With this being our final weekly update of the year, we believe that we will let the pictures do the talking! The children have been enjoying many festive activities and parties and as you can see from the pictures how much fun they have had!
We hope you have a safe and healthy festive break and wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We look forward to welcoming you all back in January.
The pre school children have been very imaginative whilst building with the wooden blocks outside in the garden. They were exploring different types of transport that they could make. At first Joshua suggested “Let’s make an aeroplane so that we can go somewhere on our holiday”. Tomas replied, “That’s a great idea, we should go somewhere where it’s sunny and hot on our aeroplane!”. Riley sat at the front and called out, “I’m the driver of the aeroplane, it’s called a pilot”. The children then went on to designing a boat using the blocks and the balancing beams and posts. They worked together really well to maneuver the blocks around the garden and Fabian and Ari worked really hard to lift the block on the top of another, Fabian laughing and saying to Ari, “We have got very strong muscles, haven’t we?”
The children have been very excited on the build up to Christmas. They have been taking part in lots of art and creative activities including creating their own paper plate Christmas trees, holly wreaths and even helping to decorate the Christmas tree in the room. They have been talking lots about their Christmas trees at home too. The children made their own letters to Santa and enjoyed posting them in our very own postbox. Eloise very excitedly told her friends, “Father Christmas is going to be so happy with our letters, I think he will bring us lots of presents!”.
Over the past couple of weeks, the toddlers have been busy getting ready for Christmas with lots of artwork, messy play and writing letters to Santa and his elves. The toddlers loved playing on the climbing frame which had been transformed into Santa’s sleigh! The toddlers spent lots of time exploring the sleigh and talking about the presents they could see in Santa’s sack. Sadie said “Look! Tom tom presents” while Flo said “Found presents on the roof”. The home corner was turned into a Christmas post office which gave the toddlers the chance to write some letters to Santa’s elves. Reegan and Rafferty posted lots of letters to the elves while Sophie spent lots of time writing out her letter carefully. Finley was so proud of his letter he didn’t want to post it so carried it around for the rest of the morning.
Outside, the toddlers loved experiencing the different weather throughout the week. Lowri ran straight out into the rain with her arms open wide so she could feel the big splashes where as Lana stayed under the shelter covering her ears. Sophie was splashing in puddles when all of a sudden it started to hail! She pointed down at the fallen hail and commented on the “Small snow balls!”.
Back inside, the toddlers have been singing their hearts out to some new Christmas songs they have been learning at circle time. Rowan now requests ‘When Santa got stuck up the chimney ‘ by saying “Santa chimney” and Chloe and Olivia join in with the actions. The toddlers also got to make their own reindeer food to sprinkle on their gardens on Christmas Eve so they know where to land. Zack carefully labelled his reindeer food into the bag, saying “Oh dear!” when any spilled out.
The under twos have also been busy getting ready for Christmas! Otto, Amélie and Esmé enjoyed spreading glue over their Christmas stocking pictures, adding tinsel and cotton wool whilst shaking their hands and using their fingers to try and get it cotton wool off of their fingers. Margot and Kitty have been exploring sticking with glue and buttons, pushing them around their paper.
Youcef, Margot and Esmé got stuck into the cereal messy play, crumbing it between their fingers and listening to the sound that it made and tasted each one. Kitty picked up a play spoon and started spooning the cereal into her mouth babbling and wriggling her body to show her excitement. The under twos have been exploring the kitchen utensil box banging the spoons on the metal pots and pans laughing at each other seeing who could make the loudest sound.
While playing in the garden, Amélie found the magnifying glass she pressed it up to her face then pulled it down laughing, playing peek a boo with Sophie continuing the game for most of the time outside. Otto discovered the different sized and shaped balls showing them to everyone, babbling to them telling them what he had found. Ada discovered the ramp bottom shuffling up one side then sliding down on her bottom down the other. Great fun!
During the last couple of weeks the pre-school children have been busy exploring many different musical instruments, beats and rhythms for our Music Week. Whilst exploring the different sized triangles, maracas, bells and rain makers all together, Ada told her friends “Musical instruments make lots of noise, don’t they?”. Each of the children loved listening to the different sounds the instruments made as they took it in turns to play each instrument and they all had the opportunity to make their very own musical instruments. They used recycled materials such as cereal boxes, cardboard cylinders, bottles and paper plates to make their chosen instruments. The children used pasta, rice and other natural materials to put inside their instruments that they could use to shake and tilt their instruments and see what different sounds and music they could make. They loved decorating their drums with different coloured paints. Zachary was very proud of his instrument and was eager to show his friends his creation, saying “Let’s make a band and play lots of music!”
