More Pancakes Please!

The preschool children went on a walk to the Imber Court playground.  They had lots of fun taking turns on the slide and seeing who could go the fastest. They loved swinging high on the swings and Callum was excited when he spotted a motorbike to ride on, saying to Chloe, "It's a police motorbike". He was then rocking backwards and forwards saying, "Nee-nor". The children crouched underneath the climbing frame using it as a lions den. They pretended to be lions trapped behind the bars, roaring at each other and trying to escape from the cage.

The new Pancake Café roleplay area has created some fantastic imaginative play this week. The children made pancakes with playdough, with customers selecting what they wanted from a menu and paying with money.  Lily called out, "Pancakes for sale here" when she was the shop. Max asked Lily, "How much monies?" The children also had tasty pancakes at snack time, choosing to top them with golden syrup, sugar and lemon. 

This week, the toddlers have loved going on walks around the grounds of Imber Court. They got dressed in their waterproofs and wellies then went out to explore the fields and splash in all the puddles! They found some muddy grass with some of them deciding to walk over it and others deciding to walk around it. Oscar and Arthur jumped in every puddle they could find, laughing as the water sprayed up around them. Jasper found some sticks and used them to makes little splashes in the water, carefully squatting down and drumming in the puddles. Will laughed as he waded through the water saying “Deep puddle” before getting very excited when he saw the ducks and running after them. Jack, Benjamin and Scarlett said “Duck, duck” while Elena, George and Tomas quacked as they pointed to the ducks.

The toddlers have also really enjoyed engaging in magnetic activities. They played with tubes that rattled and shapes that all connected together. Ada decided to put two tubes together and said “It noisy” as she noticed it make a sound whenever she shook it. Oscar and Sienna had fun connecting the pieces and then shaking them to see if it would fall apart. Oliver said “Wow” as he rolled the ball around the table.

This week the babies have enjoyed exploring water! They have been busy filling cups and jugs with water and watching it pouring back into the water tray.  Zac loved splashing in the water getting himself and his friends wet. They shared their excitement by laughing and splashing together. There was a lot of interest in the smell of the water as it had lemon essence added to it. Some of the babies dipped their fingers in the water and sniff their fingers, or licked them!.  The babies had great, messy fun with a pile of flour. Chloe, Luca and Faris experimented using their fingers to make marks in the flour and seeing how it stuck to their hands.  Ethan tentatively prodded it with his finger and Wren liked brushing it off the table on to the floor.

The babies have been working on the drawing skills and created some lovely pictures using the coloured pens. Zac showed good control of the pens and had a look of great concentration while drawing. Jonathan was more interested in tasting the flavour of the pens!

The babies also had a go at making pancakes with playdough, using the rolling pins to spread out the dough and, after being shown how to, trying to flip them. 

Pancakes Please!

This week, the children have had great fun playing in the Pancake Shop role play area as part of the Pancake Day activities. They took their friends orders with Eve declaring "I would like a pancake with chocolate and strawberries please!" William proudly pointed out "You use eggs, flour and milk to make pancakes. I know these things". This sparked a conversation about what toppings the children like on their pancakes. Imani excitedly said "Lemon! I'm having lemon at home". Roma joined in with "I have syrup". Xanthe then proceed to count out her money to pay for her pancake and said, " This is for me". The children were excited to have tasty pancakes for their snack.

The children also enjoyed their walk to the river, watching the boats and feeding the ducks. As the birds flew down to eat the bread, the children started to count how many they could see. Florence said, " I see 3 birds". Thomas started to clap and said "Up" and pointed up to the sky showing where they were flying.

This week, the babies have been busy using all their senses to explore and learn. They had great, messy play with soil and worms (cooked spaghetti). Oliver made holes in the soil, hiding some spaghetti inside them.  He the carefully held one end and pulled it out, shaking the spaghetti before dropping it on the floor. The babies loved making splashes in the water table, watching each other and copying. Abigail made a big splash and said 'Splash'! Jasper and Abigail worked hard to bath the animals in the soapy water and used flannels to clean them.

The babies also played with herbs, leaves, lemons and limes in the water, creating a wonderful sensory experience for them. Zayne made noises by splashing in the water and saying 'Yay' and feeling the herbs that had mixed with the water. Adeline was curious and tried to squash lemons in her hands before smelling the citrus scent.

On one of their trips to the park, Jasper and Owen had great fun chasing each other around the field. When Owen caught up to Jasper, Jasper put his hand over his mouth and said 'Ooo' before giving each other big cuddles. In the play park, as they explored different ways to move and climb, Adeline went down the slide babbling happily to herself. Lyra, however, decided to have a go in the spinning chair. As it spun around, Lyra looked at the sky occasionally copying the staff by saying 'Whee!'

Muddy Fun!

