Parachutes and daffodils!

The children have been looking at the life cycles of a butterfly and we have had a very special delivery of some caterpillars and the children helped us to put them into the different pots, giving them some food to eat and some holes to breathe. Emily said “Ohh, its wiggly”. One day we took some of the caterpillars outside and used our magnifying glasses to explore the different colours on the caterpillars. Oliver used his magnifying glass to look at the caterpillars and excitedly said “Oh look, really big caterpillar”. Throughout the last few weeks we have looked at how they have eaten their caterpillar food to “grow big and strong” (as Emily has been telling all of her friends). They are all very excited to see our butterflies when they hatch out of their cocoons.

This week it has been such lovely weather, and they children have we spent a lot of time out and about. One day at the park they took a parachute and the children were laughing so much with the different parachute games. Maxwell had a great idea to put the ball on the parachute, and the children shook the parachute and tried to keep the ball on. When the ball first fell of Varun said ‘Uh-oh’ and quickly ran to retrieve the ball, and threw it back on again laughing. The children then decided to hide under the parachute, with some covering their eyes! Sophia ran under the parachute and out the other end shouting ‘Boo!’ and James responded by saying ‘Ahhh!’, starting a fun game of running in and out of the parachute. Zach and Eve played football, and when the ball was kicked away, then had a race to get to the ball and kick it back. Some of the other children got involved and started to kick the ball back and forth, and Jasper was very excited and starting to run after the ball laughing.

The younger children have also been out in the warm weather and explored some lovely daffodils. Isla shouted ‘Flowers!’. Ciana felt the stem of the flower and handed it over to Edward to smell. Edward loved being on the grass, and after smelling the flowers he crawled around feeling the it and other textures such as twigs and leaves. . Ciana then saw some ducks and began to run after them. Bodie started the follow saying ‘quack, quack’. Jessie and Bodie chased the football around, kicking it from corner to corner around the bushy park green, Jessie shouted ‘come on’, whilst Bodie followed laughing. Jessie, Bodie and Isla all held hands together and started walking in a line. Bodie said ‘Best friends!’.

Sidney and Honor had a wonderful time painting rainbows using the bubble wrap. Sidney liked the texture of the bubble wrap whilst Honor liked to hit the table and explore different sounds. After teatime they had a sparkle time session where they experienced lights and bubbles with music. Theo was dancing and bopping up and down. He loved shaking the musical instruments along to the music. Isla was singing along to the songs shouting ‘Dance!’. George was wiggling from side to side and laughing saying ‘Ahhh, ahhh, oo, oo’.

Happy Easter!

This week at nursery the children have enjoyed lots of Easter activities. They painted Easter eggs and made Easter cards for their families. Eddie said to Ellie "The Easter bunny will bring you eggs and give you chocolate and make you so wobbly if you eat all the chocolate!" The children have also took part in an Easter egg hunt in the garden. When Ellie found an egg she kindly said "I found an egg already; I will give this one to my friend." The children had lots of fun running around the garden finding the hidden eggs. When they had finished Ada asked "Can we do it again?"

The children have been observing the changes to our caterpillars, and were really intrigued to see that the caterpillars were forming their cocoons. Shyla said to her friends, "Make sure you don't wobble them or they'll fall on their heads". Ellie asked, "Is their cocoon just like my blanket on my bed?" Dylan said "When the caterpillars come out of their cocoon, they are going to grow some pretty wings and they can fly up in to the sky", and Riley replied, "But they need some food first". The children have also enjoyed exploring the small world butterfly are they made, talking about the different colours that they can see and the similarities and differences in the butterflies.

The children have been learning about body parts over the past week, and talking about the use of our organs. We have been recently focusing on our lungs and our heart and discussing what we use them for. Whilst talking about our heart, Ezra said, "I know what we use our hearts for, we use them to love our families and friends". The children then went on to discussing all of the important people around them who they love and giving reasons why. Zachary told his friends, "I love my mummy because she makes me a nice dinner". We moved on to talking about skeleton bone structure and Benjamin told his friends, "We have lots of bones in our body, our bones help us to stand up". Parker laughed and said if we didn't have bones in our legs, we would be just like Flop in Bing". 

