Fire Engine Visit!

Over the last couple of weeks, the preschool children have been very excited for the fire engine to visit nursery. At group times, the children have been discussing ‘people who help us’ and Ollie told his friends, “When I’m bigger, I’m going to be a doctor and help lots of people”. Joseph responded, “I’m going to be a policeman and take away all of the baddies”, which made his friends laugh. 

When the fire engine arrived, the children couldn’t wait to get outside to it. Matilde was the first to climb the big steps, with Finley following close behind. They sat themselves on the seats with the biggest smile on their faces, almost looking around in amazement at all of the equipment around them. Otto held back, intrigued by what one of the firemen were about to do and as he saw him lift the mask from the side of the fire engine, he asked, “What’s that?” And when explained it’s a mask that they need to use with an oxygen tank on their backs when they go in to tackle fires, Otto looked at Ollie and said, “Wow, that’s cool”. The most exciting part was being able to spray the hose, Arthur and Jenson couldn’t wait to get hold of it, with all of the children giggling away as the water was spraying back on to them. 

After the fire engine visit, outside in the garden, the children have been designing their own fire engines with the large wooden blocks and guttering pipes. Freddie sat inside the blocks and then quickly jumped out and took hold of one of the pipes announcing, “Quick guys, move out of the way, I need to put the fire out”, pretending to spray the hose at the trees above. 

Trucks, Aeroplanes and New Textures!

Recently the toddlers have explored the theme of transport and had a whale of a time looking at all of the different ways to travel! There were lots of discussions of trains, buses, boats and even helicopters. During a construction themed transport activity which consisted of soil, sand, blocks and lots of trucks and diggers, Sebastian began role playing and picked up a small digger, using his hands to manoeuvre the scoop to collect soil. “Bring it over here Mr Digger! We digging a hole”. As Henry made his way over with a much bigger truck, Sebastian squealed and said, “Oh no, quick digger run away from Mr McGregor Ahhhh!”,  quoting Peter Rabbit, and began moving his digger quickly in the other direction. Henry laughed at this and placed his hand on his chest while shaking his head, “Not ‘gregor” and placing blocks in the back of the truck.

In the garden Jenson picked up a roll of paper and held it up to his eye, saying, “I got my telescope… I can see you!” as he pointed it in different directions. This was quickly followed by a shout of, “OH…. AN AEROPLANE!” as he lowered the telescope and pointed above him, signalling to his friends what he could see. Evie picked up the binoculars hanging around her neck and held them up to her eyes, “Let me see…. Oh yes, you’re right Jenson it is an aeroplane!”. Clara then joined in on the discussion stating, “I going on a aeroplane on holiday” and Leo joined in with, “Me too on holiday!”. 

Over the last couple of weeks the under 2’s have had lots of fun getting involved with a range of materials and textures, including taking part in some sand painting. This activity involved the children using a variety of tools such as paintbrushes, sticks and sponges to mark-make using a mix of sand and paint. Together they explored the texture of the paint whilst decorating paper and recycled items like cardboard boxes. Lowen quickly ran over and pointed to the blue paint, shouting “Blue!” enthusiastically, whilst Zakariya followed him over shouting, “Painting!” with a big smile on his face! Freya stood back to begin with, but after watching her friends she then decided to join in, running over happily and letting out a little “Ooo” as she began to paint the box. 

Another texture they have been exploring is crazy foam. The children used sponges to wash the baby dolls, making sure to clean them head to toe. Sophia stood by the edge of the tray and peered in curiously, before picking up one of the sponges and quietly saying, “Baby”. She then began to carefully brush the sponge along the baby, moving it in circular motions. After showing her friends what she was doing, Wilfred came along and joined in, clapping happily when he had successfully coated the baby in the foam. 

Whilst out in the garden, the children have especially enjoyed the variety of table top activities including, crayon mark-making, finger painting and printing. During the crayon activity, Emilia made her way over to the table and sat herself down on the bench. She looked around at the range of crayon colours available and chose green and yellow. Isabella picked up her choice of crayons and said, “Look, look!”. A member of staff helped her out with identifying what colours she had chosen and Isabella repeated them confidently. After the children had picked out their colours, they began to draw their marks on the paper; these consisted of lines, circles and scribbles, all of which they were very proud of and continuously pointed their own ones out to show friends. 

Growing area and hoop games!

Over the last couple of weeks, the pre school children have been observing the vegetables growing in the patches. After the weekend, Ollie went outside to take a look at them and very quickly noticed that the tomatoes had grown lots. He called his friends over and said, “Guys, take a look, the tomatoes have grown bigger and bigger”. A few of the children gathered round to take a look and Phoebe quickly realised that more vegetables had started to sprout. Phoebe asked her friends, “Do you think it could be garlic, or carrots, or cress?” Looking at the labels, Freddie said, “I think that says it’s cress, C, cress”. Izzy agreed, “Yes, you are right, look, c-r-e-ssss”. 