Outside in the garden, the children have enjoyed lots of construction play activities. Riley encouraged her friend Jack to build a big train with the wooden blocks. Riley told Jack, “Let’s make super train to North Pole!”. Together the children stacked, joined and balanced the blocks one on top of the other until they were happy with their train shape. Jack said to Riley “We might see some reindeer, might we?”. The children enjoyed constructing a road in the builders tray using some masking tape. Tomas said to Jasper “We need a parking garage for our cars to have a rest.” “We need a roundabout too.” Jasper added. All the children had lots of fun driving their cars around the tracks on the road they had made together.
Over the past two weeks the toddlers have been learning about families and the people who help us. The toddlers enjoyed looking at pictures of their families that had been sent into nursery from home. Tommy pointed out all his family members by name and kept his photographs with him all day! Reegan smiled when he found his family photos in the sand tray and proudly showed his friends the photo. Rafferty and James particularly enjoyed looking into a mirror and trying to draw a self portrait. Rafferty pointed out “Raffy has eyes, head, nose” while drawing what he could see.
Outside, the toddler firefighters put on their brave boots and hardy helmets and bravely tackled the mighty growing spaghetti fire! The firefighters grabbed their water sprayers and sprayed the burning fire as quickly as they could! Alastair said “Fire hot! Fire hot! Pour on water!”, while Max believed stomping on the fire would be more effective. Out of nowhere, two robbers known as Sadie and Emily, ran across the playground carrying a stolen bag of food. Not far behind were three police officers, Isaac, Rowan and Florence shouting “Going to get you!”. Sadly, their police hats were a few sizes too big, so kept covering their eyes sending them all in different directions.
Back inside the doctors Zack and Lana were working long hours trying to keep their patients healthy. Zack used the stethoscope to monitor their heart rates by putting it on his friends heads, while Lana took the dolls temperatures. Thankfully all the dolls were healthy apart from a few broken legs, arms and one poorly head! Thankfully, Olivia came to the rescue with tissue paper and quickly bandaged them all up.
The children in the under two’s room have been painting using different types of objects. Youcef, Kitty and Amélie really got stuck in, dipping mega blocks into red paint and got very messy! For Remembrance Day, the children used the bottom of drink bottles to create poppies, stamping the bottles onto the paper leaving a floral pattern. Margot held the bottle with both hands and Ada concentrated carefully placing the bottle on the paper plate. During a car rolling activity, Otto and Freddie were very enthusiastic, rolling the cars on paper once they’d been through the paint, and using their hands to spin the paint-covered wheels around.
Outside, Amélie stacked the big wooden blocks to make a huge tower, then clapped and laughed as she knocked it down. Esmé and Margot investigated the treasure basket, using their hands and mouths to feel the different objects, including smooth pebbles and special wooden sticks. During a walk to feed the ducks, the children also saw the big police horses and Freddie and Sebastian waved as they passed by.
During sensory time, the children were mesmerized by the projector shining on the walls and ceiling of the dark sleep room. When it was turned off, Otto was looking for it, holding his hands out in a confused gesture. When put back on, he smiled and waved his arms. Kitty liked using the small shakers, learning that when shaken, the beads inside light up and she held them close to her face. In the messy tray the children used the cooking utensils to mix up instant mashed potato. Otto scooped up spoonfuls and put them in a frying pan while Margot was trying to eat it! Esmé and Youcef liked exploring the playdough, using their fingers to press into the dough and tried to push down hard on the cutters to make the shapes.
The older children have been very busy recently. They explored Diwali by making some wonderful firework pictures. Isla pointed out that she was making fireworks, as after each splat of the dabber pen she announced “Fireworks!”. Louis was really happy with his picture, and showed it off proudly. They have also been very busy with messy play with some shiny foam making different shapes and clapping it together. Cianna had a wonderful game of clapping the foam to make snow, which Deliah got involved with as well and told her it was snow and found a new way to spread it around by blowing it. When some went on their noses they laughed and laughed as they tried to shake it off.
The children went to the woods and enjoyed climbing on some fallen logs and cut up tree trunks. George was very eager to get started and climbed on the fallen log and started walking across it. When he started to lose his balance, he would hold on very tight to the log , carefully making sure to not fall and start again! When Charlie reached the top he encouraged all of his friends to join him, as they began to shout “We are so tall!”.
Whilst outside the children have also been caring really well for the animals and wildlife, Oliver and Wilf looked through the leaves to find some bugs that might need help. They didn’t find any bugs but a bug did find our group! A small flying shield bug came and landed on an arm, and Oliver looked at the bug very excitedly and waved saying “Hello!”. Wilf was interested in looking at the bug and learning what he could about it. They discovered it had some wings and they counted the bugs legs together. When it flew off, they flew after it by following its path waving their arms. The children also enjoyed feeding some ducks and birds. Alba really liked the ducks and encouraged Jessie and Bodie to feed them as well. They began to call over more ducks by quacking, and when the ducks came over they excitedly laughed and said “Hello” before feeding them all they could eat.
