Following on from last week’s fireman visit, we were inspired to junk model our own fireman accessories; we made fire hoses from toilet roll tubes, and our own fireman watches (the children were very interested in the fireman’s watch!).  We also made a large fire engine using a cardboard box which the children have used as a basis for fireman role play all week.
 
The fire theme continued throughout the week, and the children decided to make their own bonfire on Friday – we collected sticks and planks of wood from the garden, and then sat around the bonfire to sing campfire songs.  The children did mention we needed marshmallows with a bonfire, so we’ve planned our Monday snack to include marshmallows and hot chocolate around our campfire!
 
This week, with the harvest full moon, our thoughts have turned to Harvest Festival – a celebration of the produce we collect from the earth!  Unfortunately our growing efforts haven’t yielded quite enough vegetables for a feast fit for 26 children - so we took a trip to Tesco to see what vegetables we could find!  We chose potatoes, onion, and leek and then made soup that we shared for snack!  The children enjoyed exploring all of the different vegetables available at Tesco, so we will build on this interest and explore some vegetable themed ideas next week!
 
As the weather becomes more autumnal, our garden is awash with acorns and leaves. These have created a lovely craft focus.  Leaves became stencils – we painting around them and observed the patterns they left once we’d removed the leaf (one child suggested the fern actually looked more like a crocodile!).  The acorns were then used to introduce a technique known as acorn rolling!  We loaded the acorns with paint, and then rolled them across paper in a tray; this leaves a lovely effect which you can see on our autumn wall display.
 
Playdough is a popular resource at Squirrels; but unfortunately it can quickly vanish!  By Tuesday we were completely out!  So the children were invited to help us make some more!  We measured out the ingredients and then had fun as we mixed, mashed, stirred, and squished the dough!  This is a wonderful sensory experience as well as an early introduction to material science; watching as the dry and wet ingredients combine to form dough!
 
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home:  Why not let your child explore the fruit and vegetables available in your local store – there are many weird and wonderful types available! Compare the sizes, shapes, colours, textures etc. the learning possibilities are endless!  Maybe you could even introduce new tastes and cook your own feast together?!

Our new children have continued to explore their new environment and are becoming increasingly confident in their new surroundings.  Our returning children have happily settled back into their routines.  With our children now more settled, it is important that we introduce a balance between child-led play and adult-led learning; where adults will take the lead and introduce new ideas or concepts.  With this in mind, we have slowly started to add more structure this week by offering more adult-led activities.
 
On Monday, having introduced our focus story of ’Owl Babies’ last week – we had a go at making our own owls at the craft table.  Using paint, glue and paper plates – we tried to recreate Sarah and Percy and Bill!  This offered a lovely opportunity to listen to the children discuss the story – with many now starting to join in when we read this book together.
 
On Tuesday we enjoyed re-introducing our Jolly Jo sports session.  This is an opportunity for us to use the larger hall and to focus on both physical-development and communication and language skills.  It is also an opportunity to introduce concepts such as shape, number and colour.  This week we explored various ways of moving across the hall - running, tip-toeing and walking backwards, we then played a game matching coloured beanbags to shaped mats. 
 
On Wednesday we had fun with junk modelling!  The children had a collection of food cartons, yoghurt pots, toilet roll tubes and other ‘supplies’.  Adults were on hand to help – but children were encouraged to make their own creations – we saw dinosaurs, towers and all sorts!
 
On Friday we were able to welcome the fire services into Squirrels.  We were shown all of their lifesaving equipment, such as their uniform, oxygen tank and thermal-imaging camera, and were then able to explore their fire engine – sitting inside of the engine and having a go at spraying the hose.  The children seemed very excited by this visit – so we will explore this in more depth next week!
 
In addition to this, we have enjoyed plenty of other play; dinosaurs and construction vehicles remain popular.  The mud kitchen has been particularly muddy with some wetter weather recently – many mud and acorn cakes have been stirred, squished and served in the garden! 
 
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home:  Our children loved meeting the firemen and learning about what they do.  What do you do?  You could talk to your child about your own job, show them what equipment you use and see what they think you do at work!  It’s a great way to encourage communication.  Feel free to share with us at Squirrels too!

Welcome to our first blog of the new academic year!  It’s been such an exciting week as we’ve welcomed all of our new children as well as welcoming back familiar faces too.
 
Our pre-school has what is known as a ‘child-led’ ethos.  This means that we are led by the children’s interests; we observe children and then plan activities or provide resources that link in with this.  Observing the children this week, many have favoured our outside space.  The large vehicles have been popular, especially the diggers in the mud.  The farm has been well played with, with many of the animals stomping, stamping, flying and swooping to the sand pit!  The balance beams and crates have created some challenge, with children learning to take turns and wait for others in order to get across.  And the trains have been popular, with many children choosing to use the water wall as a make-shift ramp for their trains.
 
Indoors, the craft table has been busy.  Many children have enjoyed exploring the paint with paintbrushes, rollers, stampers and fingers!  We encourage children to be independent; so our craft materials, such as glue, paint, paper etc. are all freely accessible.  Sometimes this may be a little messy, but it’s all about learning!  Children our learning to select what they need for their masterpieces and to create what inspires them most!  We hope to get some of these marvellous masterpieces up on the wall next week!
 
The playdough has been popular all week – we have found a number of nature inspired finds to add to the dough, such as acorns and leaves.  The children have found the garden awash with acorns – so we’ve been busy sweeping them up, collecting them in pots, and having fun counting them. 
 
Our story focus has been a book entitled, ‘Owl Babies’.  This story describes 3 baby owls that awaken to find that their Mummy has gone!  Sarah is happy to assume Mummy has gone hunting and will be back soon.  Percy is less sure, and Bill is upset and simply wants Mummy home!  Eventually Mummy returns and asks what all the fuss is about – they knew she’d come back!  This is a key message for many of our new children – understanding the routine of coming to pre-school and that their Mummy, Daddy, Nanny or Grandad will return to collect them at the end of the day!
 
Ideas to continue this week’s fun at home:  We’ve found lots of acorns in the garden as autumn begins – so why not enjoy your own autumnal walk and see what signs of autumn you can find?  What’s happening to the leaves?  Are they changing colour yet?  Can you find acorns or conkers?  You could bring in your finds to show and tell at carpet-time.