Exploring Nature and Changing Seasons!
Recently, the toddlers have been exploring the theme of autumn and the changes in the environment around us. They have been searching the garden and Imber Court grounds for leaves of different colours, conkers, pine cones and sticks, all to bring back to nursery to further investigate. When some of these items were frozen into balls and blocks of ice, a group of children immediately began investigating, touching the ice tentatively with their fingers, while a few were brave enough to pick the smaller blocks up with both hands, shivering with the sensation. When Madeline tried to pick up a large block of ice she held it with both hands and said, “Ugh it’s so heavy!”, Theo watched on and began lifting the ice up too, grunting with exertion. As the ice started to melt away and the natural items began to partially reveal themselves, some of the toddlers tried plucking them out, using their nails to scratch away the remaining ice or using large pieces of bark as a hammer, tapping on the edges.
It was the perfectly windy day for a group of children to go on a listening walk around the grounds to see what they could hear! As they made it onto a field a big gust of wind blew, causing leaves to rustle and their hair to be blown in all different directions, causing a few giggles and “Woah’s!”. They caught the sound of some birds chirping in a nearby tree as well as a tractor going past. When the toddlers came across a collection of small fallen branches with leaves on the end, they decided that they made the perfect musical instruments! The children each picked up a branch and began waving it in the air, creating a rustling sound as the leaves on the ends shook with the movement. The wind blew, creating even more rustling amongst the trees and creating a chorus of sound!
Over the last couple of the weeks, the under 2s have joined in with lots of sensory and art activities, as well as activities to work on their fine and gross motor skills.
Inside, the children got stuck in with some painting on cardboard boxes which were laid out around the room. A group of the children grabbed their paintbrushes, ready to show off their painting skills! They ran between each box, dabbing and swiping their brushes on the cardboard, and proudly showing off to each other the pictures they had created. The children also joined in with a singalong session within a ‘sensory cave’ filled with coloured scarves, teddies and sensory lights. They happily joined in with all the actions to their favourite songs including ‘baa baa black sheep’, ‘I had a little turtle’, and ‘row, row, row your boat’.
Out in the garden, a group of the children loved exploring the messy tray set up with some dinosaurs and some trimmings from the herb garden. They came over quickly to investigate the activity and eagerly reached forwards to grab the different herbs, before squeezing them between their fingers and realising they had a smell! The children then showed off their great knowledge of dinosaurs by stomping them on the table and shouting out lots of “Roars!”. Another activity involved cardboard tubes laid out on the table where the children could clip pegs onto the top of the cardboard. The children wandered over and began to look at the pegs with curiosity. They were shown how to clip the pegs onto the tubes, however they decided to create their own game between them, and began to see how many they could drop into the pipes before lifting them up to watch them all fall out! A member of staff then went to get some lollipop sticks which they could use to continue their game, which was met with a round of applause.
Learning with Music & Sounds!
Over the last couple of weeks the preschool children have been taking part in many activities around the focus of music. A group of children enjoyed decorating and using various resources such as cardboard boxes, glove boxes and straws to make their own drums, guitars, flutes and xylophones, whilst others enjoyed listening to a variety of different clips of music from around the world. Whilst playing in the mud kitchen, a couple of the children had discovered that banging a rolling pin on to a saucepan made a noise and very quickly gained the attention of several other children who soon had the spoons, trays, colanders and cake tins out, making music of their own. Some of the children went on to singing songs whilst their friends carried on with making music. The children also enjoyed many dance parties throughout the week.
The children carried on their interest of sounds whilst out on walks around the grounds and playing in the garden. A group of children lay down in the garden and were being as quiet as they possibly could to listen out for natural sounds around them. Some detected birds whilst other excitedly called out, “Aeroplane” each time one flew over. Whilst out on a walk, more aeroplanes, birds and tractors could be heard by the children and they were very excited to announce to each other each time a new sound came about!
Making Marks, Exciting Walks & Dinosaurs!
The toddlers were very shocked one morning when they walked into the room to see that some dinosaurs had made a mess in the home corner and were eating the food! A couple of children joined the dinosaurs at the table and began passing food back and forth to each other while feeding some to the dinosaurs, meanwhile others explored the other dinosaurs having a bath in the home corner sink.
On one of the toddlers walks around the Imber Court grounds the children were on the hunt for sticks, leaves and pinecones to bring back to nursery for the nature tray in toddler room. They gathered bagfuls of natural items before stopping on the field and laying down a mat to sit and play with some play dough that they could add some of their collected items into. Several of children began adding sticks to their piles of dough, pressing them in vertically like candles in a cake, while other children rolled in leaves and pine cones. A couple of toddlers enjoyed squeezing the dough as hard as they could, using both hands and shaking with the amount of effort they put in! Once the children had finished playing with the dough they cleaned their hands independently before running around on the field.
Over the last couple of week in the Under Two’s Room the children have been very busy playing, exploring and getting to know their new friends that have joined. Inside, small groups have been taking part in various mark making activities, one of which was the chalk drawing on a builder tray. The children found themselves a space on the builders tray and sat down, picking up a chalk egg as they did. Some of the children chose to lift the chalk high into the sky and then bang it back down shouting “BANG, BANG!”, as they did, creating unique marks. Others chose to manoeuvre the chalk in swirls, lines and other shapes around the tray.
Outside, the children have become builders, using teamwork to crate tall towers using foam bricks. They have also become keen investigators as they have searched for hidden objects in the sand. The children chose to use a selection of sand pit tools such as spades and scoops. Alexandra used a scoop and found a toy buried deep below the sand. As she pulled it out, she gasped and said, “Ohhh!”, smiling at her friends. On our daily walks, the children have been doing a lot of running, whether that be chasing after balls, hoops or taking part in running races. On one of our walks, after snack time the children got out the footballs. Emilia would throw one as far as she could and shout, “Ball, ball, ball!”, as she ran after it. Cassie crawled around the grass, exploring the texture as she pulled some out and placed it between both hands. As it fell through her hands back onto the grass she let out an excitable noise as she laughed.
