Trolls and bridges!

The pre school children have taken a keen interest in ‘The Troll’ story book by Julia Donaldson this week. After reading the story, some of the children went off to build their own bridges. Eddie was pretending to be the troll and as he was balancing along the blocks, he was calling out, “Who’s that trip trapping over my bridge?” Each time he called it out, his friends were laughing and running away from him. William said to Eddie, “But I’m not the goat, I’m the mouse” and Millie replied, “Noooo, you’re the spider!”

The children did some planting in the raised bed this week. They planted some peas and looked through a gardening book on planting different types of seeds and where various produce grow. Ezra told his friends, “Apples grow on the trees and the potatoes under the ground”. Benjamin replied, “I know that because my mummy told me that”. They helped dig up some of the soil and each took it in turns to plant some seeds and then covered them back over with the soil. Shyla asked, “When this grows, can we climb it just like Jack and the beanstalk?”, to which Tom replied whilst watering the soil, “We need to pour loads of water to help them grow that big!”

The children also made their own versions of the story book, ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ using their imaginations to add parts to the story and then told their stories to small groups of their friends. They then acted the book out in the garden, taking it in turns to be the bear in the tree house. When Max came out to scare his friends, he noticed his shadow on the floor as he raised his arms. The children then compared their shadow heights, Mateo telling everyone, “Mine is the tallest ever”.

This week toddlers have loved running around and exploring the outside. They went on a few trips over to the big field to have a run around and play some football, which the children loved! Zach and Rhys enjoyed kicking the ball short distances and walking after it to kick it away again. Leo found some mud and had a whale of a time digging and picking the grass, he said “Yuck it’s mud!” Ari and Leo had fun rolling around on the floor and laughing, Ari said “We laying down”. Millie went on a hunt for some leaves and secretly put them all in one staff’s pockets without her noticing! Fabian had lots of fun running as far as he could, laughing as he saw members of staff chasing after him! Toddlers also loved taking part in art activities, as usual! One day they made party masks, using the glue to stick on sequins and feathers. Connie took great care in adding the sequins one by one saying “It’s sparkly”. Ari added lots of sequins to his mask saying “No feathers”. Chloe was the opposite and got excited when she saw the feathers, grabbing handfuls to add to her mask. The children were very proud to wear their masks home as well as pose for some pictures !

This week in babies they have explored a lot of dry messy play ! They have enjoyed playing with the dry oats throwing them on the floor. Samuel, Harriet and Imogen swished the oats that’s were on the floor with their hands watching it fly around the room. When playing with the cereal Isla enjoyed mixing the cornflakes from the messy tray with the oats from the table scooping up handfuls and mixing them together. Tomas loved feeling the texture picking up handfuls of the cornflakes and squishing them in his hands, also enjoying the sound.

All of the babies explored the water play this week. Harriet loved splashing the water, making her friends around her wet. Everyone laughed, enjoying the game, and all joining in. Sophie loved it when the water was flicked in her face, closing her eyes and laughing, Alastair, Jonathan and Tomas enjoy pushing the boats around the water try watching them as they floated on the water . Babies have also made a start for Christmas, decorating candy with carious materials including stars and getting getting it stuck to their fingers !

Muddy adventures!

This week the children have explored lots of different things. They read some stories as a small group, and whilst looking through the books William noticed a rocket ship. This gave him the great idea to build some saying ‘I know, let’s get mobilo, build a rocket!’ to his friends. Zach added wheels to his and said ‘It can drive, look, whee!’ making Sophia laugh and point at her ship saying ‘Look, mine flies’. 

The children also had some music time, playing with the instruments, and trying to make the loudest noise they could! Abigail shouted ‘More!’ encouraging her friends to play even louder, and Elissa made all the children laugh jumping up and down and the nursery became very loud! Whilst in the garden we explored some underwater creatures, using mini water trays and different animals. They investigated the creatures, naming their colours and type, and talking about the animals and where they came from live. Lyra was really fascinated with the lobster and kept returning to the lobster tray saying ‘red!’ On one of their walks the children were so excited to splash in puddles. Hlenhaze jumped higher and higher , and stomped his feet to make the biggest splash, which made Xanthe laugh and laugh as they all became covered in muddy splashes. Xanthe then joined in splashing her other friends, as they laughed at the mess they were making. Ines said ‘Look, we’re all muddy now’. In the meantime Maxwell investigated some paw prints in the wet mud, calling for his friends saying ‘Look, let’s see where these go!’. The children followed the trail for a short while before coming up with ideas as to what it could be. Nyra said ‘Gruffalo!’, Imani said ‘Bear!’ and Eve said ‘Monster!’

