Easter Celebrations and Butterflies!

The pre-school children have been looking after our caterpillars for a while now and this week saw them hatch from their cocoons as beautiful butterflies! The children were really gentle and careful whilst handling the butterflies. Joshua said “We need to be really careful to not hurt the butterflies!”, Zachary added “It tickles!” as a butterfly crawled over his hand. After feeding them and letting them gain their strength for a few days, it was time to set our butterflies free in the Garden. We took one more opportunity to hold them before letting them loose. Maya said “There is so many beautiful colours!” and Connie said “Look, they are flying away!”

The children also enjoyed taking part in a special Easter Egg hunt in the garden! They searched every nook and cranny to find the Easter Eggs left by the Easter Bunny. Henry said “I found a blue Easter Egg under the treehouse! It was really hidden!” Jasper said “I found one too! The Easter bunny is going to leave chocolate eggs in my garden too!” When the children had found an Easter Egg, they brought them to a grown up to get themselves a sticker. Riley said “We get a Easter Egg and a sticker too, wow!” They then sat down for a group photo wearing the Easter Bonnets they had made to celebrate a job well done in the Easter Egg hunt!

Healthy Habits & Exploring Textures!

Last week, the toddlers celebrated ‘Healthy Body, Happy Me’ week by moving in different ways, eating healthy food and by having lots of conversations about what makes us healthy and happy. On ‘Movement Monday’, the toddlers went on a walk round the grounds of Imber Court to stretch their legs and get their heart rates pumping. While on their walk, the toddlers came across a huge mud mound, where they had to use their hands and knees to climb up. Once at the top James tried multiple ways to get down, sliding on his tummy, bottom shuffling and trying to walk down. Rafferty stood at the top holding his hand out to his friends who were struggling climbing up kindly saying “I help you!”. 

On ‘Talking Tuesday’, the toddlers explored different fruits using their hands to feel the outsides of the fruits. Ada felt the pineapple and said it was “spiky” and Luna said the melon was “soft”. When Alastair was asked “What’s this?”, being shown a kiwi he replied “It’s a potato!”. Later that day and on Wednesday the toddlers were able to try some of the fruits and vegetables they explored. Florence and Sophie loved the kiwi, while Zack and Daniel made a sour face as they tried the lime. As for the vegetables... most of the toddlers left these. 

Towards the end of the week, the toddlers were reflecting on what they had learnt and were asked the question at circle time, “What makes you big and strong?”. Rowan replied “I eat apples to make me big and strong, I can run down hills”. Chloe said she eats “strawberries” and Emily bent her arms to show off her muscles she has from eating healthy and keeping moving outside. 

The under twos have had a busy week learning through play. We have been learning about textures by touching, squeezing and squashing different materials.

During time out in the garden, they little ones explored and had fun in the sandpit. Freddie and Sophie loved letting the sand fall from between their fingers. Jude was scooping it up using a sailing boat and Isabelle was digging deep for buried treasure while Kitty was using a sieve to fill up a bucket, and looked confused when it didn’t fill up very quickly!

The children enjoyed potato play outside, picking up the cooked potatoes and feeling them. Otto was trying to see how many potatoes he could get on a plate, whilst Margot was squeezing the potatoes with her hands, which made her giggle! Otto then copied Margot and both were laughing and giggling at each other. Some of the children enjoyed tasting the potatoes while others weren’t too sure if they were real and pretended to lick them, Kitty was saying “Mmm” as she tried them and put them into a cup.

Whilst the children were inside, some of them enjoyed playing with the covered paint on the table. They used their hands to squeeze and squash the paint, making it move. Youcef laughed when he pressed the paint and it moved across the table. Esmé shouted ““Wow wee!” whilst squeezing the paints on the table; this made Kitty come over and explore what was going on. When the paint began to seep through the film, Amèlie was unsure and held her hands up to be cleaned while Sophie just continued to pat it with her hands, watching it splash.

Campfire Stories & Mother's Day!

Last week was our Mother’s Day event and the pre-school children were so very excited in the lead up to the event to have their mummies come to nursery. The children especially enjoyed making a special card and a clay butterfly. Shyla told her friends that she was so excited to give it to her mummy and she knows that mummy is going to love it because Shyla made it, saying “It makes it even more special when I made it myself!”. Throughout the day, the children were discussing what they would like to show their mums when they come in to nursery. Some were very enthusiastic about showing their parents the toy boxes in our construction and small world area, where as William said he was going to show his mummy where he puts his drawing and his book bag. Vivienne said that her mum was going to love the caterpillars because, “Now they are a cocoon and soon will be a butterfly and my mummy doesn’t know that yet!”. The event was a lovely as we were lucky the sun shone and so many mums were able to come along and share picnics with each other and their children and being able to explore the wonderful garden with the activities set up inside and outside. 

