This week we received an Ofsted inspection. The children were amazing and were eager to show the inspector all of our favourite activities!
These activities included the return of the Squirrels' talent show! A number of children, feeling inspired by the musical instruments and microphones, decided to host their own singing and dancing talent show. Before the show started, we created our own 'stage', then set up the chairs and handed out tickets! The children took turns to sing favourite songs, dance, and even perform tricks! We had solos, duets and even group performances! The children demonstrated how amazingly confident they are when it comes to leading their play and performing in front of peers. It was lovely to see some of our less confident children join in and have-a-go.
The children's interest in using herbs in the mud kitchen was extended and brought indoors. We added herbs and scissors to our playdough area to enable the children to practice their cutting skills, and combine this with the sensory enjoyment of adding herbs to the dough. The smell was amazing and inspired many of the children to create food with the dough! This 'food' was then transported to the kitchen area and used within role play.
We also used rice this week in our sensory play. We explored this using a range of scoops, spoons and jugs, enjoying the process of tipping and pouring, and introducing words such as full and empty. The rice also seemed to find it's way into the home corner, combining with the dough to make some very yummy looking recipes!
Ice has created interest this week! Inspired by the frosty weather, we explored ice in a tuff tray. We then combined this with powder paint and watched as the ice melted, mixed with the powder and created paint! This enabled some wonderful colour mixing opportunities, as well as discussions about how the ice felt, and what weather we had observed.
Our focus story, 'We're Going On Bear Hunt' has continued to inspire this week. We observed the children, with their coats and backpacks on, organising their own bear hunt! They recited the story almost word for word as they tackled obstacles of their own choosing in the garden! It's so lovely to watch the children lead their own learning in this way. We introduce them to new ideas, set up an enabling environment, and then watch the direction they take their learning in.
On Friday we were very excited to take a trip to the library bus. A group of 4 children visited the bus and chose a story each. We sat and shared one of these stories, before then asking the librarian if we could borrow the rest. He stamped each book and we then returned to Squirrels to show our friends the books we'd chosen. The children were very excited to share their choices and explained why they'd chosen them. We'll revisit the bus when it returns in 3 weeks time.
Other popular activities this week have included the popoids, which have been used to create robots, the new sensory den, which has created a calm and quiet zone, the marble run and the bikes and trikes in the garden.
Ideas to continue the learning at home:
The library bus visits Highwoods every 3rd Friday - why not sign your child up to the library and see what books you could share? Remember you are always welcome to borrow books from our lending library too.
These activities included the return of the Squirrels' talent show! A number of children, feeling inspired by the musical instruments and microphones, decided to host their own singing and dancing talent show. Before the show started, we created our own 'stage', then set up the chairs and handed out tickets! The children took turns to sing favourite songs, dance, and even perform tricks! We had solos, duets and even group performances! The children demonstrated how amazingly confident they are when it comes to leading their play and performing in front of peers. It was lovely to see some of our less confident children join in and have-a-go.
The children's interest in using herbs in the mud kitchen was extended and brought indoors. We added herbs and scissors to our playdough area to enable the children to practice their cutting skills, and combine this with the sensory enjoyment of adding herbs to the dough. The smell was amazing and inspired many of the children to create food with the dough! This 'food' was then transported to the kitchen area and used within role play.
We also used rice this week in our sensory play. We explored this using a range of scoops, spoons and jugs, enjoying the process of tipping and pouring, and introducing words such as full and empty. The rice also seemed to find it's way into the home corner, combining with the dough to make some very yummy looking recipes!
Ice has created interest this week! Inspired by the frosty weather, we explored ice in a tuff tray. We then combined this with powder paint and watched as the ice melted, mixed with the powder and created paint! This enabled some wonderful colour mixing opportunities, as well as discussions about how the ice felt, and what weather we had observed.
Our focus story, 'We're Going On Bear Hunt' has continued to inspire this week. We observed the children, with their coats and backpacks on, organising their own bear hunt! They recited the story almost word for word as they tackled obstacles of their own choosing in the garden! It's so lovely to watch the children lead their own learning in this way. We introduce them to new ideas, set up an enabling environment, and then watch the direction they take their learning in.
On Friday we were very excited to take a trip to the library bus. A group of 4 children visited the bus and chose a story each. We sat and shared one of these stories, before then asking the librarian if we could borrow the rest. He stamped each book and we then returned to Squirrels to show our friends the books we'd chosen. The children were very excited to share their choices and explained why they'd chosen them. We'll revisit the bus when it returns in 3 weeks time.
Other popular activities this week have included the popoids, which have been used to create robots, the new sensory den, which has created a calm and quiet zone, the marble run and the bikes and trikes in the garden.
Ideas to continue the learning at home:
The library bus visits Highwoods every 3rd Friday - why not sign your child up to the library and see what books you could share? Remember you are always welcome to borrow books from our lending library too.
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