The children went on a walk to Bushy Park and came across a rather large puddle. Eve started to giggle with excitement and said “I’m jumping, I’m jumping in”. Douglas shouted loudly “Let’s go!” and then some children started to run towards the puddle. Hlenhaze placed his hands into water and started to flick the water up in the air smiling as he did so. As Zach ran through the puddle, he started to chuckle and said “It’s splashing everywhere!”. Xanthe began to stamp her feet in the water watching as she made big splashes. All of the children started to join in with squeals of excitement and happy chatter. They even had water race to see who could run through the puddle the fastest. Great fun!

The children have also been looking at planting and growing this week. William picked up a handful of seeds and said “I’m planting. It’s going to be big”. Some of the children then started to discuss where vegetables and fruits grow. Roma pointed out that some fruits grow on trees. Freddie picked up an onion, held it to his nose and said “Smelly” and started to chuckle and pull a funny face. Ines picked up a spade and began to dig in the soil. She picked up a carrot and said “It’s orange”. This sparked a conversation between the children about different colours and what their favourite colour is. The children then began to match the name the colours of vegetables they were playing with.

This week the babies have been taking part in mark making activities. Lyra and Adeline enjoyed a sticking activity together as they glued string and orange zest to paper. Lyra smelt the fruity zest and said 'yum' after copying a staff member. Adeline waved her string around laughing when she dropped it on the paper. Oliver made some footprints after dipping his foot into paint. When he first felt the paint, he was a little unsure and blew bubbles and wiggled his toes. He soon decided that he liked it and was happy moving his foot around on the paper and putting it back in the paint again.

Zayne and Abigail did some mark making with crayons. Hlenhaze came in to help and he drew around an animal stencil. Abigail had a go at doing this as well and proudly showed us where she had coloured in the stencil. Zayne and Jasper had a sensory dance together, listening to music from around the world while bubbles were blowing around the room. They held hands and started jumping to the music before popping bubbles together. Some of the other babies joined in and were fascinated watching the bubbles floating around.

The babies have also been to the park. They had lots of fun in the muddy puddles, copying the older children. They found some daffodils and sat amongst them looking and feeling them. Abigail and Lyra smelt the growing flowers and said 'pretty flower'.

It's a goal!

The preschool children had a brilliant sports session on the football field. They had great fun kicking the ball into the goal and cheering as it flew past Joe, who was trying his best to defend! They practised kicking and using different momentum, with some children kicking it hard and some using a more gentle touch. The children ran, walked and skipped around the field, carrying a football, searching for the best places to aim their balls at. Some decided to have a go at kicking at the goal and others had a go at kicking the ball to the trees in the distance. 

The children have also been digging for dinosaur bones in the garden. Oliver said "We need to dig very far to try and find them!" They pushed their spades deep into the mud, as far as they could go. As they scraped away at the mud, some flew up into the air and a roar of giggles began as it landed on them. There was great interest in the small bugs that they found living in the mud. The children spotted spiders and ants crawling around and watched as they scurried away from them. 

This week toddlers have enjoyed playing football in the park with the preschool children. They collected as many footballs as they could before they set off their adventure. When the children got to the park, they started kicking the balls around and Jasper said “Kick, kick, kick”, before chasing after the ball with Scarlett like it was a race! Eloise decided she wanted to try and sit on the ball. She made it into a game where she rolled off of it and then got back on, laughing with excitement! All the children sat together on the grass for a quick snack and rest, before coming back to nursery. Some of them continued to play football in the garden.

The toddlers have also played with dinosaurs in green gloopy-gloop this week! They helped to mix glue, cornflour and green food colouring together, and found it hilarious watching the gloop drip off their fingers. Sienna stamped the dinosaur’s feet through the gloop, making lots of footprints and covering the dinosaur from head-to-toe. She said, “Oh dear, dinosaur!”.  The toddlers helped to clean the dinosaurs, using soapy water and sponges. Leo and George had fun getting bubbles on each other’s hands and George said “Pop!”.

The babies have experienced lots of messy play this week. Some loved pushing their fingers into the jelly feeling the cold slimy texture while others needed a little encouragement to try! Zac tried to eat some but did not seem to like it as he pulled a funny face. Amelia, Ari and Zac got very involved with pea messy play. They picked up handfuls of peas and squashed them between their fingers, having an occasional little taste. The babies also had mashed potato to investigate with spoons, toys and their hands. Connie cautiously touched the sticky mixture with one finger, laughed and held it up to show everyone what she was doing.

The babies have enjoyed their walks around Imber Court, seeing the ducks and watching the tractors. During one of our walks a police officer and her horse stopped to talk to them. The babies were very interest watching as the horse swished its tail and bobbed its head around.

The babies have had great fun during the free flow sessions.  There was a lot of interaction between the toddlers, preschoolers and babies as they played together with lots of chattering and laughing. Amelia was really keen to go and explore the preschool room, playing happily with some preschoolers and babbling away as they talked to her. 

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.