The children have been quite lively with lots of energy so we have been finding ways to channel this.
We played games such as chasing soft balls and then matching them to the right colour mat. Chasing a rugby ball which bounces off in different directions is a very energetic game which the children find funny and frustrating in equal measure.
Some of the children started playing with plastic sieves and rolling pins and tried to hit a plastic lemon or tomato. We decided we needed to get the bats and balls out in the garden and had some lively games of tennis and golf. Part of the garden was flooded so we put fencing across, and staff stood on the waterlogged side and threw balls across for the children to try and hit with their bats.
Group games included Five current buns and Five Jelly fish. We looked at shapes in the environment and then the children practised their listening skills as they followed instructions. They had to stand on a triangle on one leg or find a circle to sit on etc. We extended this game by looking for shapes in the environment and discovered that the ceiling tiles are square and that the end of a glue stick is a circle.
Throughout the week we have been doing lots of other physical activities to support the children's hand/eye co-ordination such as, using scissors, making models with boxes and sorting bean bags into size related patterns.
Next week is our space week so we have been beginning to talk about planets and stars.
Words we have learned this week:
Flooding (in relation the excessive amounts of water in our garden)
Sieve
Ideas to continue this weeks fun at home:
Look for shapes in the environment eg ask your child to find something square such as a floor tile. A rectangle could be a cereal packet and a circle could be peas/sweetcorn.
Look for boxes, cardboard tube, tin foil etc to bring in next week to help with our space week. We aim to create a whole new alien landscape!