Bees, Birds & Foxes!
Over the last couple of weeks, the pre school children have been observing nature in the nursery garden and whilst out on walks around the grounds. Each day, the children have been monitoring the birds nest in one of the bird houses in the garden, making sure to be a little quieter each time they approached the house. The children have been amazed to watch the babies grow day by day and have been very caring towards them as well as tracking the bird feeder, helping to top it up with seeds when they noticed it was running low.
Whilst out on a walk, the children spotted a fox cub on a mounded soil heap which the children have called the ‘home of the fox’ from the Gruffalo story for many years. This caused a lot of excitement and the children couldn’t wait to tell their friends when they got back to nursery and asked for the Gruffalo story so they could identify the fox. Only a few days later on another walk, the children got to see two fox cubs asleep at the top of the mound. They very quickly gathered around and watched from a distance as the cubs were sleeping.
The children have also celebrated World Bee Day this week, engaging in many activities such as observing the new pollinator plants in the garden which have attracted lots of beautiful bees! This inspired the children to make their own bees with coloured blocks and collage sticking as well as learning lots of facts about bees during group times, aided by some hand and finger puppets alongside story books.
Drawing in Nature, Shopping & Hail Storms!
One afternoon after tea, on the day the weather had been consistently switching between sun, hail and rain - the toddlers were inside, shopping. With the sound of the week being ‘M’, the toddlers who wanted to go shopping were handed some money and were able to choose what ‘M’ items they wanted from the shop. A couple of children chose magnets and melons, while others selected magnifying glasses and pictures of motorbikes. One child went over to the collection of small world toys and chose “A mummy and a man” to add to her basket. They had discussions of what they chose and were going to choose next time, “I’m going to pick the mountain!”, “I want the monkey to give to a cuddle!”. All of a sudden there was a large clap of thunder, catching everyone’s attention and bringing on shocked and excited sounds of “Oh!”, and “Ooooo” and comments of, “There’s a storm coming!” and “That thunder was loud!”. As the children gathered around the patio door to listen out for more thunder, it started to hail! This incited screams of excitement, and lots of ‘wows’ followed by a few questions on what was happening. A practitioner went and collected some of the hail in a jug for the children to explore and they immediately dove their hands in to get a feel. One child retracted their hand with a gasp and said, “It’s cold!”, followed by a quick shiver, while another scooped out a handful and giggled as it melted and dripped through their hands.
In the garden, a small group of children were working together and cheering each other on as they practised their climbing and jumping. Two children worked together to push one of the balance beams closer to the tunnel which they used to help them climb up on top of it. They were able to balance themselves and come to a standing position on top of the tunnel before bending their knees and taking a giant leap, landing on their feet on the grass in front of them. With giant proud smiles on their faces they said, “Let’s do it again!”. This activity gathered some attention and soon a large group of children were all waiting for their turns to take big jumps. The crowd made comments on and each of the jumps their friends did, “Wow that was a big one”, “That was funny” and comments of support, “You did it!” and “Well done!”.
Over the last couple of weeks the under 2s have continued to enjoy spending lots of time outside and exploring nature. Whilst out on the daily walks of the Imber Court grounds, the children were inspired to take part in drawing whilst surrounded by nature. There were many sights to be inspired by, such as ducks near the river and squirrels in the trees, or horses in the fields with tractors riding by! As they found the perfect spot to start drawing, one of the children shouted out “drawing!” when they saw the paper, pencils and crayons, whilst another shouted “crayons!”. A group of the children picked up some crayons and pencils, and each picked up their own paper. One of the children picked up a green pencil, held it up and said “green”, which led to a chorus of several children naming the different coloured pencils and crayons they had picked up. They then settled and began to do some drawing, each of them kindly passing their friends different coloured pencils and crayons as they had finished with them.
Whilst in the room, the children further explored nature through the use of the leaf balancing activity, where each of the children began to pick up the different leaves and acorns which had been collected from the garden and grounds nearby. After a couple of the children had successfully balanced some of the leaves, they looked at each other and celebrated with a “Yay!”, whilst clapping their hands together proudly. After trying to balance a couple more, the tower tumbled down, which led to a chorus of giggles and “uh-oh”s from the children standing around it.
Our Trip to Bocketts Farm!
The preschool children have been looking forward to their Bockett’s farm trip this week and had an amazing time on the day. On the build up to the trip, the children have had lots of discussions about what animals they think will be at the farm and made each other laugh when one of the children suggested a giraffe and another suggested a squirrel. On the day before the trip at tea time, a group of children were discussing excitedly what they were going to have in their sandwiches and the contents of their lunch boxes. The children also had the opportunity to participate in many activities on the build up including clay animal shape moulding, farm collage sticking and even the chance to see and go on the tractors that belong to the groundsmen of Imber Court.
On the morning of the trip, the children arrived to nursery very excited and could not wait to get going, with many questions being asked throughout breakfast time such as “Is the coach here yet?”, “When can I have my lunch box?” and “When are we going?”. When it was time to get on the coach, the children found their group of friends and teacher for the day and eagerly waited to take their turns to climb the steps up to the coach and got settled in their seats. One of the children asked straight away, “Is it time to eat our lunch now?” When the children arrived at the farm, there was a lot of excited squeals, claps and laughter when they could see the sign to the farm and the children were ready to get going, but first there was the safety talk which the children listened to with lots of concentration and participated with suggestions about the rules of the day.
First the children went on to the tractor ride and whilst at the top of the hill with lots of viewing opportunities, one of the children let out a little gasp and said, “I can see the whole of the world!” whilst looking in every direction. The children got to see a Highland cow, pigs with their piglets, a very large horse called Ted and they were very fond of the curly haired goats. The children observed a sheep pen very quietly and showed lots of care when they discovered that 2 lambs had only been born just a few hours prior. The most exciting part of the day was the pig race with the children cheering on the colour pig they wanted to win and raising the coloured flags. On the coach journey back and when the children got back to nursery, they were engaging in many activities about their favourite parts of the day.
