Healthy Activities & Exploring Animals!

Over the last two weeks, the toddlers have been very busy with lots of exploratory activities and of course, sports day! The toddlers spending the morning on the field next to the nursery where they got involved with egg and spoon races, balance beams and parachute games. Sports day also tied in perfectly with our theme of sports for the week. In the garden, the toddlers worked on hand eye coordination with bat and ball games, with Caiden hitting the balls as far as he could exclaiming “Watch me!” each time he swung the bat. When the ball went too far, Lowri showed great team work by chasing after it saying “I get it for you”. Football was also a big hit as they got to score some goals over on the big field. Amelie picked up the ball and ran while Reegan and Zack passed the ball back and forth. Football was one of the main games played during the week with Daniel asking “Shall we play football?” each garden time. Tag rugby was great fun for the toddlers, as they chased each other all around the garden with Rafferty shouting “Can’t catch me!” as he raced off followed by a long line of toddlers giggling as they tried to catch up. 

One afternoon the toddlers became gymnasts and showed off all their fabulous moves and rolly pollies. They started off by doing some stretches to warm up, Sophie exclaimed “I touch my toes” with excitement while Emily reached up high to touch the ceiling. Rowan particularly enjoyed rolling around and laughing saying “I so dizzy” once he finally came to a halt. When the gymnasts had worn themselves out and sat down for a water break Flo clapped her hands and said “I was good at that!”. 

Back inside, the toddlers were busy looking at the book of the month ‘Handa’s surprise’ and making their own versions of the different fruits and animals from the story. Isaac was very excited to make his favourite animal, “I got an elephant!” and showed off his excellent impression. Florence drew some very accurate oranges and explained how she did it “Draw a circle first, then I colour it in” and Sadie enjoyed sticking with tissue paper “I making a rainbow banana!”. Ada showed off her knowledge of letters and stated “Z is for zebra” as she stuck stripes onto her zebra picture. Toddlers also got to try a different fruit from the story each day at morning snack time. Luna absolute loved the avocado and munched it straight away quickly asking for seconds “I want some more b’cado!”. Olivia, however, wasn’t so keen and tried to give it away after giving it a try and deciding it wasn’t for her.

This week, the under-twos been learning about jungle animals and enjoying the outside by exploring the big garden. They’ve had great fun making a crocodile painting using the mega blocks, Esmé kept shouting “Nap nap nap!”. Kitty then lifted up her mega block covered in bright green paint and copied Esmé “Snap snap!” and began to laugh. They’ve used the paint sponges and paint rollers to paint bubble wrap, to make it look like snake skin on the toilet rolls. Freddie found it more fun to look through the toilet roll after rolling in more green paint, and Amélie looked at Freddie saying “Uh-oh Eddie” with a big smile on her face.

They had great fun hunting for jungle animals under the parachute, lifting it high to look underneath. Isabelle kept bending down to look while the others lifted the parachute, Amélie then joined Isabelle in looking, she stood up saying “Gone! Oh no!”. Out in the big garden, they’ve had fun with the water tray trying to find animals amongst the boats. Esmé scooped up the water using a cup, before Amélie watched and then copied her. Sophie saw what was going on at the water tray and came over and joined in the fun.

The children have enjoyed walks around the grounds looking to see what animals they could find. Freddie got really excited seeing dog walkers walking they’re dogs down by the stream. Kitty saw the ducks coming up onto the bank shouting “Quack quack“, as she threw them some bread. Sebastian then joined in, smiling wide as he threw his bread to the birds. Cecilia was enjoying eating the bread, Otto began to shout “No Ceci, duck!”, but this did not deter her enjoying the bread!

Sports Day!

What a fun sports day we had with the pre school and toddler children this week. We set off very early as the weather was forecast to be very hot.

We were lucky enough to have the whole field to ourselves where the children were able to explore lots of physically challenging activities. There was balancing beams on different levels, egg and spoon races, bean bag on head races, parachute games and Hoopla!

Hoopla was a clear favourite for Leo, Tomas and Jack. Leo was cheering on his friends and when Tomas managed to get his hoop on the beam, there was a big cheer from all of his friends. Tristan and Ethan loved a football game together, tackling each other for the ball and really giggling whilst playing together. Tristan found it even funnier when they both tumbled to the ground together before helping Ethan back up on to his feet. 

James loved the challenge of the higher levels of the balancing beams and platforms, holding his arms out by his side for extra balance and even very kindly holding on to the toddler children’s hands if he had noticed they needed a little support. 