Basti, Otto and River engaged in some observational drawings of the vegetables. Otto started to draw the tomato plants and said, “Look, there are real tomatoes, tomatoes that we can eat for our lunch”. River continued with his drawing before going on to drawing a lunch box, letting his friends know, “This is going to be my school lunch box, and I am going to out the tomatoes in there”. 

Finley, Arthur and Megan enjoyed a bean bag and hoop colour matching game. Arthur collected all of the hoops and lay them in a line whilst Megan collected the bean bags. Megan shared the bags between them and Finley threw the blue one in to the blue hoop with Arthur cheering him on, “Well done, that’s right”. They all took it in turns to throw the correct colour bag in to the hoop, clapping each time it went in to the hoop. A few more friends went over to play and India said, “I have a good idea, I will lift the hoop and you have to throw it through, it will be fun”. This got the attention of even more friends who took it in turns to throw the bean bags brought the hole. 

Bear Hunts & Picnics!

One of the themes the toddlers have been exploring recently is July’s book of the month, ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’. One group activity the children took part in was creating a cave, just like the one where the bear is found in the story, out of papier-mâché. Maddie and Clara helped to stir the glue and water mixture together and dunk in the strips of paper, using both hands to combine it all. Evelyn watched on with a smile, not as keen to touch, but seemingly enjoying watching her friends, “Mix, mix, mix, they mixing it all up…it’s so messy!”. Tabitha and Cara got stuck in straight away, putting their hands into the bowl of paper and applying them to the cave. Cara patted both hands on top of the cave which made a splat sound, causing them both to erupt into giggles and say, “SPLAT” each time they patted a new strip of paper down.

A group of children enjoyed looking at the story together with some props from the story sack. Sebastian repeated some parts of the story as they turned through the pages, “Splash splash!” and “Squelch squelch!” before flipping to the page with the cave, which is where Jenson joined in and whispered, “Tiptoe, tiptoe, tiptoe” while holding his arms up by his sides and creeping on the spot. As they turned to the page with the bear Sebastian shouted, “AHHH ITS A BEAR!”, as Jenson screamed, triggering their other friends to scream and shout, “BEAR!” as well!Jenson smiled as his friends and said, “Again?” Before turning the page back to the bear causing them all to scream again.

Over the last two weeks, the children in the Under two’s room have been excited to explore the wide range of activities available to them. Inside, they were intrigued by a teacher laying masking tape on the floor, creating a track system. Lowen approached the activity and noticed a box of trains on the floor and said, “Look, trains!”, as he pointed down towards the box. Calvin came along and took a train out of the box, before walking towards the tracks laid out on the floor. Calvin’s friends watched on as he made the link between the trains and the tape tracks, and began guiding the train along the tracks. Lowen took his train and joined in next to Calvin, pushing his train gently along the tracks. Isabella sat down and said, “choo choo, trains, on train track!”, as she connected the carriages together to make a long train. 

On daily walks around the Imber court grounds , the children have become a lot more independent in their play, choosing what they would like to take with them and choosing how they play. On one of the days, the children chose to take a variety of balls on the walk and spent their time kicking, throwing and rolling them to each other. Lydia was running around, holding two footballs when she noticed that Alexandra did not have one of her own. Lydia walked over to her and gave her one ball saying, “Alex, Alex”. On another day, the children helped set up their picnic spot by laying down the blanket and handing out their water cups. Zakariya and Freya picked up a corner of the blanket and lifted it into the air, giggling. Zakariya said, “Put it down now, on floor”, which Freya repeated and said, “Down now”. After getting the picnic blanket down, the two celebrated with a high five and a smile, before settling down to a refreshing drink.  

Our Graduation Celebration!

This week marked graduation for our school leavers in the preschool room, and what a fantastic performance they put on for all their families! The last few weeks have been filled with lots of practice in preparation for the big day as the children learned their lines and songs. There has also been plenty of excited discussion about the performance and the costumes they would be wearing. Margot said “My Mummy and Daddy bought me a Crocodile costume!” River added “And I am going to be a Lion!” When the big day arrived the children were buzzing with anticipation and loved showing off their outfits and sitting down for their face paint. As their families began to arrive, the children sat with big smiles and waved as the play began. Everybody did a marvellous job with their words and songs before it was time to receive their graduation certificate and starting school book. It was amazing to see such a strong turnout from all who attended and it was lovely to see everyone stay behind to mingle with some food and drinks, and we should like to thank you!

The shows haven’t stopped there however, as the children have continued to recite their lines and sing their songs together as they play, and have even been making a stage with the big wooden blocks in the garden to re-enact their performance. Freddie said “We need a big stage to fit all of our friends!” Esme added one block and said “If I put my block here then I can sit here!” It’s great to see that the children enjoyed their play and we couldn’t be more proud of the show they were able to put on. We wish them all the best of luck as they transition to their schools.