The children have also been setting up small camps with story books. Salvador set up the chairs into a circle position and encouraged his friends to join him. Jasper said, “It’s like a real camp fire”. Salvador encouraged his friends to have a seat so that he could read them all a story. At first he chose the police officer book and once opening it up, he said to his friends, “This police man is going to catch the bad guys, that’s why you all need to be good”. Tomas then asked Salvador if he could read another story to them and chose the ants book. The children all looked together very intently at the book, taking in all of the pictures and Riley said, “Awww, they look so cute when they are babies”. Once they had finished story time, Zachary suggested, “Now we should make a real camp fire with some sticks” and they gathered the sticks from around the garden, placing them carefully in a pile and ‘cooking’ lots of tasty food to share outdoors.  

Mother's Day Tea Party!

This week the toddlers got to experience a very special event where their mummies were invited into nursery for a Mothers Day afternoon tea. When the toddlers noticed their mummies coming into the toddler room their faces lit up with surprise and they were so exicted to have them join in. Alastair quickly took his mummy’s hand and took her round the toddler room and showed her all his favourite toys. Isaac showed his mummy all the jungle animals both inside and outside while Florence enjoyed eating pizza and tasty sandwiches. 

To finish off the toddlers fairytale month the toddlers explored the story of Cinderella. Rowan and Max enjoyed making crowns to wear to the ball by adding lots of sparkly jewels and sequins. Sadie and Sophie popped on the Cinderella and Belle dress up costumes and danced the afternoon away at the ball. Rafferty and Chloe held hands and slow danced to the ‘I love you’ song and finished with blowing each other a kiss. 

Outside, the toddlers have been on a mouse hunt using the binoculars and ladybird magnifying glasses to try and find where the mice have been hiding. Ada tried to speak like a mouse to try and find them by closing one eye, scrunching up her nose and making a high pitch squeak. Tommy and Chloe tried searching for the mice in the sandpit using the spades to dig deep in hope to find some hiding. 

Out in the garden the under two’s enjoyed playing with the water tray. They added some Pom Poms to it and were very interested. Amélie and Youcef were the first to put her hands in beginning to  splash, making the Pom Poms move around. This made Amélie squeal and laugh, and as soon the others noticed what fun it was, Sophie, Kitty and Amélie were splashing about and having such fun that they got the staff all wet! Otto enjoyed squeezing the Pom Poms watching the water come out and fall through his fingers. Sebastian was exploring and trying to fill the watering can with water and empty it everywhere.

Inside, they were getting messy with the foam, and at first Esmé and Margot were a little unsure but soon could see the fun that was being had by Luciano and Sophie, as they were lifting up the foam into the air and watching it fall. Sophie began to squeeze the foam through her fingers and laughed as it went on her head and nose. Esmé was watching and soon started to join in squeezing foam, and some landed on their arms which prompted Kitty to rub it in and laugh. Margot then picked up the foam and began to rub it across a staff member’s arm smiling at Kitty as she did it. 

Our Mother’s Day afternoon tea was a huge success with so many mummies being able to join us. Otto was very excited to show his mummy around the garden and barely stopped for some cake! Youcef, Freddie and Sebastian got stuck into the mud kitchen, making some mud pies of their own and sharing them with their friends and parents. Kitty and Margot loved mark making at the table in the garden showing their mummies how to use the paint dabbers making some lovely pictures on paper plates to take home. Ceci and Otto enjoyed a lovely picnic on the blanket, after showing their parents the big tree house.

Caterpillars!

The pre school children have been very excited about the arrival of our caterpillars and have been waiting very patiently for the caterpillars to form a cocoon. Connie told her friends, “I think it’s just like the very hungry caterpillar, maybe we need to feed them some chocolate cake too so they can grow”. Vivienne laughed and said, “Noooo! Caterpillars can’t really eat chocolate cake, it will make them feel poorly”. Seeing that some of the caterpillars have started to hang from their lid, just before the process of the cocoon happening, Ethan called Salvador over and very excitedly told him, “Quick, it’s going to be a butterfly very soon”.

The children have been learning about life cycles of frogs as well as butterflies. During tea time, Joshua told Rowan, “You know what I remember about the frog? First it’s an egg and then it’s a tadpole and then it’s a frog”. Rowan said, “Well done, I know that too, and the back legs come before the front legs”. Ezmie added, “But who remembers what happens to the tail? That’s a very tricky question?” Henry and Jasper both called out, “I know” and Henry told the children, “The tail disappears back inside it’s own body, it’s very clever”.

The children have observed that some of the the flowers on the trees in our garden have started to blossom. Emma and Jessica called Isabelle and Eloise over to the trees at the back of the garden and announced, “The trees look so pretty, they have started to grow some flowers”. The children then found some magnifying glasses and were going around the garden, looking at the buds they thought were going to grow next. Vivienne said, “I think this one is going to have some lovely pink flowers”. The children went on to draw their very own flower pictures and were comparing the colours that they thought were going to grow into.