The egg and spoon race was also a big hit for the children. In groups, the children lined up at the start line, carefully balancing their eggs on their spoons and waiting for the signal to go. Very eagerly they waited for the countdown and were quick off the mark as soon as they heard ‘Go!’ 

The children all received a medal for their great efforts and when they returned to nursery, the running races continued. 

Visits to favourite places!

Over the last week the toddlers theme has been ‘a fun day out’ based on the children’s interests when asked what they would like to do today. Rowan asked to go to the beach, Reegan asked to go on the train and Florence said “I want to go to the theatre”. Listening to each other’s interests they came up with a plan. On Monday the toddlers went shopping at Toddler-Mart to shop for supplies that they would need for their trip. Sophie picked up popcorn, wet wipes and a banana while Chloe picked up nappies, a box of tissues and some ice creams and carefully placed them on the conveyer belt. Otto A enjoyed holding onto some money and not letting anyone else take it! Tommy tried to count his money and then handed it over to his friend Sadie who was working on the tills that day.

On Tuesday, the toddlers woke up early, grabbed their bags and headed for the train station. The giant train was made using all the chairs in the room gathered in pairs one behind the other. The toddlers  picked a partner, gave the ticket man their ticket and jumped onto the train. Zack shouted “Choo choo”, while Blake waved her hands shouting “All aboard friends”. The toddlers enjoyed sharing some fruit and water while travelling. 

On Wednesday the toddlers safety arrived at the beach, unpacking their buckets and spades out of their bags and they quickly became very busy making multiple sandcastles and having a sunbathe with factor 50 suncream on of course! Ada made sure to remember “My hat to keep the sun off my face”. While Daniel just wanted to make his marble ice cream using different coloured paint and cotton buds. Sadie put on her wellies and started to jump up and down in the water singing “I’m jumping in muddy puddles”.

On Thursday, the toddlers couldn’t contain their excitement! They were going to the theatre to see a spectacular show “A Rumble in the Jungle” performed by the fantastic preschoolers. Emily showed her excitement by clapping along to the songs, while Olivia was cheering on her sister. The toddlers watched the show beautifully giving all the preschoolers a standing ovation at the end.

On Friday the toddlers were a little bit sad that their wonderful trip was coming to an end, however they made the best of it by packing their bags with all of their gifts they have bought and made ready to give to their parents once they arrived back home. They then picked a car of their choice 

The Under Two’s have been learning about different textures. 

 They have ben very busy exploring mash potato. They were really inquisitive when they first saw the mixture in the tray. They had spoons and cups so could scoop and fill and pour lift up the mash. Kitty started to squeeze it through her fingers, Esmé looked over “ Uck uck” as she watched Kitty, which made Esmé laugh. Isabelle came to look at what Amélie was laughing at, and immediately put her hands into the tray and lifted up a cup of mash potato “ Mmmm” with a big smile.

The children have enjoyed playing with the glue and different materials to stick. Sebastian wasted no time getting his glue stick straight into the glue pot and was spreading it across his paper very quickly, whereas Jack carefully held his glue stick and took his time. Inevitably all this creativity resulted in glue on the table which prompted Kitty to say “Uh oh! ” Amélie was a little unsure when the tissue paper got stuck to her fingers, Sebastian spotted Amélie’s hands with tissue paper on and gave a big frown.

 When exploring the garden Jack and Arlo enjoyed the feeling of the sand on their legs, which made Jack laugh and he began to try to pour it on his own legs, Amélie saw   Jack laughing and came over to investigate, and she sat down and started to copy Jack. As Amélie poured it over her legs she said “Oh no”, then filled a bucket with sand and poured it over her legs and Jacks legs, which then made Jack laugh! Amélie looked up saying “Oops” then laughed.  Great fun!

Summer Concert & Graduation!

The pre-school children have been extremely excited on the big build up to their graduation show. The concert was based on the story book ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ and each of the children had an animal to act out. Each day Eloise would ask, “How may sleeps until my mummy and daddy can come and watch me?” Henry told his friends, “My mummy and daddy are going to come and watch me too, and I’m going to snap all of my friends because I’m the very hungry crocodile!”. Shyla started to laugh and said, “But I’m a monkey, it’s me that you need to snap!”. The children soon got their stride with their new animal roles and day by day were becoming much more confident to say their lines out loud when they were practicing the play. Some of the children even sang the songs at one of the swimming sessions to their swimming teacher!

The day of the play was such a very exciting day for the children. They had one final practise and had a picnic tea with the whole nursery to celebrate the graduation. All of the pre-school children helped to get the room set up ready for their families to come and watch. Ezmie, Joshua and William helped to create the animal art work whilst Emma, Jessica, Riley and Monty set to work hanging the decorations and helping to make the tree. Leo came in from playing in the garden and gasped in amazement, “Wow, it looks like a real jungle in here” and went and asked Zachary and Jasper to come and have a look too.

