy while enjoying the sensory experience. Frankie and Jonathan both seemed to like the taste and had pink paint around their mouths. 

The babies loved going to see the ducks during one of our walks to the duck pond. Amelia and Ari both started saying "Duck duck", pointing to the ducks as they swam around and ate the bread. The babies watched intently as a couple of the ducks in the stream were collecting sticks to make their nests and chasing each other across the water. Some of the babies were interested in the dogs that were playing in the field and watching the tractor as it slowly went past.

Gruffalo hunt!

The preschool children went for a fantastic walk around Imber court this week searching for big puddles to splash in! As they made their way over the bridge, they saw a big heap of mud and used their imagination to decide what it could be. Peter said "It's the foxes new home. The Gruffalo made him leave his home and get a new one!" Edgar said "Gruffalo look there!" Pointing to the hole in the mud. They spent a long period investigating the mud from afar then carried on their journey. There were many puddles to explore, big ones and small ones. The children were in fits of giggles, as their wellies were sticking to the mud at the bottom of the puddles. Max said "My wellies are stuck, I can't get out!" The children were very helpful, pulling each other out. They also went to feed the ducks, breaking up pieces of bread and throwing them into the stream. Ella said "There's a duck. Here duck, here's some bread!"

The children have also been practicing their letter writing in salt this week. Using their fingers and sticks, they drew the letter 'T', our sound of the week. Elodie said "It feels funny!" as she rubbed the salt between her fingers. They did very well drawing their letters and various shapes such as dinosaurs and snakes. 

This week toddlers have loved singing! During circle times we give the children the choice of what songs to sing, and Ada often requests ‘Baa baa black sheep’ and Tomas asked for ‘Crabs and starfish’. Sienna loves to sing along to ‘Twinkle twinkle’ and join in with the actions too! Toddlers also love our ‘good morning song that we sing at each morning circle time as we pat our knees, and this week Charlie, Scarlett, Sienna and Elena have began to join in with patting their knees. They have been listening to some songs on the iPad which the children love to dance along to. One of their favourites, that they often request throughout the day, is ‘Baby Shark’. We took the speaker to the garden and the children loved dancing along to ‘Baby Shark’ whilst laughing and doing some of the actions. Millie loved dancing along to the song and Elena joined in with the baby shark action, Vivienne also had lots of fun wiggling along to the music and laughing. This week we have had lots of sensory activities out that toddlers have loved exploring. Tomas and Harry loved getting stuck in with the beans and swirling their hands around the tray. Scarlett and Oscar had lots of fun squeezing the beans between their fingers and watching it fall. Jacob and Benjamin preferred to use wooden spoons to mix the peas from a distance Benjamin said “Mix” as he stirred the peas and Jacob said “Yucky” and he moved the spoon around the tray.

The babies have enjoyed playing with the playdough this week pinching it with their fingers enjoying making marks, Frankie and Ari tried some of the playdough spitting it out when the decided they didn't like the taste! Ari and Wren showed good control when using the rolling pin holding the handles and trying to make a rolling motion. Babies enjoyed making marks on paper using crayons they enjoyed being able to choose what colour they wanted by picking them out of the box. Connie and Harry loved getting messy with the foam, singing songs such as ‘Tiny Tim’ with the staff. They clapped their hands laughing at each other as the foam flew into the air, landing in their hair and all over the floor! Great fun!

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.