On Monday we set up a Post Office role play, encouraging children's mark making as they 'wrote' post cards, drew pictures, and posted letters into our large post box. Posting proved a popular activity throughout the week, so on Friday we linked this to one of our favourite books, 'Dear Zoo'. The children were excited to join in as the zoo wrote us a letter and posted us various animals! Many of these animals weren't suitable - so we posted them back! The butterfly was too fluttery, the cat too sleepy... but the Gorilla was just perfect - so we kept him! Many of our children could join in with the repetitions in this text, as well as starting to think of their own pet ideas.
Sensory play remains popular, with opportunities to explore rice, ice, sand, water, scented dough, porridge oats, bread mix, shaving foam, and paint this week! The rice was particularly popular - with children using spoons and scoops to transport the rice between different jugs and bowls. The ice was also popular - with children investigating how and why the ice was disappearing! We introduced the concept of 'melting' - which is a fascinating introduction into material science and shows children how things can change! Many of our budding scientists experimented with bashing the ice, adding warm water, and holding it in their warm hands to speed up the meting process.
Our craft area remains popular, with children becoming much more confident to access resources independently and combine the media they use. We've enjoyed harvest vegetable printing, experimenting with painting on different surfaces, colour mixing, glitter glue, and shape stamps. We also noted that children were experimenting with painting using 3D surfaces, so we introduced junk modelling to enable children to craft their own 3D creations that they could then paint and decorate.
Building remains popular and our children have access to various loose parts resources to build with. This week, children made their own assault course using the large wooden blocks in the garden. Many joined in as we practiced our balancing across these bricks - with the added danger that apparently, 'The floor was larva' so we had to be very careful not to fall in! We also watched as some children attempted to ride their bikes across the assault course. An important part of early years is to ensure that children are exposed to managed risks where they can learn to assess these risks themselves. The children riding their bikes did so very cautiously - checking the stability of the ramps before using them and being very careful as they went.
Other popular activities this week have including the large Lego in the garden, hairdresser role play, cars and ramps (again!), animals (especially tigers) and adult-led circle-time games. We've played, whats the time Mr Wolf, duck duck goose, the honey pot game, 5 currant buns, farmer in the den, and a sound listening game. We also introduced a new 'copy cat' game where children worked in pairs and had to copy the action of their partner - jumping, side stepping, skipping or dancing!
Ideas to continue the learning at home:
Dear Zoo has been a popular book this week - children have enjoyed joining in with repetitions, adding actions, and then coming up with new pet ideas. Why not share familiar stories at home and encourage children to join in with key phrases, add actions, and come up with their own alternative endings?
Sensory play remains popular, with opportunities to explore rice, ice, sand, water, scented dough, porridge oats, bread mix, shaving foam, and paint this week! The rice was particularly popular - with children using spoons and scoops to transport the rice between different jugs and bowls. The ice was also popular - with children investigating how and why the ice was disappearing! We introduced the concept of 'melting' - which is a fascinating introduction into material science and shows children how things can change! Many of our budding scientists experimented with bashing the ice, adding warm water, and holding it in their warm hands to speed up the meting process.
Our craft area remains popular, with children becoming much more confident to access resources independently and combine the media they use. We've enjoyed harvest vegetable printing, experimenting with painting on different surfaces, colour mixing, glitter glue, and shape stamps. We also noted that children were experimenting with painting using 3D surfaces, so we introduced junk modelling to enable children to craft their own 3D creations that they could then paint and decorate.
Building remains popular and our children have access to various loose parts resources to build with. This week, children made their own assault course using the large wooden blocks in the garden. Many joined in as we practiced our balancing across these bricks - with the added danger that apparently, 'The floor was larva' so we had to be very careful not to fall in! We also watched as some children attempted to ride their bikes across the assault course. An important part of early years is to ensure that children are exposed to managed risks where they can learn to assess these risks themselves. The children riding their bikes did so very cautiously - checking the stability of the ramps before using them and being very careful as they went.
Other popular activities this week have including the large Lego in the garden, hairdresser role play, cars and ramps (again!), animals (especially tigers) and adult-led circle-time games. We've played, whats the time Mr Wolf, duck duck goose, the honey pot game, 5 currant buns, farmer in the den, and a sound listening game. We also introduced a new 'copy cat' game where children worked in pairs and had to copy the action of their partner - jumping, side stepping, skipping or dancing!
Ideas to continue the learning at home:
Dear Zoo has been a popular book this week - children have enjoyed joining in with repetitions, adding actions, and then coming up with new pet ideas. Why not share familiar stories at home and encourage children to join in with key phrases, add actions, and come up with their own alternative endings?
RSS Feed
