Robins and Ducks Visitors!
Over the past couple of weeks, the pre school children have been exploring everything about nature in our beautiful nursery surroundings. In the garden, a robin has made a nest up high in the toy shed and the children were in awe when watching a video the team took to show the robin going back to her babies with a worm to minimise disturbance Isla asked, “Why is the mummy bringing them some food?” Alba suggested, “Maybe the babies wings aren’t too strong yet and they can’t fly?” Jonathan reassured them, “Yes you are right, they can’t fly yet, just like our ducklings”. The children then closely observed as the robin was flying off and coming back with several more worms and some small sticks. Zac told his friends, “I think the baby birds might be cold and need some more sticks in their nest”.
The children also discovered that a mummy duck had brought her 10 ducklings in to the nursery under the side gate and they were so excited and very caring towards them. Ari reminded his friends, “You need to stand back just in case you scare them”. Florence said, “Or you might stand on their little toes and that would hurt them”. The visitors stayed for around an hour and then left heading towards the nearby river.
The children then decided making their own bird nest pictures, using twigs that they had collected on a walk and feathers from the art materials. Olivia said, “This one looks like a cosy nest for my birds”.
They have also been learning about different occupations and people who help us. This was to give the children a sense of confidence in knowing what to do in certain emergency situations. Ethan, Jonathan, Sammy and Charlie loved being builders in the garden and were making, “A new road”. Ethan suggested that they needed some cement to help make their road so they mixed some soil and water together to complete their road. Once it was finished, Charlie said, “Now we just need some cars to drive in our road” and Ethan went to get the large trucks for the road.
Earth Day & New Garden Space!
Over the last couple of weeks, the toddlers have been super busy dedicating a whole week to celebrating Earth Day. This has involved lots of exploratory walks where the toddlers have had the chance to look at their surroundings and gain an appreciation for nature and the environment. This includes appreciating the world in all weathers... even the pouring rain! The toddlers absolutely loved splashing in puddles on a rainy walk on Friday; they were all dressed up in wellies and waterproofs so held nothing back when they saw puddles approaching. Luco dived straight in with a massive jump, splashing all staff and children in the vicinity! All that could be heard from Cleo was her constant giggles as she ran up and down the length of the giant puddle, laughing even more when she fell down. Iris took a more reserved approach and decided to admire the grass and flowers while gently tapping her feet into the water. Jasper went for a little paddle but found the ducks far more exciting, exclaiming “Look it’s ducks!” before following them around the grass, calling out “Ducks! Ducks!”.
Another exciting aspect of celebrating Earth Day was the toddlers making some earth themed cupcakes! Basti was very excited for this and was focused on mixing his ingredients together, although when it was time to cook the cupcakes he was a little concerned they’d been lost and kept asking “Where’s cupcakes?”. Once reassured they were in the oven, he confirmed “Decorate them later”. Jack and kitty seemed to have the same idea to try and taste as much of the mixture as they could. Jack was not sly at all and went for his spoon confidently however Kitty put more thought into it. She dipped her finger in her bowl and acting as if it was an accident said “Oh no! Made a mess” with her only solution being to eat it! Oops, what a shame this accident happened many...many times! When it was time to decorate the cupcakes Isabelle sprinkled on her soil (crushed up biscuits) and added her strawberry lace worm, when the lace kept falling off Isabelle adjusted it and said “It’s a wiggly worm”.
Over the last few weeks the under two’s have enjoyed being outdoors having fun in the new garden area. They’ve been making big towers using the mega blocks at the wooden table, with Rose and Blair having fun scooping the bricks and making big piles, while India was concentrating making a tall tower. Harry found a few bricks on the floor “Oh no icks (bricks)”. Isla was enjoying using the bucket in the sandpit, she was filling it with her hands. When offered a spade, she replied “ Isla pade” (spade).
They’ve had fun using yellow paint to make sunshine faces, Amelie used her hand and placed it in he centre of her plate, giving a big smile of achievement. India was watching intently and copied what Amelie was doing and also held a paintbrush towards one of the paint pots suggesting she wanted more paint.
On one of the walks they were really interested to watch the police horses being taken into the field, and as they walked past, some of children waved. Gabriel started pointing and roaring at them while Amelie made clicking noises to mimic the sound of the horses walking along.
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.
