Streams and woods adventures!
Over the last couple of weeks, the pre school children have thoroughly enjoyed embracing the outside space around the nursery in their waterproofs. After discovering an enclosed area just behind the nursery grounds, the children have very much enjoyed using the space to do lots of exploring. The children were amazed when they saw a waterfall, Isla asking her friends, “Doesn’t it look so beautiful?” Tristan replied saying, “The water is running along the rocks and it does look very beautiful”. The children particularly loved the fishing and crabbing. Florence called out very excitedly, “Guys, come quick, there’s a real life crab!” before using her net to try and fish the crab who was too quick!
Whilst some of the children dedicated their time to do some fishing, some of the other children went off to investigate beyond some rocks they had found, working very well together to help each other over the rocks. Alastair very cautiously climbed over and once he had reached the other side, he did a little relieved giggle and said, “That was tricky, be careful everyone”.
After all of the excitement with exploring for an hour or so, the children decided it was time for a little rest and headed back to base where we had set up some blankets, story books and magnifying glasses. Ari settled down with his clipboard and magnifying glass and was having a good look in the trees and told his friends, “I’m looking to see if I can see any creatures or insects”. Charlie got himself a clipboard too and they both sat down together to do an observational drawing of a tree. What a fabulous time in the great outdoors!
Baking and outer space!
Over the last couple of weeks the toddlers have been learning about outer space and out of the many, many stories we read on a regular basis they have been particularly loving ‘The Tiger who came to Tea”. After a few discussions about story the toddlers decided to make there own houses that would entice the tiger to come over. This of course meant the house was made from... chocolate chip cookies! While mixing the ingredients together in their own bowls the toddlers were conversing about their likes and dislikes with Margot excitedly saying “I love chocolate!”. While enthusiastically stirring her bowl Sophie said “look, I mix it really fast!” which then started a contest into who was the most speedy chef. Oliver kept secretly dipping his fingers into the cooking mixture and tasting it while he thought no one was looking with a quiet “Mmmmm” each time. As Oliver wasn’t very stealthy this made Matilda and Jasper laugh as they caught him red handed! Once their cookies were ready to go onto the baking tray Luciano used his finger to push the mixture off of the spoon. As he was so concentrated on this task he didn’t immediately notice how caked his finger was in the mixture and shouted “Uh sticky!” with a big smile.
The toddlers loved exploring the galaxy sensory tray in the garden with multi-coloured sand, different coloured play dough and a variety of art materials to create their own outer space creatures. The toddlers were all giggling and very excited to get stuck in. Joshua headed straight for the green play dough and started making a pile of little pieces, Kitty shouted “look, there’s green and blue!” and started to squash the different colours together, noticing the change in colour as the two merged “it’s turning brown”. Amèlie was enjoying making marks in the sand with her finger, drawing large circles and squiggly lines while commenting “I making circles in the blue sand” this then made her friends join in with making marks of their own.
Over the last few weeks the under two’s have been looking at fruit and vegetables.The children really enjoyed experiencing tasting and investigating the different fruits.
Outside in the garden, the children were having fun playing with floating citrus fruits. Edward was really intrigued and began to poke his fingers into the lemons. Blair watched him for a moment and then started squeezing the oranges. After a few giggles between them both, Edward and Blair then started picking up individual items of fruit and placing them in their bowls. Amelie came to see what they were doing and picked up a bowl of water, it splashed everywhere and Harry shouted, “Oh dear Amelie!” which really made Blair laugh. Max was very intrigued at what his friends were up to pulled himself up to where they were playing, carefully standing himself at the water tray, trying to pick up the water with his hands before going on to to lick his fingers. Arlo got stuck in helping himself to slices of orange, letting the juices go everywhere.
In the mud garden, there were some vegetables hidden amongst the mud and Alex was showing the children the herb patch and giving them the opportunity to experience the individual smells. Amelie began to laugh as Alex held the herbs towards her as Ava was making, “Mmm mmm” sounds pretending to sniff the herbs. Monty was enjoying hunting out the vegetables that were hidden in the mud and using a spade began digging which gained Arthur’s attention. He saw what they were doing and came to join in sitting himself in the middle of the mud.
Inside there has been lots of beautiful fruits to taste. During snack times, the children have had the opportunity to give pineapple, kiwi, mango and papaya a try. Harry couldn’t take his eyes off the big pineapple and with big wide eyes said, “Wow “. Alex offered all of the children a touch of the pineapple. Monty was the first to be brave the touch and laughed as he did so which made Blair and Amelie giggle and want to investigate themselves. Arlo began to babble and point at the kiwi whilst Max was enjoying the texture of the papaya by poking his finger into it.
Of course there has been opportunities for the little ones to get messy with the different fruits including painting of sweet potatoes using sponges and brushes. Eva carefully dipped her paintbrush into the pot, whilst holding the paper to stop it from moving around. As some of the paint dropped on to the table, “Mess mess” shouted Harry.
Graduation Celebrations!
What a fantastic performance from our little graduates this week! The children worked so hard to practice their animal phrases and were so excited to show their talents to their parents at the graduation. Sophie could not wait to be a lion and call out, “The loudest roar I can, that would scare all of the mummies and daddies and make them laugh!”. Sammy was even more excited that pre-school were having a graduation party that day as it was also his birthday. At group time, he told all of his friends the news and suggested, “Maybe everyone can give me an extra clap for my birthday!”.
Zac, Amelia and Tristan were so excited to find out they were going to be crocodiles together and were even spotted in the tree house, rehearsing their words and encouraging each other to get them right. The build up to the graduation was so much fun for the children and teachers too! There were stages made, audiences gathered together (the non graduating pre schoolers) and lots of singing rehearsals.
The day of the show was a joy for the children. There was a real party vibe throughout the day and the children could not wait to dress up in their outfits, especially having their faces painted. Immy was so confident with her words by this point and was asking all the nursery teachers throughout the day, “Can I say my words to you?”. She then went on to asking her friends, “Do you know your words?” If their response was yes, Immy would ask, “Come on, tell them to me? Nice and loud!”. If the response was no, Immy would kindly suggest, “Go and ask a teacher to remind you”.
Once all the parents arrived and the children all dressed up, it was time to get going and the children all did an amazing job. There was big smiles each time there was a round of applause and their singing was lovely, with their words nice and loud for all to hear. The children received their certificates and school leavers books and proudly stood up one by one to show them off to their mums, dads, siblings and grandparents.
We wish all of our school leavers the best of luck at their new big schools. They are all going to be greatly missed at nursery and it has been a pleasure to look after each and every one of them!