The children went on a spider hunt in the garden using the magnifying glasses and small spider homes which have magnifying glass lids. They found a small spider and placed it inside the pot using the scoops to pick up the spiders carefully. Once it was inside, the children were really intrigued to observe it more closely. Ollie spotted some holes in the side of the pot and asked what they are for. Whilst explaining to the children that the holes were so the spider could still have air, the spider climbed through the hole and got caught in the wind and spun a web on to the tree! The children found this really funny. 

Happy Easter to everyone!

The toddlers have also been getting ready for Easter by making Easter eggs, Easter hats and going on an Easter egg hunt round the Imber Court site. Isabelle paid attention to detail as she carefully placed each piece of coloured paper onto her Easter egg. Thirty minutes later she finally shouted “Finished!” The toddlers took their explorer role very seriously as they searched high in the trees and down low in the grass for pictures of Easter bunnies and eggs. Immy said “Tree, tree!” as she spotted one. And Sophie said “Ducks” as she hoped to see a picture stuck to the duck! Thankfully the toddlers weren’t able to catch any ducks to see if this was true. Amelia found a bunny stuck on the door, while Connie found one under the buggy, “Found one!” she said proudly.

This week the toddlers have celebrated the “Festival of Colours”. The children participated in this by getting messy mixing different colours of paint with their hands. Rhys said “painting” excitedly and stuck his hands straight in and mixed the colours all together. Zac asked for “Blue”. Jonny asked for “Green” and stuck his head straight into the paint to create some lovely green highlights!
Back inside the toddlers have been busy in their very own supermarket. Leo and Fabian thoroughly enjoyed getting a basket and some money to go shopping. They filled their baskets and then unpacked them onto the conveyor belt. Ari cleverly named all the items he recognised on the shopping list “Bananas, apples, milk”. Zachary enjoyed taking on the role of cashier and having everyone pay him lots of money. He also found pressing the buttons on the till very exciting “Money please, beep beep beep”.  The toddlers have also been watching their caterpillars transition into their cocoons. Each day they look closely to see if there are any changes they can see. Tristan said “Cooon” and pointed towards them. Harriet said “Bye bye caterpillar” as she waved. The toddlers are looking forward to seeing the butterflies soon. 

The under two’s have had a really fun time investigating the light up sensory shakers. The lights in the room were switched off so the children could see them better. Sadie shrieked with excitement when it became darker and she saw the colours change, Samuel and Chloe loved giving them a really good shake, listening to the rattling sounds they made and Samuel said “Shake, shake!”

To explore the children’s other senses, they loved taking part in a fruit tea bag activity. The tea bags were dipped in warm water to release the colours and scents and the children picked them up, dabbing them onto paper.  Charlotte carefully chose where to place her tea bag while Alastair liked to squeeze it in his hands, watching the coloured water drip through his fingers. 

Outside the little ones enjoyed running around the field! They loved kicking the balls along the ground, kicking and throwing them into the big goal. Finley,  Alastair and Rafferty had so much fun chasing each other and tried to hide from each other by going either side of the net and lifting it up so they could crawl beneath it. Finley said “Boo!” as they were all laughing and tried to catch up with one another. 

In the garden, Emily and Zack played with the wooden pebbles and stacking toys, Luna liked exploring the tunnel and bridge, while Sadie and Blake discovered the coloured wooden boxes, looking inside the see through coloured panes at each other and laughing while trying to repeat after Kelly the words red, green, blue and yellow, identifying the correct colours. 

Springtime at Hamptons!

