Frosty Walks & Learning about Habitats!

The past few weeks in preschool have been filled with lots of fun activities and learning. The children have been focusing on habitats and learning about different environments and which animals might live there. During a group discussion at circle time the children suggested different animals and where they live. Zac said “Elephants live in Africa!” to which Isaac added “I love elephants!”. The children were shrieking with delight during animal snap! They love small group activities such as these which became fast furious and very loud!The children took turns to place their cards on the pile, all the while looking out for when there was a pair. Louis placed his card down before quickly shouting “Snap!” Charlie pointed to the pile and said “Look, they are the same!” The children used the water tray to explore underwater habitats, filling it with sea creatures and splashing in the water. Alfie said “Look! A crab!”, Ari replied “Crabs live in the sea!”.

They took a winter walk in the forest with a small group of friends from the toddler room, taking in the sights along the way. Once they arrived at the forest, it was time to explore. As Olivia went to collect some sticks, she noticed that the frosty ground was crunching underneath her wellies. She said “Look Max!” as she stomped her feet. Max and Tom came over to join in and shared a laugh as they all crunched the grass with their wellies. Tom then noticed his shadow on the ground and watched as it copied his movements. He told his friends “It moves!” and waved his arms in the air.

Charity Shop Visit & Animals!

Last week in the Toddler Room, the children went on a very exciting walk to different charity shops on a mission to find some more books for the nursery. Friday morning, they wrapped up warm before setting off on their journey from the nursery heading off towards Esher high street. As they crossed under the bridge a train passed over above them, “Choo Choo” Youcef called out as he heard the loud rattling of the bridge. They continued on their journey waving by all the cars they saw before finally reaching their first Charity shop on the high street which lit up the toddlers eyes, “Look, shop!” Sophie told Jasper next to her with a enthusiastic look on her face. Once they had arrived outside, the toddlers paired up and took it in turns to go into the shop and choose a couple of books that took their interest. Up first were Sophie and Cleo, Sophie took hold of Cleo’s hand and guided them into the shop towards the massive wall of books! They chose their books and headed out waving goodbye to the lady at the till. Up next were Margot and Jasper and it didn’t take long before Margot found a Gruffalo book, “Gruffalo! Mouse!” she shouted as she took it over the till. Oliver grabbed a couple others and followed her to the till, smiling to himself. Margot did great at remembering her manners “Thank you” she whispered while the lady passed over a big bag full of books. They marched out to meet their friends back at the buggies for a well deserved snack before heading back. “Oooo!” Ellie giggled as she saw the big bag, Successful trip!

Over the past week, the toddlers have enjoyed taking part in lots of activities based around our theme of the week ‘Wild habitats and hibernation’.  To begin the week they watched a few short clips on birds in their natural habitat, “Birdie, tweet tweet!” Cecilia clapped when she saw the bird appear. The children have also been creative with different textures in their artwork. They made their very own hedgehog out of colourful match sticks to create their own prickly friend. Kitty absolutely loved picking out various colours such as yellow and purple and covering her paper, carefully recalling each colour as she did so. They then got creative with shredded felt to make their version of a cosy nest just like the one they saw in their video clip! Esmèralda and Freddie found it hilarious to throw bundles of colourful foam at each other watching it float down slowly. Sebastian and Otto spent a morning hibernating in their own den made out of tables and blankets, “Oh Basti hide hiding” Otto would tell his friends who came to explore inside. 

The under twos have been really busy since the Christmas holidays, focusing on nursery rhymes and making lots of different things to represent the nursery rhymes. The children have been singing during circle times, and Oliver stood up and did his own actions when singing ‘Incy wincy spider’, and Rose started to clap and wiggle to the song.

They’ve had lots of fun using the tray as a farmyard, with pigs rolling around in the mud! Eva shouted and pointed as Amelie picked up the buried sheep under crushed weetabix. Rose picked out the cereal in the tray and enjoyed eating them, with a big happy smile when asked what she was doing. Great fun was had when mark making using paper plates and pink crayons to make pig faces, whilst trying to make pig sounds, which made Iris laugh with excitement. The under twos have also really enjoyed story time, with Matilda and Gabriel were really focused on the story and looking intently at the different animals on the pages.

