World book day!

This week in the under twos room the children have been playing with lots of textures.  Sophie and Otto enjoyed exploring the mash potato using the kitchen utensils, Esmé was a little unsure of it at first, but soon became absorbed in scooping up the mash with her hands and squeezing it in her fingers, and soon giggled and smiled. Otto placed some in a metal colander and mixed it with a spoon, occasionally having a little taste, he looked very proud at the meal he had created when he put it on a plate!

The children have had lots fun in the garden exploring bubbles. Youcef and Sebastian were captivated as big bubbles were blown on the wand, clapping and watching closely as they grew and sometimes popped. Amélie pointed and laughed as they blew into the wind and she tried to keep up with them. Sophie was on the bridge watching and when one landed in front of her, she looked confused as it popped and disappeared.

During a walk around the grounds, the children got very excited to see a tractor at the side of the field, Sophie and Margot were pointing towards it and Amelie said “Tractor tractor!” 

As they continued to walk across the bridge they saw some ducks on the river, and Freddie, Amelie, Sebastian and Kitty did a great job of feeding them, tearing up small pieces of bread and throwing them through the railings to the water below. 

Back on the field, the children loved running around, and watching the tractor. Youcef and Freddie waved to the driver who waved back to them which made them very happy. 

Last week the toddlers enjoyed celebrating world book day by dressing up as different characters from their favourite books. Ada, Rafferty and James all came as the hungry caterpillar, Isaac came as a giraffe and Sophie came as Snow White. The toddlers loved listening to lots of different stories while using story spoons, musical instruments and finger puppets. As part of celebrating world book day the toddlers have started a new theme exploring a different fairytale every week. This week the chosen book was Jack in the beanstalk. At the beginning of the week, Sadie, Sophie and Tommy gathered materials from inside and outside to help make a giant beanstalk to be put up around the toddler room. Each day the toddlers went outside on a treasure hunt to try and find golden coins and golden eggs to help Jack get away from the giant. 

While being busy with making giants, treasure hunts and writing their own books the toddlers also celebrated pancake day! Rowan and Florence showed off their impressive natural talent of being able to flip mini pancakes in the home corner using a frying pan. Reegan found it frustrating that his pancake wasn’t flipping in the pan so he used a different method, using his hands to flip it instead! During the afternoon the toddlers had the opportunity to decorate their own pancakes. Reegan choose honey and fresh strawberries for his pancake while Blake enjoyed strawberry sauce.... Tasty! 

Outside, the toddlers have been wrapped up in wetsuits and wellies ready to jump in every single puddle, both big and small on walks round Imber court and in the garden. Finley bent his knees and leaped into the air only to come back down again and soak himself up to his armpits and splash all his friends around him. The toddlers ventured out on Friday in the buggies to the duck pond in Thames Ditton. Olivia and Rowan loved throwing the bread as far as they could in the water, with Caiden making duck noises! 

New Seasons & Making Cars!

The pre-school children have been learning all about the changes of seasons and have started to welcome spring. They enjoyed taking part in an observational drawing of daffodils. The children first observed the flower buds when they first came to nursery and over the following days, they watched as the daffodils blossomed. Connie came in to nursery the next morning and said, “Wow, they look so beautiful today, they are fully grown!”. Whilst doing the observational drawings, Vivienne told Louis, “This long bit here I know is called the stem, and that bit is the flower”. Louis replied, “It’s just like a red rose”. Realising that the daffodils were placed in a cup of water, Shyla told her friends, “The water is for the flowers to drink so that they can grow bigger and bigger”. Riley said, “Thats right Shyla, well done, there is no rain inside nursery so the water will help them grow”.

The children have also enjoyed making their very own 3D vehicles using the junk modelling boxes. Joshua added an extra part on to the top of the car and said to his friends, “This bit is for the roof rack so we can put all of our clothes in there and go on holiday”. Ezmie laughed and said, “But our clothes go in a suitcase, silly billy!”. Once the children had glued together their boxes and painted them in bright colours, William suggested, “Now we need our wheels otherwise the car won’t be able to drive”. They all worked together to figure out what they could use the make the wheels and very quickly discovered that the paper plates were the perfect option.

Exploring Emotions & Windy Weather!

Last week, the toddlers have been learning about different emotions each day. On Monday they looked at love and had the opportunity to tell their friends at circle time who they love. Florence said she “Loves mummy and daddy” and Rafferty said he “Loves Riley, mummy and daddy”. Meanwhile, Sadie and Tommy enjoyed making a heart collage using lots of different materials including tissue paper, paint, pipe cleaners and more! On Tuesday, the toddlers explored being happy. Using flour in the sensory tray, the toddlers tried to make happy faces with their fingers. Reegan used his finger and carefully drew a big circle and then added some eyes. On Wednesday and Thursday the toddlers looked at being sad and angry and what they can do to feel better. Alastair said “Give friends toys to make happy!” and Chloe demonstrated what she would do by giving her friends a cuddle to cheer them up. 

Outside they took part in circle time in the field, where they were able to use their surroundings for inspiration on what song to sing. Rowan saw a horse and asked for “E-I-E-I-O”. On Friday, the winds were taking control and sadly the toddlers couldn’t venture out. This didn’t phase them as they were able to watch the stormy winds blow the leaves, sticks, bark all round the garden through the windows. Daniel watched carefully and suddenly burst into laughter. He then shouted “Wellies!” as he spotted a pair of wellies fly past the window. This encouraged all the toddlers to run to the windows to have a closer look. 