Well what a fantastic concert and graduation is was and the children all did extremely well. They confidently said their words out loud and sang along to all of the songs. The special part was when the children received their certificate and ‘starting school’ book. Ada even stayed behind in her seat to look through her book before going off to see her mum and dad!

We wish all the preschool children the very best for the future - you will be missed!

Picnics & People Who Help Us!

This week the toddlers have been looking at ‘people who help us’. Each day, the children have been taking on a new role and working to help each other in any way possible. On Monday, the toddlers became police officers, making their very own police badge using different shaped card and decorating them with jewels, paints, cellophane and more. The toddlers learnt to say “You’re under arrest” which Sadie and Rowan said particularly well. On Tuesday, they were firefighters and quickly learnt that fire is very hot and that it shouldn’t be touched. Reegan learnt “Put water on fire to put fire out!” which he told his friends and parents at pick up time. On Wednesday, the toddlers became doctors and took on their caring role very seriously. They were able to dress up and use thermometers, a syringe filled with pretend medicine (water) and plasters on their poorly patients. Flo enjoyed pushing the medicine out of the syringe into her babies mouth saying “Here! Your medicine baby, get better soon”. Ada stuck plasters all over her baby because her “Baby is not feeling well and need plasters to be better” she said. On Thursday, the children became transport drivers and enjoyed venturing out of nursery to spot different modes of transport. Emily spotted “Tractor”, Sophie spotted “Cars”, Blake shouted “Horsey” and Zack saw a “Bike”. The toddlers then sat down on the grass with a clipboard and selection of mark making tools and were asked if they could draw any of the modes of transport that we had seen on our walk. To finish off the week, the toddlers became postman, where they sat down and wrote a letter to the person of their choice. Daniel choose his teddy called Bear, while Lana choose to write to her Daddy. Later on, all the toddlers were able to post their letters and hope they were delivered safely. 

Outside, the toddlers have been playing with different textures from the book of the month ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’. Ada enjoyed jumping in water shouting “Splash splosh”. Caiden and Rafferty laughed away as they threw white pompoms and cotton wool round the garden during a snowstorm, while Finley shouted “Hoooo Woooo Hoooo Woooo!”, which he had remembered from the book. Tommy and Luna ran through the forest trying not to trip in case they woke up the bear, Luna said “This way Tommy, shush don’t shout the bear is sleeping”, Tommy replied “Not wake the bear up” as he tipped toed past the tree house. Suddenly, the toddlers shouted “Look! There’s the bear” and turned to run away. Chloe shouted “Run away, don’t want to go on a bear hunt again!”, quoting the end of the book. 

The under two’s have been enjoying different art activities and having fun outside. They have been looking through the colourful sensory mirrors, and Luciano looked up towards the lights while looking through the coloured mirror and Esmé watched him and began to copy. As she pulled the mirror away from her face she was smiling, Kelly said “What can you see?” Esmé replied “Wow pretty!” and smiled again.

They’ve also been enjoying cereal play, squeezing squashing and crunching different cereals between their fingers. Sophie and Cecilia enjoyed tasting the cereal, Sophie grabbed a handful bringing it to her mouth saying “Mmmm mmmm”, Sebastian laughed as he squashed the cereal against the messy tray, enjoying the crunchy sounds it made.

On one of our walks around the beautiful grounds, the children enjoyed their morning picnic snack whilst sat on a blanket under a beautiful tree. Margot kept looking up at the tree as she could see the leaves moving, and saw two squirrels that were chasing each other around the branches and pointed up towards them. Freddie and Sophie saw the squirrels as well and they laughed as the squirrels ran around the tree. After their picnic, the children ran around the grass trying to chase the butterflies in the air, Kitty kept shouting “Butterbye! Butterbye!” which made Margot point up into the air again. They then took a walk over the bridge to see the ducks that were sitting on the banks, Sophie pointed and shouted “Duck! Duck!” which made Kitty squeal with excitement. They fed the ducks some bread and the children watched as they wandered back to the water.

During our time in the garden, the under two’s had fun splashing in the big builders tray filled with water. Sophie came to over to investigate and sat down in the water splashing, while Sebastian thought it was funny to fill a plastic pot with water and get the staff team wet. Sebastian began to laugh, finding their reaction hilarious and Margot kept putting her toes in. Margot soon found it fun splashing around making the water go everywhere, Otto then joined Margot and both were jumping and laughing together, enjoying the moment.