They have been on some lovely winter walks around the amazing grounds of the nursery to see nature and any animals and birds they could see. Blair got really excited in the pushchair when she saw some of the horses that were in fields, Harry saw Blair getting excited and started to smile.

Exploring Transport & Exercise!

Over the last week in pre-school, the children’s focus has been all about transport which seems to be a very keen interest across all of the children. Some have loved learning all about aeroplanes, others about trains and they have also been learning how submarines and hot air balloons work. In the garden, the children have been making their own transport vehicles using the large wooden blocks. Ethan, Immy, Sophie and Olivia built their very own large scale aeroplane and travelled to London before Jonathan joined them and suggested, “How about we go to Africa instead? That’s just the same as London and London zoo; we can see all of the same animals like elephants”. Immy replied, “That’s a great idea, maybe the elephants can give us a ride!”. Once they were all aboard, Ethan was their pilot and told them all, “Be careful guys, you need your seatbelts on”. Once the aeroplane had landed in Africa, Ethan told them all it was time to go and see the animals. Sammy and Alastair were intrigued and joined in with their play, asking what his friends were doing. Sophie invited them on to the aeroplane, reminding them, “Strap in, we need to keep safe”.

The children also enjoyed lots of activities which included learning about different features in vehicles including an observational drawing of toy cars and trains, transport vehicles in the sand pit, making tyre marks in cornflour and doing some 3D modelling with recycled materials. Whilst creating, Luna told Flo that she was making a bus for the pre school children to go on so they could go to the beach which made her friends laugh. Lana told her friends she was making mummy’s car whilst Charlie said he was making his buggy.

Inside pre-school, we were busy doing some exercise with Laura and Joe Wickes. The children were very good at keeping up with the actions and once they had finished a short exercise session, Florence sat on the floor and said, “That was hard work, now I need a good rest!”. The children observed their heart rate before and after exercising and Ari noticed, “My heart is beating much faster now, that’s because I’m tired from all the long exercising”. Zac suggested, “I know, just rest for a moment and then you will feel better!”.

Christmas Dinners and Parties!

As this is the last post of the year we thought we would let the pictures do the talking! May we take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Healthy New Year. Have fun and may Santa bring you all you wish for! We reopen Tuesday 3rd January and look forward to welcoming you all back and to hearing about the all the children’s Christmas adventures!

Christmas Decorations & Outside Exploration!

Over the past couple of weeks the pre-school children have been busy helping to make lots of Christmas art work to decorate the pre-school room. One of the winter themed boards is a big hit for the children who are very proud of themselves and have been admiring their own art work. Alba called Zoe over once the board was finished, “Look Zoe, that’s my snowflake I made, which one is yours?” When Zoe pointed out her own, Alba said in a very soft voice, “Aren’t they so beautiful and sparkly?” Of course the Christmas tree delivery was very exciting for the children, they all enjoyed putting the baubles on the tree, with Louis even suggesting “Maybe that bauble will look pretty there”, pointing to an empty space on the tree. The children have all been talking together about what they would like from Santa and this week at swimming, some of the children were multi tasking, collecting the toys for the coloured boards and discussing what they would like for Christmas. Ari said he would like a robot, Immy said she would like an Anna and Elsa dress and Sophie said she would like a sleeping bag, which made all of her teachers and friends laugh.

Whilst out on one of our walks, the children discovered a grassy soil mound which they loved to run up and down. Olivia found it especially funny when her little legs went too fast and she couldn’t stop and fell to the ground. This of course prompted her friends to do the same and before we knew it, the children were loving tumbling down the mounds and on to the soggy mud. Jonathan reminded his friends, “Be careful where you stand though so you don’t squash any worms”. Very caring! The children continued on the walk once they were tired from all of the climbing and when they got to the map of the grounds, Florence made sure to stop her friends to find where nursery was. When Alfie pointed to the horse field, Florence laughed and said, “Nooo, we are not horses”. Next Alfie pointed at the nursery garden and Florence praised him, “Yes Alfie, well done”.