The children have been getting very excited about spring, looking at weather, animals and flowers that surround us at this lovely time of year. They are fascinated by our new wormery as you can see, and watch closely as the worms tunnel their way around. On one of their walks, they saw lovely daffodils, and Ines and Hlenhaze gently felt the leaves. Xanthe then saw a special daffodil, she shouted ‘Its white and orange!’ and the children then ran over to see it. As the children walked to the woodlands they saw some lovely animals on the way. Jasper pointed out all of the dogs, pointing and saying ‘dog’ whilst barking which gave the other children the idea, to run around and bark at one other. Nyra spotted the horses and encouraged all of her friends to have a look, and they decided that the horses were much bigger than dogs ! They walked over the bridge and they saw some lovely ducks in the river. William and Elissa played with some small sticks throwing them into the lake and watching them float down the stream, and made this into a race watching whose stick won. They planted some seeds and spoke about how things grow. Maxwell was very happy when he planted the potatoes, talking about different lunches that contain potatoes, which prompted excitement for lunchtime! There are labelled pictures of the produce to expect form the seeds and the children were matching the seeds to the pictures, Zach said that the plants will grow tall, and Emily said that they will grow taller than Zach who replied ‘No, I’m so tall!’ and this made the children laugh as they looked at who was tallest among them.

The younger children also went to the park to look at the daffodils. They felt the texture of the flowers, and Alba accidentally knocked off a loose leaf and said ‘Uh-oh’ before picking it up and giving it to her friends. Some ducks came to say hello at this point, and Ciana was very excited to see and began to go towards them which prompted the ducks to waddle off. This made some of the other children laugh as they tried to make quacking sounds. Isla was more interested in the dogs and would stop to look at them, pointing and shouting ‘Dog! Emma laughed whenever she saw one. Back in the nursery, the little ones explored the musical instruments. Grace loved to shake them whilst George like to bump the them on the floor. At first Sidney was unsure on the noises, then he began to enjoy it and dance along. Bodie and Jessie likes to play with the food, making each other dinner and passing the plate round to each other to share. Jessie was very happy when she received her food from Bodie and gave him a broccoli in return. Honor and Edward looked for some lovely animals in the hay and as they found them threw them on the floor, and as each one threw them on the floor the other one laughed.

Growing and Caterpillars at Molesey!

The pre school children have taken a very keen interest in watching the caterpillars grow over the past couple of weeks. They helped to put the caterpillars in to their individual pots, scooping the food in to the pots and then placing the caterpillars inside. Some children allowed the caterpillars to crawl across their hands and Riley told her friends, "This is their new house now". The children have learnt all about the life cycle of butterflies using our insect toys and have enjoyed listening and talking about the very hungry caterpillar story. The children have enjoyed making their own caterpillars this week using a variety of materials, textures and paints. Ella used a cotton bud to paint a face on her caterpillar., and said “Look! My caterpillar is a happy one with a nice face.” The children have also enjoyed junk modelling using lots of materials and boxes. Shyla told Ellie “This box is for mummy to put her things inside.” 

 The children have started growing vegetables in the vegetable patch. They started off with onions and garlic last week. Many more will follow this week including carrots, broccoli, lettuce , courgettes, tomatoes, beetroot. They used the spades to dig shallow holes and then placed some seeds in there and then helped to water them before covering them back over with the soil. William asked, "Can we eat them once they have grown?" Oliver replied, "Noooo, they won't taste nice like that, mummy will cook it in our food". Each time we have gone to the garden, Ada has gone over to check on them, asking, "Have they grown yet?" 

The children have also taken a keen interest in the book of the month which is “Supertato.” The children have been role playing going to the supermarket and making their shopping lists to buy lots of vegetables. Tom said “We need to get a melon like the melon bot in the story” Eddie told Tom “The Evil pea might be in the freezer!” 

Last week the toddlers had been preparing for Mother’s Day by making cards and decorating candle holders. They made a collage heart by picking different coloured paper and Amelia and Isabelle took their time and carefully chose which colour they wanted to use and where. They said “pink, blue, green” as they placed them down. 

Outside the toddlers were fortunate to have some sunshine which has made being in one big bubble that much more enjoyable. The toddlers have loved being able to explore more of the garden with all their friends. Zachary, Harriet and Isla were really engaged with the obstacle course, focusing on balancing on the beams and not falling off. They each gave a big smile as they finished the course by jumping off the tall step. Fabian and Ari explored the garden with trucks, filling the trucks up with soil, bark and leaves. The boys discussed it very privately- we wonder what the secret was?