This week the babies went to a magical land and explored lots of different fairy tales. The babies created their own special houses for the three little pigs. They used a variety of different materials such as felt, foil, feathers, tissue paper. Dora particularly loved the foil. “Shiny!” she said as she stuck down nearly the whole pot of foil! Theo announced “Ta Da!” he said as he held up his masterpiece. Alex loved the fluffy feathers and tried tickling Jamie with them. Honor oinked as he picked up the toy pig and made Luca laugh hysterically. Agnes loved the shiny fabrics and Mabel kissed the pigs as she invited them into her new home and Dora even tried feeding them during her snack time.
During a woodland walk, the babies went on a secret hunt for the fairies in the trees. “Tree” shouted Honor as she ran up to one. Theo laughed and picked up a bunch of fallen leaves and threw them in the air. All the other babies joined in together. Alex climbed on the logs, inviting Rouxx to come join him. Theo found some sticks and banged them together making music for the fairies. “Duck” squealed Luca as a swan swam past. “Quack quack” said Agnes as she pointed to them. “Woof woof” said Honor as a dog ran past. Jamie laughed as Dora kicked the leaves. Mabel shared her special leaf and handed it to Luca.
The preschool children have been observing the changes of the trees in the garden over the past couple of weeks, noticing that a few trees in particular have lost their leaves and that the leaves have started to change colour. Henry told his friends, “It’s strange, some of these leaves have turned red, some are orange and some are still very green”. Whilst doing some observational drawings of the trees and plants in the garden, Ezmie noticed a leaf falling from the tree and quickly got her friends attention, “Quick guys, look before you miss it, the wind has blown the leaf off the tree, that’s super cool”. The children collected the leaves that had fallen on to the ground and placed them all in to a tray and were very focused on describing the similarities and differences between the leaves.
The children have been learning all about Diwali over the past week. One of the staff was informing the children all about the festival and the celebrations that take place and had brought in some clothes for the children to try on. Ada had seen that one of the staff members had put one of the outfits on and said, “You look like you are going to get married, the dress is very beautiful”. The children were then discussing special outfits that they wear on special occasions. Maya told her friends, “When it was my birthday, I had a party and I wore a very special sparkly dress!”.
The toddlers have enjoyed going up to outer space in our new ‘climbing frame’ spaceship! Alastair ran to the top and shouted “3, 2, 1, Blast Off!” which he had learnt from a song at circle time. They made rockets where they blew air into the straw and watched their rockets fly off. Rowan said “Wow, flying!” as he watched his friends rockets shoot across the room. While in space, the toddlers saw some photographs of planets and tried to make their very own by using paint, pens and sparkly sequins. Florence took her time painting her planet and was very impressed when she saw it hanging up in toddler room for everyone to see, “Look, planet up there!”.
Outside they used paper telescopes to search for UFO’s and aliens. Isaac looked deeply into his telescope and said he saw an “elephant” in outer space. While in outer space, they came across some bonfires made of spaghetti which, due to the time difference, they had forgotten fireworks night was soon approaching. Sophie enjoyed breaking up the bonfire while Tommy and Sadie said “Fire hot!” and were trying to blow it out.
Towards the end of the week, the children returned from outer space just in time for fireworks night. They quickly got on their aprons, found some paintbrushes and flicked paint across their paper and the whole of toddler room to create some fireworks. Rafferty said “Do it again” to his friends as he watched paint fly past his face to shrieks of laughter. The toddlers listened to a firework video and were asked what they could hear. Blake answered “Bang! Bang!” and her friends copied by shouting and clapping their hands to represent the sound.
The under twos have been busy celebrating Diwali by making some beautiful firework pictures using cut out cardboard tubes. Esmé, Freddie and Kitty loved getting stuck in, dipping the tubes into the dishes of brightly coloured paint then stamping them onto the paper. Margot and Amélie had lots of fun hand painting and getting really messy, making different marks using their fingers and hands and sometimes their faces too!
Ada and Youcef concentrated really well when playing with the stacking toys. They took turns sharing the pieces and taking them off and putting them back on to the poles using good hand-eye coordination. Otto and Sebastian were role playing using the food and cooking utensils. They stood up at the table and were exploring the different items, mixing and banging the spoons with the pots and pans and sharing the food with each other, saying “Ta!”, babbling and laughing together.
Molesey Day Nursery Childcare Hamptons Day Nursery Tadpoles Nursery
