The children seemed vey pleased to be back at Squirrels after their Easter break.  We began the week with a visit from Leo  (A-star sports) who will be coming every Tuesday during the summer term.  Leo splits the children into 2 groups so there are a maximum of 12 children plus 2 Squirrels staff and each group participate in 30 minutes of sporting activities.  The children learn valuable skills such as listening, following instructions, physical co-ordination and working together. We have had a delivery of new equipment including a super craft trolley where children can access lots of materials to make whatever they choose.  We also now have a special wooden unit that is full of beautifully smooth wooden unit blocks in an assortment of shapes and sizes.  The children have been creating some amazing buildings with these and using the wooden vehicles set alongside them.   The new equipment was delivered in some very large cardboard boxes which have been well used by the children throughout the week.  They have ben turned into houses, cars, hiding places, rockets, slides, beds, a stage and cinema screen; the children’s imagination is endless! Small groups have been taken out on short walks to look at signs of growth in trees and plants and others have been preparing the garden for planting which will begin next week.  We have been reading a story called ‘Titch’ and talking about how things can start off very small and grow bigger and bigger. Have a good weekend and see you next week for our sponsored ‘I want to be...’ when children are asked to dress up in something they might like to be when they grow up.    

We have continued to prepare the garden for  the planting which will take place after Easter.  The children have helped to empty and clean the flower pots as well as sweeping the artificial grass and paths.  Some of the soil was transported to our mud kitchen where it was used to mix and ‘cook’ into different concoctions.  As it will soon be Easter we have been making Easter cards, Easter nests, and Easter biscuits and the children have made and coloured pictures of bunnies, lambs and chicks.  We have made bunny ears, masks and bags.  We played games outside where we had to match patterns on the Easter egg pictures and stick the eggs in the Easter bunnies basket.  We made Easter eggs, biscuits and cakes with our yellow play dough. In the middle of the week there was a lot of water play where we guessed what toys/objects may float or sink and took turns to catch them in a little net.  Children practised their writing skills by making some new signs for the garden.  This followed a group discussion about the sort of signs we might need and we decided to have a friendship tree.  After the Easter break we will be developing this idea by encouraging children to use the friendship tree as a place to wait if they would like someone to play with.   We have tried lots of puzzles and explored numbers through using our new number peg boards.  Our story this week was The Golden Egg which was about a hunt for an Easter egg. The week ended with our Easter Fayre and Easter Egg hunt in the garden.  It was lovely to see so many children at this event, joined by parents, grandparents and friends.  A big thank you to everyone who donated items for the Fayre, bought raffle tickets, made cakes, and joined in the fun.  A special thank you also to Sarah Freeman and all those who helped plan, set up and run the stalls.  Together we raised a magnificent £200, all of which will be spent on pre-school resources. Have a very Happy Easter and see you back at Squirrels on Tuesday 22nd April          

This week we have been busy building houses/dens outside using our big boxes.  Some of them had been well used the previous week so we started by opening the boxes up and using the biggest as walls.  Then we fixed material to them using our large pegs, added ‘carpets’ and cushions.  We also used the big plastic crates and tyres and later in the week we added the coloured waffle bricks.  It’s amazing to see what the children use the open boxes for;  one pretended it was a surf board and others joined in!  The logs have been used as stepping stones outside and the felt shapes were made into a long path inside, leading from one end of the room to the other. We have made lots of cards and pictures for our mums for Mothering Sunday and made a start on some Easter things too.  We have made an Easter tree which we have painted and decorated with pretty egg shapes and chicks and we are busy making a display of Easter pictures and crafts for the wall.  We made some beautiful bright yellow play dough which we can turn in to all sorts of shapes and models. We have had great fun with our giant parachute, making it go up in the air and down on the ground, running underneath and sitting on the colours on the top.  We gave the Snowy the teddy a bumpy ride on the parachute. Our story this week was Jack and the Beanstalk which we have read together and tried to act out.  The boys enjoy being the giant!  A ‘beanstalk’ was painted on some large cardboard and played with in the garden and we began to measure each other on the indoor ‘beanstalk’ to see who is taller and who is smaller. We have been practising our letter sounds and learning to listen carefully to distinguish the different sounds. Next week is our Easter Fayre (Friday) so please come and don’t forget to make some cakes and donate something for the raffle or wine and chocolate for the tombola.  If you haven’t yet filled your jam jar we still have some left and if you can help on a stall we would love to hear from you.