Ducklings & Butterflies!
The last two weeks in preschool have been full of excitement with the arrival of the ducklings. The children have spent lots of time observing the ducklings, watching them hatch from their eggs in their incubator in small group visits to their cage. Isla said “They are so cute!” Isabelle added “That duck is very wet!” It wasn’t long before the ducks were all hatched, dry and big enough to be able to leave their incubator and play in their cage. Once the ducks were big enough; the children absolutely loved watching the them in the paddling pool, spending long periods of time watching them paddle and splash in the water. Charlotte said with a laugh “Look! They are playing!” Finley said “They are brothers and sisters!” It has been great to watch the ducks grow quickly, and the children were amazed to see how big the ducks had got over the weekend. Zac said “The ducks are huge!” Sammy replied “Yeah, they are really big!”. Everyone has all had a great time caring for the ducks and we are sure the children will miss them once they are gone but it has been a great opportunity to learn about them as they hatched and grew.
The excitement for the ducks was also matched by the releasing of our butterflies. The children have been so interested in watching them grow from tiny little caterpillars, and watching them be released was the perfect end to their time with us. Before they flew away the children had the chance to observe them in the garden. Sophie said “They have lots of colours!” Immy said “Look, they are flying away! Goodbye butterflies!” The children watched for a while as the last of the butterflies flew out of their net, saying goodbye as they flew off into the sky.
Easter!
Over the last couple of weeks, the toddlers have been getting very excited on the lead up to Easter, getting creative and making lots of arts and crafts. In our first week, the children were learning all about spring. The children used various materials to make cute little animals that are born in the spring time. Whilst making a chick, Amelie said, “Chicks go Tweet tweet” and her all of her friends joined in. Sophie picked up a yellow pom pom and said, “Aww baby chick”. One activity that the children found most interesting was a colour mixing activity. This involved different coloured paint in zip lock bags and when mixed together, it showed the children that it made a new different colour. As a treat for the children, we had a teddy bear picnic for afternoon tea. All the children had a teddy bear sat next to them on the picnic mat and enjoyed lots of different tasty foods. Isabelle made sure that every time she took a mouthful of food, her teddy bear got some too! The children’s sandwiches were cut into shapes, such as teddy bears, stars and butterflies. Otto took his plate, looked at everything and said, “Little teddy bear!”.
The children began their Easter crafts, making Easter bonnets, designing Easter eggs and little chicks. The best part of the children’s week was going on a huge Easter egg hunt around the grounds of Imber Court. The children all had an egg to find and listened beautifully to instructions when walking around. The children shouted when they found an egg and guided their friends to their eggs. Margot shouted, “Look, there’s an Easter egg under that tree!” as she ran towards it. All of the children were very impressed with their eggs and wanted to show them off. Jude asked, “Take this home to show mummy? - which they certainly did.
Over the last few weeks the under two’s have been looking at Easter, making Easter eggs using the paint dabbers. Edward and Matilda knew exactly what to do with their paint dabbers, as they quickly started to make marks on their paper eggs. Matilda was saying “Dab dab dab!” which made Blair shriek with excitement. They’ve also been enjoying making their own chicken cards using glue, paper and feathers.
The children been creating floor chalk drawings, making lots of different marks across paper that was stuck to the floor, Harry got his chalk and sat in the middle of the paper making lots markings across the paper, whilst Arlo and Amelie prefered to sit at the edge and watch Harry closely. They’ve had great fun hunting for little chickens and eggs hidden in lots of straw. Rose enjoyed lifting up lots at a time and throwing in the air, and after Eva found one of the hidden eggs, she inspected it closely before hiding it back into the pile, at which point India then climbed among the straw looking for the newly hidden egg!
They have had lots of fun exploring the mud, with Edward and Rose very occupied using the bowls and spoons to scoop up the mud. India was intrigued what they were doing, she sat next to the mud and put her hands in enjoying the texture as it fell through her fingers. Isla and Matilda were enjoying making sandcastles and using the sieve, some of the sand spilled of the sandpit, to which Matilda said “Oh dear…. mess!”.
Nature, Insects & Wriggly Worms!
Over the last couple of weeks, the pre school children have taken a very keen interest in anything that involves bugs, insects and their natural habitats. The children have been eagerly waiting for the cocoons to become butterflies. Day by day, the children have been coming in to pre-school and checking on them. They are clearly settled in their cocoons right now.
Whilst in the garden and on the nursery grounds, the children have been using magnifying glasses and special insect containers to collect and take care of the insects. In the garden, Luna, James and Jaxx had found several worms in our growing patch and bravely picked them up, Luna told her friends, “Be careful guys, they are very delicate”. Once they placed them in their special pots, Harry collected some leaves that had fallen from the trees and lay them down next to the worm pots and suggested to his friends, “Maybe we can use them as a bed for the worms so they can have a sleep”. This made his friends laugh and Rowan told him, but worms can’t sleep while it’s too light outside in the garden”. The following day, the children were so excited to see that the worms had made themselves comfortable in the pots and were fascinated and very caring when we moved them over in to a worm house full of compost, leaves, banana peels and apple cores.
On the nursery grounds, the children have been going on lots of walks to also explore nature. Alba, Zoe and Finley were collecting worms on the mounds of mud and had carefully held them in their hands all the way back to nursery to place them in the worm house.
