Football sessions!
The pre school children have continued to enjoy their footballs sessions with Joe and over the last couple of weeks, they have been putting their skills that they have learnt to the test and enjoyed games of football together. The children organised themselves in to two groups, put their bibs on and worked very well as a part of their team to get the ball past each other and score goals, cheering each other on as they did so. A couple of the children stood in goal together, holding hands and laughing each time they were able to save the ball from going in to the goal. Some other children chose to take it in turns to shoot the ball towards the net, chanting each other’s names when it was their turn. Once the football game was over, the children went for a “water break” before going on to play a tennis game together.
Whilst out on a rainy day walk around the grounds, the pre school children continued with their sports theme and enjoyed running races on the field. They lined themselves up along the football lines and called out, “Ready, steady, go”! Some children choosing to run, some skip and a couple of them even rolled their way to the finish line. Whilst exploring the grounds, the children came across the map of the grounds and were discussing between themselves where they were on the map and which route they should take to get back to nursery. It was agreed by the whole group that it would be a nice idea to walk past the duck pond and have one final race on the rugby fields.
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.