The toddlers have also enjoyed playing with water during a sensory play activity. Lana used her arms to splash the water and bubbles as high as they could go while soaking herself and all her friends. Sophie collected the bubbles on her hands and blew them all around the room, while Olivia found it hilarious to put the bubbles on her head as if she was taking a bubble bath!

In the under two’s room, they little ones have been very busy exploring. Freddie and Sebastian had great fun exploring the play tower, Freddie found it very funny that he could watch himself in the mirror as he climbed the stairs. Youcef came over to investigate what Freddie was laughing at, and Esmé also joined in the fun laughing at their reflections.

The children the explored different ways of painting using different materials. They used the mega blocks, empty bottles and sponges which made lots of lines and splodges over the paper.Ada and Otto had great concentration when using the bottles to make flower patterns.  

In the garden, thye have enjoyed playing in the sandpit, watching the sand fall over off the spade and filling up the buckets. Margot and Kitty kept picking up the sand and letting it fall through their fingers, both making lots ‘Oooh’ and ‘Aaaah’ sounds as it fell back into the sand.

During one of our walks around the beautiful grounds, the children got very excited to see all the ducks. As they got nearer to them to give them some bread, the ducks began walking towards the pushchairs. Kitty began to shout out to let everyone know they were coming. As they continued the walk, they went across the bridge, and suddenly Amélie began pointing and started to shout “Dactor! Dactor!” (tractor), as she had spotted a big tractor on the edge of the field which prompted them all to investigate more closely.

Gardening & Treasure Hunts!

The pre school children have really enjoyed helping to do some gardening in our growing area. Whilst helping to turn over the soil, they discovered lots of potatoes and carrots that had been growing in there over the winter. Francis dug himself a potato from the soil and took it inside to the kitchen, offering it to Rebecca, suggesting, “You can use this for our lunch”. The children were discussing lots of food options that we could make that would contain the potatoes and carrots. Riley suggested, “I know, we can make a potato and carrot soup, that would be delicious”.

The children then went on to making their very own potato and carrot recipes in the mud kitchen, Henry made a potato pie whilst Jessica made a carrot cake. Tomas, Leo, Fabian and Joshua set up a camp fire to cook the potatoes and carrots, using the sticks and bricks to place around their campfire and telling all of their friends, “You need to stand back, it might be too hot”. The children also helped to plant some new seeds and have taken a very keen interest in wanting to look after them, Vivienne reminding us daily, “We need to put some water on our seeds so they can grow”.

The children have also took part in a very exciting treasure hunt in our garden, following an actual treasure map drawn on some paper. The small dinosaurs had been hidden as treasure around the garden and the ‘x’s were marked on the map as to where they had been hidden. Ezmie, Vivienne, Emma and William concentrated really well to position the map and work out in the garden where they thought the ‘x’ mark represented. They started off at the sand pit, and very quickly worked out there was an x just behind them in the toy shed and found the dinosaur instantly! Ezmie said, “That was super easy to find”. They went on to find a couple more positioned at the back of the garden, again, following the map carefully. They had picked up several more children along the way who were very interested as to what they were doing and after Ezmie explaining to them what they were doing, Ada went on to find some in the water tray. Ari found the ones in the tree house and with only a couple left to find in more hidden areas, Ezmie told her friends, “Maybe that wasn’t so easy!” and started to laugh.

Science, Gummy Bears & Owls!

Over the last week the toddlers have been looking at magical materials and taking part in science experiments. The toddlers have explored solids and liquids by melting ice with jugs of warm water. Chloe would carefully hold the jug with two hands while trying to pour some of the warmer water over the ice. Florence noticed the big pieces of ice were changing, “Ice get smaller”. The toddlers also explored a magical transformation with cornflour as they played with it changing from a hard solid in the tray to a gooey substance in their hands. Sophie loved watching the gloop fall between her fingers. 

Zack, Blake and James thoroughly enjoyed the gummy bear experiment where each of the toddlers had the opportunity to throw a gummy bear into the water. The toddlers left the gummy bears over night and waited eagerly to see them the next morning. Alastair couldn’t wait to see them the next day and was asked if he could see a difference between the gummy bears out of water to the ones in the water. He noted that they were “Bigger!” as he pointed to the sweets that had been soaking. The toddlers eyes widened as they saw the gummy bears had TRIPLED IN SIZE! 

Outside, the toddlers have been using their binoculars to try and spot some real life owls as we started our new book of the month ‘Owl Babies’. Back inside, the toddlers used paint, feathers and many other materials to create their very own owl to take home to their families. Sadie said “Twit Twoooo” and held her owl high above her head as if it was flying. 

This week in the under twos room, the little ones have been painting using small sponges. Amélie knew to press her sponge straight onto the paper to make paint marks on it, whilst Jack was a little unsure of the sponge at first but soon got stuck in getting paint on his paper and best of all his hands! The children have had fun exploring the new books in the library box, and Sebastian and Ada have enjoyed learning how to get the pictures in the push and pull books to move around.

Esmé and kitty found it funny looking through the colourful wooden shapes, Esmé kept laughing each time she held it to her face. The children also been playing with the farm animals, putting them in and out of the farm house, as well as learning the name of the animals and the noises that they make. Margot and Amélie tried copying the animal sounds which made Jack laugh.

On one of their walks they came across a massive digger in the fields which they found mesmerising as you can see! You never know what you will find when out and about!