Back inside the toddlers have been getting into spring by planting some flowers. The toddlers paired up and each got the opportunity to plant seeds in the soil in their plant pot. Connie came into nursery excited to plant some flowers and asked “When can I do planting?”. The toddlers have enjoyed watering their plants every day using the mini watering cans. The toddlers have also been watching their new caterpillars grow. Each day Immy comes in and says “Caterpillars, butterfly” and points to them. The toddlers have been learning that soon the little caterpillars will grow and turn into beautiful butterflies! 

The under two’s had fun taking part in world book day, and loved seeing all of their fantastic costumes and spent lots of time looking through different books together, reading the very hungry caterpillar pointing out the different foods and seeing how he grew.

The children got very excited when they noticed a squirrel on the fence in the garden. Alastair, Finley, Chloe and Emily were waving and pointing at the squirrel as it ate some food it had found on the ground. We asked the children what we should name it and Finley said “Momo”. The children watched Momo through the door as it scampered around the garden. 

When the children were playing outside, Ada and Blake were sharing a big jug, taking it in turns to put twigs and leaves inside before emptying it back out again. Chloe, Billie and Rafferty liked sorting through the drawers to take out the balls, throwing and rolling them down the step while Charlotte and Sadie sorted through the heuristic basket to find lots of smooth pebbles, sticks and pom poms which they played with at the table. The little ones were fascinated and love to chase and trying to pop the bubbles in the garden. Great fun!

Caterpillars and stories!

This week the big children have had a wonderful story week. They began with the Gruffalo, reading the story where Jasper repeated it, telling everyone what the Gruffalo looked like; for example the purple prickles, and poisonous wart. The children then wanted to make a Gruffalo table. They found different animals from the book and added it to a forest themed table, James flipped through the story book matching the different animals whilst Zach hid the animals in behind the tree and under the paper grass making James laugh when he picked them up and said ‘Boo!’. The children also read more stories about different vegetables and this made them want to go to the other nursery garden and see what vegetables were growing, collecting different vegetables in their wheelbarrows. Sophia then suggested that the children should make some vegetable soup in the mud kitchen. Sophia and Ines made some lovely soup in a big pan but as Ines was stirring it she made it all fly out, which made Sophia laugh and Nyra who was also walking around, who said ‘Yuck, you got me’ as if she was splashed. The children also explored different forms of transport as they used their number of the week ‘8’ to draw a race track, which they then raced their cars around. Maxwell swung round shouting ‘Beep, beep’ whilst Abigail decided to crash instead turning it into a big game of chase.

They prepared our newly arrived tiny caterpillars ready to grow. They were placed individually into pots with plenty of food, and once the caterpillars where in their homes they looked at them crawling around and spoke about what would happen next. Xanthe said they would turn into butterflies and fly far away, Elisa said ‘I like butterflies lots, they fly’. the children will observe the caterpillars as they grow bigger, and learn about their life cycle as they form into a pupa on the next stage.

The little ones at nursery read the hungry caterpillar book and then explored everything it ate. George choose the Orange as his favourite and began to roll it around the room and chase it. Ciana picked up all the fruit and favoured the apple pretending to take a big bite from it. They also read the Gruffalo and explored the mouse’s journey as they tried to copy different sounds and actions made. Isla pointed at the fox and owl saying their names proudly. The little children also explored some transport and used cars to make some lovely art work as they made marks as they rolled. George and Emma enjoyed this activity; however, instead of rolling the car through the paint to make marks they used their hands and made lots of splashy paint marks and mess, and this made George laugh and laugh whilst Emma carried on clapping her hands. Jessie and Grace liked playing with a small world road and zoo, Jessie used the car to say ‘Beep, beep’ before kindly giving the car to Grace to play with. Once Grace had rolled the car away Jessie gave her some animals naming them for her, especially ‘Sheep’. They also explored with their senses; during sparkle time they shook their cylinders, and Honor loved the different colours. Agnes loved the sensory bags to feel and smell, shaking them around.