The babies have also been busy this week. Whilst in the park they played some football. Oliver said ‘Ball!’ as he passed and kicked the ball towards Isla. Isla picked up the ball and ran around for a while before giggling and dropping the ball at her feet, kicking it away. Isla also jumped in some puddles splashing others. Alba explored some light up shakers, under colourful paper, she and Isla took the shakers out and shook them around. Alba then hid it under the paper, she tossed the paper to one side, making both children giggle. They then both put them back as quick as they could to start again. Jessie did some lovely dabber painting, exploring it on her hands first and then printing it on to her paper and then the table! Her hands definitely looked a different colour, and when she looked at them she frowned, and then smiled, clapping her hands together.

Parachutes, Snow and Ducks!

The older children have loved exploring our new jungle and safari animals along with the jungle animal reference book. They have also been learning about animals that are now extinct. At tea time, Sienna had seen out of the window that it had started to get dark and said to her friends, “It’s nearly night time, but it’s ok, there are no wolves!”. Parker replied, “Of course there isn’t, wolves are ‘resist’ (extinct) we don’t see them any more”.

They went over to play football on the pitches and as they arrived, Ella suddenly stopped running with the ball and called out, “Where are the goals? Now we can’t shoot any goals” and started to laugh. Oscar said to Ella, “It’s ok, I will be the goalkeeper, but I will save all of the balls”. The children had so much fun kicking the ball around the field and trying to score goals.

We have also enjoyed parachute play, allowing the wind to capture the parachute as the children lifted it up in to the air. Ellie said “It’s so windy under here, we might blow away”! They also had a great time trying to balance the balls on the parachute and flipping them into the air, catching and counting them.

This week the toddlers have enjoyed learning about animals. The toddlers explored the different noises farm animals make during a messy winter wonderland activity. The toddlers were asked what noise a horse may make and Zachary said “Neeeighhh” and Harry made a clipperty clop noise with his mouth. The toddlers enjoyed making all different farm animals sounds while throwing “snow” around the room. Tiana particularly enjoyed this, laughing as the ‘snow’ covered her friends’ hands. Zac got covered head to toe but didn’t mind in the slightest as he wore a very proud smile on his face. Zachary used the cow to make marks in the ‘snow’, drawing circles and leaving footprints. The toddlers also made some winter owls using glue and tissue paper. Tiana said “Owl” for the first time and Ari said “Twit, twoo”.

The toddlers really enjoyed using the glue sticks this week but didn’t enjoy getting the tissue paper stuck to their fingers! Chloe kept shaking her hand as hard as she could but could not get the tissue paper off. The toddlers all laughed. One of our activities included making some superhero masks. We cut the basic shape out of paper plates and the toddlers decorated them using felt tip pens, and were very excited knowing they were going to become superheroes, especially Oliver and Wren. who were running around shouting, “Super Ollie and super Wren”!

This week in babies they took a long walk to the duck ponds, throwing the ducks some bread and peas. Harriet became so excited when the ducks swam close pointing saying “Duck, duck, duck” Finley also became very excited flapping his hands and pointing.

The babies have been very creative with art work this week, exploring finger painting, dipping their fingers into the paint to make marks. When Sophie realised that she could put her fingers into the pot of paint that was on the table as much as she liked she smiled and picked up a handful of paint and put it on her picture! Sophie, Harriet and Isla enjoyed the activity so much that they were given an extra piece of papers to continue the fun.

Babies have also been taking advantage of the early dark evening, turning off the lights and turning on the light up shakers and the projector, even having a party with some moving about using the shakers to make our own sounds. As Sylvie was holding her shaker she looked up at the ceiling at the projector, spinning around to follow the deer she saw, then fell down laughing!

Happy Diwali at Hampton!

This week the children have been celebrating Diwali!

First the children made lanterns to celebrate the festival of light. The children used paint pens and shiny materials , and James enjoyed feeling the glue between his fingers as he glued it together. Ritika much preferred the paints as she dabbed them one by one using different colours. Jasper however choose to do things differently, and instead of decorating his lantern, he grabbed handfuls of sequins and put them in the middle to fill it up! When he lifted his lantern to see what had happened, they came pouring out he said “Ooops” and put his hand other his mouth and they all laughed ! He then tidied them all back very patiently.

The children have learnt all about Rangoli patterns and made their own out of coloured rice. While making the patterns Sophia said “It’s like a big rainbow and you can eat it!”. Zach said it was a flower and that you cant eat it, Maxwell then responded “Yuck!” making the other children laugh. The children have also made some rangoli images using the pegs and boards; Ines took lots of time to ensure the pattern was just right and had lots of colours and told everyone every colour with pride. Zayne preferred to pop the pegs out, finding it rather funny as did a few other children as they joined in with pegs all over the table!

The children also took part in a light activity for the festival of light, the room went dark and the toys started to glow and light up. “Wow” said Emily. Thomas pointed at the different light tubes, he smiled when his favourite colour lite up where as Freddie tried to shine his light around the room lighting up different things.

This week the babies have also been enjoying some Diwali activities. They started by creating their own rangoli pictures using paint dabbers, Isla was very intrigued in the dabbers and different colours and choose to use her fingers to paint instead of her paper. They used some sensory light tubes to create light and explore colour. Alba buried her light tube under paper so discover lots of colours , lifting it into the air and laughing, shaking the tube which made Isla laugh also as she began to copy. Bodie loved making his lantern, he was intrigued by the sequins and the glue, and how shiny they were. Jessie was fascinated by the sequins as well, she moved them around the table.

The babies also made some tasty breakfast in the home corner. They mixed food in bowls, and Jessie gave the food to others to eat before going back to the cupboard to get more, Alba pretended to eat the food and using utensils in the sink saying “Wow!” They also explored the baby gym, and Alba walked up the stairs with a ball before pushing it down the slide, she then clapped her hands before sliding down herself whilst shouting “Yay!” Isla laughed and clapped whilst Alba was going down the slide and made great attempts to catch the ball as it rolled down .

Autumn Fun at Molesey!

Pre school had lots of fun going on a Gruffalo hunt in the nursery grounds. After coming across the tree the children have named the 'Gruffalo Tree' and discovering that the Gruffalo or any of the other animals weren't in their home, Ollie suggested, "Why don't we go and try find out where they are all hiding?" Parker thought that was a good idea and led the way. They discovered a mound of rubble which prompted William to say "I think the fox might be having his sleep in here, but we have to be quiet so we don't wake him up". Continuing on the walk, they next came across a small hill with an opening to the trees and Ollie encouraged his friends to join him climb the hill and told them, "I think this is where the Gruffalo is with the big bad mouse, but he's not scary!" 

The children also went on a nature trail, and took some bags on a walk with to collect anything autumnal they could find. The children discussed between themselves the colours of the leaves on the trees and how they all looked so different. They successfully continued to match the colour of the leaves that had fallen on the floor, to the same coloured leaves that were still on the trees. Millie announced "That doesn't look the same, there are no more leaves on that tree, it's just twigs!"

It has been so much fun exploring the new wooden blocks and planks outdoor in the garden. This equipment promotes co-operation, teamwork and huge imaginations where anything is possible! The children worked together to make a car, using the round disc shape block as a steering wheel. Zachary encouraged his friends, "Quick, get in my car, I'm driving to the beach now!" Some of the other children also used the slope shapes to enable ball and toy car rolling, and Sienna and Elena were laughing each time the ball rolled away too far.

Over the past few weeks toddlers have enjoyed lots of different autumnal activities, including forest walks, spider webs and investigating pumpkins. They have explored the textures inside and out of the pumpkins, feeling the outer shell and learning to say "Pumpkin". Fabian learnt the word very quickly and proudly said "Pumpkin!" all day long. Wren also told her friends that the pumpkin is "orange". The toddlers were able to explore the different textures of the slimy pulp and hard seeds. Connie said the pulp was "wet" and Ari and Leo said "Yuck!" but that didn't phase them from getting covered head to toe in pumpkin goo!

This week the toddlers have also been preparing for bonfire night, making fireworks with their hands, chalk and even cupcake cases. Oliver shouted "Splat" when he banged his hands on to the paper to create fireworks with his paint covered hands, which meant paint splatted everywhere , including on themselves, which made the toddlers laugh Whoops! They have also been exploring fireworks through music, and discovering which instruments create a loud BANG when hit or sometimes dropped!

The new balance beams and giant stepping stones which arrived this week were very popular indeed as you can see in the photos. ! After taking a while at the edge of the tallest stepping stone, Connie finally took the leap of faith and jumped all by herself.. success! 

This week the babies have loved being creative with the leaves that they collected on our walk earlier on during the week. Isla and Jonathan liked helping themselves to the glue pots to spread lots and lots of glue over their pictures to help the leaves stick. As Jonathan was dipping his glue sick into the pot, he said “Dip, dip” laughing loudly expressing his excitement. Harriet noticed Charlotte using the camera and said “Cheese, cheeeseee” to gain attention , smiling broadly as her picture was taken. When Harriet was shown the photo of herself she laughed and said “Harriet!” pointing to the camera.

During their many messy play activity babies loved playing and eating the mushy peas on one occasion. Sophie and Sam loved swishing the peas with their hands looking as the patterns the peas made in the messy play tub and on them as they spilled onto the floor! All of the babies also enjoyed tasting and eating them.

A sudden downpour of rain came at one point and it became dark outside, which was a great opportunity to turned off the lights in the room. This enabled the babies to explore the light up boxes, and the sea life projector. They loved watching the animals float around the room, which was mesmerizing and relaxing, and Sophie pointed and said “Whale” “Fish” pointing to the animals and laughing and clapping her hands showing her excitement.